By: Craig Ettinger

Well, here are CandidCritic’s reflections on the films released during 2001. I should note that there are some films that I didn’t get to see that I wish I had (In the Bedroom, Ghostworld) and some films that I did see that I wish I hadn’t (The Score, The Wedding Planner). Since I wasn’t able see every film released during 2001, I can’t exactly offer what would be my picks for the best and worst films of the year. Instead, just as I did in my recap of the films of 2000, I have ranked the 36 films that I did see. And, without further ado, here are the rankings…

1. Memento

2001 Box Office: $25,531,262

Leonard Shelby suffers from a condition in which he is unable to create new memories (the result of having received a severe blow to the head the night of his wife’s murder). Every morning he awakens feeling as if it were the very day his wife was murdered. For Leonard, there is no passage of time to heal his pain. He can’t remember to forget. Played to perfection by Guy Pearce, Leonard is the central character in this stirring film, written and directed by Christopher Nolan. A man who often forgets why he started saying something before he’s finished saying it can only get through life by giving himself a tremendous sense of purpose. For Leonard, this sense of purpose comes in the form of hunting down and killing the man who raped and murdered his wife and left him a victim of severe anterograde memory dysfunction.

In a highly creative and effective uses of non-linear story telling, Nolan begins Memento at the story’s end and uses the following two hours to bring the audience back and forth through time, ending the film at the story’s beginning. The resulting effect is that the audience is placed in a similar frame of reference to that of Leonard. As each scene unfolds, the audience knows only that things are happening around Leonard, but not exactly why they are happening (clues hidden in notes and photos shed only the slightest bit of light on the situation at hand). The audience is made acutely aware of just how frustrating Leonard’s condition can be and how helpless it can leave him feeling.

All of this adds up to an entirely compelling story, and one that truly keeps audiences on the edge of their seats for the entire duration of the film. In short, this is one film you will not soon forget!

2. Black Hawk Down

2001 Box Office: $274,347

While this may not be the best American film of the year; it is certainly the most important one. Unfortunately, many people will avoid seeing Black Hawk Down for the very reason they should see it. The film, adapted from Mark Bowden’s best selling book, tells of the fateful military operation in Mogadishu, Somalia in October 1993 that resulted in the death of 18 U.S. soldiers.

Director Ridley Scott’s quasi-documentary approach to shooting the film lands the viewer directly in the middle of the action. The violence is relentless and for a punishing 90 minutes the audience has no place to hide. To suggest that an hour and a half of discomfort in a movie theater could offer even a taste of the true chaotic terror that those American soldiers endured for 15 straight hours would be laughable. But, it would be nearly impossible for those who choose to see Black Hawk Down (perhaps most for those normally too squeamish to see such a film) to leave the theater without having a greater appreciation and empathy for the young men and women who put their lives on the line each day protecting U.S. security interests (and do so whether they agree or disagree with U.S. involvement in any particular military action).

3. Gosford Park

2001 Box Office: $395,162

Gosford Park, Robert Altman’s superb murder-mystery set in the English countryside in 1932, is the best all-around film of the year. More social satire than whodunit, the film offers an incisive exploration of the English class system, as well as the roles of men and women within the aristocracy. Gosford Park’s outstanding ensemble cast features Oscar-worthy performances from Emily Watson, Kristin Scott-Thomas and Maggie Smith, in addition to strong acting from Clive Owen, Alan Bates, Michael Gambon and Helen Mirren. The film’s many characters are brought to life with the help of a smart and highly amusing script by Julian Fellowes. And, Andrew Dunn’s splendid cinematography makes Gosford Park almost as much fun to look at, as it is to listen to. But, it is Altman’s skillful direction at the center of the film’s many fine elements that allows the audience to truly experience the curious dynamic that existed between master and servant and socially elite men and women in 1930’s England.

4. A Beautiful Mind

2001 Box Office: $18,559,546

Sure, Russell Crowe (not surprisingly) and Jennifer Connelly (surprising only to those not wholly familiar with her career) both delivered impressive performances in A Beautiful Mind. But, it is the truly remarkable story of John and Alicia Nash and the compelling way in which director Ron Howard presents their story that make this film among the year’s best. A Beautiful Mind just about does for schizophrenia what Memento did for severe anterograde memory dysfunction.

5. Amélie (aka Le Fabuleux destin d’Amélie Poulain)

2001 Box Office: $16,306,950

Amélie tells the story of Amélie Poulain, a timid young woman, whose vivid imagination and ability to find comfort in life’s simple pleasures enable her to endure an otherwise listless existence. A series of quirky and highly amusing vignettes at the film’s opening provide a great deal of insight into what exactly shaped this woman during the early part of her life. As an adult, while Amélie is able to find joy from such small things as cracking the crust of a crème brulèe with the back of her teaspoon or sinking her hand into a sack of grain, her life is without true happiness. Things begin to change, however, when Amélie discovers her unique ability to truly make a difference in people’s lives. But, it isn’t until Amélie comes across a young man named Nino that she realizes the one person in whose life she most needs to make a difference is her own.

6. The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring

2001 Box Office: $174,119,499

Magical rings, dueling wizards (Ian McKellen is terrific), feisty hobbits, heroic rangers, hideous Uruk-Hai warriors, beautiful elves, and far off places known as the Shire, Rivendell, and Gondor. What more could a grown man want? Aided by stunning cinematography, Director Peter Jackson and screenwriter Frances Walsh’s take on the classic J.R.R. Tolkien story is sure to carry you away. The Lord of the Rings is a sweeping, epic fantasy on the grandest scale.

7. Startup.com

2001 Box Office: $1,283,356

This absorbing documentary follows two twenty-something friends, Kaleil Isaza Tuzman and Tom Herman, as they risk all attempting to launch an Internet company called GovWorks.com. The day-to-day workings of the underlying business are actually of little consequence in this film, as the human drama that unfolds between the swaggering Kaleil and the unassuming Tom is what ultimately makes Startup.com the fascinating reality tale that it is.

8. The Royal Tenenbaums

2001 Box Office: $10,790,000

Gene Hackman stars as the apathetic patriarch of a dysfunctional family of geniuses in this latest effort from the gifted writing team of Wes Anderson and Owen Wilson (Rushmore and Bottle Rocket). In an Oscar-worthy performance that is both touching and comical, Hackman leads an eclectic and highly talented ensemble cast that also includes Anjelica Huston, Bill Murray, Gwyneth Paltrow, Danny Glover, Ben Stiller, Owen Wilson and Luke Wilson. Finally, accompanying the intelligent script and strong acting is a terrific soundtrack that is certain to help make the bittersweet The Royal Tenenbaums one of the most memorable films of 2001.

9. Monster’s Ball

2001 Box Office: $174,109

Halle Berry’s been receiving all of the attention for her fiery performance as Leticia Musgrove, the beaten down widow of a black inmate, in the gritty Monster’s Ball. But, Billy Bob Thorton’s turn as Hank Grotowski, a racist prison guard, is no less earnest and, perhaps, only comes across as less impressive because we expect this of him. The film, which also includes fine performances from Peter Boyle and Sean Combs, explores the awkward relationship that abruptly develops between Hank and Leticia, and along the way takes the audience to some uncomfortable places. Ultimately, the thought-provoking, albeit somewhat strained screenplay, by Will Rokos and Milo Addica, demonstrates that love isn’t the only thing capable of bringing two unlikely people together. Sometimes need can be an even more powerful force.

10. Dinner Rush

2001 Box Office: $110,000

It is unfortunate that Dinner Rush could be found on only a limited number screens this past October, because this tiny, character-driven film served as the perfect appetizer to the feast of supposedly Oscar-worthy films served up later in the year. Dinner Rush stars Danny Aiello as Louie Cropa, a longtime restaurateur whose TriBeCa restaurant, Gigino, has become a New York hotspot thanks to its star chef, Udo, who happens to be Louie’s son. Despite the success of his business, Louie is less than thrilled that his traditional Italian restaurant has been transformed into a destination where getting the right table is more important than getting the right dish. During what turns out to be one of Gigino’s busiest nights yet, a series of loosely connected mini stories unfold, each of which provides unique insight into the many fascinating characters that come to life in this film. While much of the acting in Dinner Rush must be commended, it is the terrific direction by Bob Giraldi and the delectable screenplay by Brian Katala and Rick Shaughnessy that truly make this film the joy that it is.

11. Ocean’s Eleven

2001 Box Office: $136,996,174

Fresh off of his 2001 commercial and critical successes, Erin Brockovich and Traffic, Steven Soderbergh skillfully delivers a smart and stylish heist film in which the story is never overshadowed by any of the stars and mega-stars that make up its cast. Brad Pitt, Matt Damon, Bernie Mac, and Don Cheadle each give strong performances. Carl Reiner and Elliot Gould are perfectly cast as “old school” criminals. Andy Garcia is more than convincing in his roll as slimy casino owner Terry Benedict. And, much as he was in Out of Sight, George Clooney is perfect in the suave, tragic leading man role.

12. Sexy Beast

2001 Box Office: $6,946,056

Set on the gorgeous Spanish Costa del Sol, Sexy Beast is a smart and stylish (though not glossy) British film noir that tells of a former gangster named Gal Dove who desperately clings to his sunny retirement when a ruthless former accomplice named Don Logan comes calling. Ray Winstone plays the likable Gal to perfection and Ben Kingsley gives an unforgettably chilling performance as the detestable Logan.

13. The Gift

2001 Box Office: $11,994,000

This underrated and poorly marketed thriller directed by Sam Raimi, stars Cate Blanchett as Annie Wilson, a woman with psychic powers who is haunted by the mysterious disappearance of a young socialite played by Katie Homes. The screenplay from Billy Bob Thorton and Tom Epperson, despite dragging at times, is considerably smarter than 2000’s blockbuster What Lies Beneath, an utterly unthrilling thriller that lacked much originality beneath its slick veneer. Blanchett delivers such a compelling performance as the tormented Annie Wilson, that she would have almost certainly garnered at least some Oscar buzz for this role had The Gift been more effectively marketed. The film’s terrific cast also includes Hilary Swank, Giovanni Ribisi, Greg Kinnear, and Keanu Reeves in a surprisingly scary performance.

14. Legally Blonde

2001 Box Office: $96,520,600

In her latest film, Legally Blonde, Reese Witherspoon pours on the charm as Elle Woods, a blonde sorority queen who applies to Harvard Law School in a desperate attempt to convince her boyfriend that she is the “right type of girl” for him. Although screenwriter Karen McCullah Lutz’s silly script is engaging enough to keep the audience from wishing they had rented Clueless for the hundredth time instead of running out to see this movie, it is Reese Witherspoon’s hilarious performance that makes it truly worth their while. Elle lives her life freely guided by the pages of women’s fashion magazines. She is Cosmo girl incarnate. And while this has earned Elle the admiration of her sorority sisters, beyond the confines of her LA college campus this glossy exterior is easily mistaken for simple mindedness and naiveté. But Elle is as smart as they come and her supreme self-confidence leaves her virtually immune to the scorn and ridicule cast upon her as she attempts to carry out the zany plan to win back the man of her dreams.

15. The Taylor of Panama

2001 Box Office: $13,491,653

Though it loses its way at times, this quirky film about a British intelligence agent gone sour is a refreshing diversion from standard spy-thriller fare. Pierce Brosnan is great fun to watch as Andy Osnard, the furtive secret agent relegated to remote outpost in Panama after falling out of favor with his MI6 employers. Geoffrey Rush is perfectly cast as the blundering tailor whose life is upended after being recruited by Osnard. If Andrew Davies’ meandering screenplay doesn’t completely hold your attention, the sites and sounds of the Panamanian setting are still enough to impress.

16. Moulin Rouge

2001 Box Office: $57,044,922

Director Baz Luhrman has created a feast for the eyes and ears in this sinfully stylish film set in 1890s Paris about an idealistic poet who falls for a beautiful courtesan. It’s a rare treat to see such accomplished actors as Nicole Kidman and Ewan McGregor take this large a risk and pull it off so admirably.

17. Shrek

2001 Box Office: $267,665,011

Dreamworks likely had more fun taking pot shots at Disney when making this film then you’ll have watching it. Still, Eddie Murphy is hilarious as Duncan the donkey in this animated tale about a headstrong ogre on a quest to save a beautiful princess.

18. Bridget Jones’s Diary

2001 Box Office: $71,543,427

Bridget Jones’s Diary stars Renée Zellweger as Bridget Jones, a 32-year-old hopelessly single woman, who is constantly looking to her scatter-brained friends for advice in the matters of life and love. Bridget’s life is turned upside down when she ends up falling in love with the “wrong man,” while simultaneously capturing the unwanted affection of the “right man.” Although the derogatory connotation of “chick flick” makes it a phrase that is perhaps a bit too severe to apply to Bridget Jones’s Diary, there really is no escaping the fact that, at its core, this film is the quintessential “chick flick.” As Stephen Holden of The New York Times so succinctly stated, “[Bridget Jones’s Diary] relaxes into a standard-issue will-she-or-won’t-she-get-the-guy romantic comedy of crossed signals, misunderstandings and last-minute saves.” That being said, the film contains enough amusing moments and it’s lead performances by Renée Zellweger, Colin Firth, and Hugh Grant are strong enough to make Bridget Jones’s Diary a film that even the male species can enjoy.

19. Behind Enemy Lines

2001 Box Office: $51,023,000

Despite the fact that Behind Enemy Lines is supposedly loosely based on the real life events of Air Force pilot Scott O’Grady, nearly everything about this film comes across as entirely contrived. To make matters worse, the script is littered with silly dialogue, much of which unfortunately comes from the mouth of Gene Hackman’s character, Admiral Reigart. That being said, the well-choreographed action sequences (particularly a heart-pounding scene in which a Navy F/A-18 fighter jet attempts to evade several tenacious enemy surface-to-air missiles) and director John Moore’s unique visual flair are just enough to make this a film worth seeing.

20. K-Pax

2001 Box Office: $50,315,140

This film stars Kevin Spacey as a mysterious mental patient named Prot and Jeff Bridges as the doctor who seeks to discover whether his patient is a visitor from another planet, or simply a deeply disturbed man. Beneath its contrived surface, K-Pax provokes enough thought that it is faintly reminiscent of such earlier contemplative Jeff Bridges films as Fearless, The Fisher King, and Starman.

21. Blow

2001 Box Office: $ 52,765,901

During the late 1970’s and early 1980’s, if someone living in the U.S. were to have purchased cocaine, there was an 85% chance that it came by way of a man named George Jung. The fascinating story of how Jung came from a blue-collar suburban New England upbringing to become the chief conduit of expansion into the U.S. for Pablo Escobar’s Columbian drug cartel is detailed in the entertaining and enlightening film Blow directed by the late Ted Demme. While Blow, which stars Johnny Depp and Penélope Cruz, isn’t nearly as riveting as the grittier and more skillfully directed Traffic (or Scarface for that matter), it is worth seeing if for no other reason than it provides the historical context to the current drug problem in America that other “drug films” do not.

22. Save the Last Dance

2001 Box Office: $91,057,006

Convincing performances from Julia Stiles and Sean Patrick Thomas, along with some genuinely heartfelt moments, made this otherwise unnecessary Flashdance rip-off from MTV Films quite watchable.

23. The Anniversary Party

2001 Box Office: $4,047,329

The strong ensemble cast carries more weight than the script in this film cowritten and codirected by Jennifer Jason Leigh and Alan Cumming. The Anniversary Party offers a sneak peak into the lives of Sally and Joe Therrian, a movie actress and her novelist husband (played by Leigh and Cumming), who have reconciled after a brief but painful separation. Sally and Joe decide to celebrate their sixth anniversary with their closest friends by throwing a party at their Hollywood Hills home. Sure, the evening is filled with eating, drinking, gift giving and loads of laughs. But more importantly, it is a night of introspection and revelation for just about everyone involved.

While audiences are likely to find The Anniversary Party somewhat reminiscent of the 1983 film The Big Chill, Cumming and Leigh’s script often comes across with an air of forced self-importance, while Kasdan’s The Big Chill seemed to have a truer sense of sincerity. Still, The Anniversary Party, which does have several amusing moments and even some quite poignant ones, is a valiant effort by Cummings and Leigh.

24. Heartbreakers

2001 Box Office: $40,334,490

This poor man’s Grifters is barely salvaged by an ensemble cast that features Gene Hackman as a crusty, chain smoking millionaire who becomes the target of Sigourney Weaver’s con. Jason Lee, as always, is convincing as a likable local bar owner and Ray Liotta as a sleazy, but well-intentioned womanizer is at the heart of many of the movie’s truly funny scenes. It’s also quite interesting to watch Jennifer Love Hewitt’s continued attempt to shed the good girl persona she was saddled with during her years on “Party of Five.” Hopefully she will soon realize that placing too much emphasis on assets other than acting talent will only get her so far.

25. Vanilla Sky

2001 Box Office: $71,395,769

Vanilla Sky isn’t a bad film. In fact, its first forty minutes, which play out as well as any strong character-driven drama might, are quite entertaining. Then, Cameron Crowe lets his ambition get the better of him and the film contorts into a somewhat puzzling and wholly ineffectual quasi-fantasy. This is especially disappointing given that just last year Crowe delivered the truly touching Almost Famous. Also disappointing was the rather apathetic performance of Tom Cruise, who missed the perfect opportunity to combine into one character the best of what he offered in his inspired performances in Born on the Fourth of July and Rain Man.

26. Pearl Harbor

2001 Box Office: $198,542,554

Can a single scene rescue an otherwise insufferable film from becoming the worst reviewed movie of the year (an honor even more dubious considering Rob Schneider’s The Animal began plaguing theaters across the country just weeks after Pearl Harbor’s release)? It can when that scene spans 40 breathtaking and heartpounding minutes that brilliantly attempt to recreate Japan’s devastating surprise attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. Incredibly, Randall Wallace, the same person who is credited with the commendable screenplay for Braveheart, wrote the limp and uninspired script for Pearl Harbor. Wallace’s biggest faux pax is that he forces audiences to endure an agonizingly tedious first hour while his script takes its time establishing the story’s characters (someone forgot to tell Wallace that character doesn’t matter in a Jerry Bruckheimer blockbuster).

27. The Mummy Returns

2001 Box Office: $202,019,785

Not as entertaining as the first, but it’s still fun to travel along with Brendan Fraser, Rachel Weisz and John Hannah on their daring and exotic hyper-coaster-like journey. This time around, the trio must do battle against two evil foes - their old nemesis, Lord Imhotep, played by Arnold Vosloo, and the nefarious Scorpion King, played by Dwayne “the Rock” Johnson.

28. Shallow Hal

2001 Box Office: $68,429,000

The Farrelly brothers actually tone it down a bit in this story about a young man whose compulsion for out-of-his-league physically beautiful women is potentially cured after an encounter with self-help guru Tony Robbins. Jack Black tempers his schtick just enough to create a character that is empathetic and endearing, yet still obnoxiously funny. This enables him to convincingly hold his own with the large (literally) onscreen presence of Gwyneth Paltrow.

29. The Score

2001 Box Office: $71,107,711

The film’s basic premise of a quasi-retired master thief attempting to avoid being dragged into one last heist has been done to death. So, with a tedious plot that contains only a few fleeting moments of originality, The Score is hardly worth seeing despite a stellar cast that includes Robert DeNiro, Edward Norton, Marlon Brando and an underutilized Angela Bassett.

30. American Pie 2

2001 Box Office: $145,103,595

American Pie 2’s fruitless attempts to measure up to its clever predecessor are so transparent that it is impossible to find much humor in the countless sex gags that litter this empty sequel. This film’s only saving grace is that its attention to character gives it a dimension that most teen flicks lack, making it a relative standout in its stale genre.

31. Swordfish

2001 Box Office: $69,772,969

The plot is utterly ludicrous, but at least it’s not Battlefield Earth. The highly talented Don Cheadle’s appearance in this movie is even more puzzling than Halle Berry’s now infamous gratuitous topless scene.

32. Summer Catch

2001 Box Office: $19,037,255

Freddie Prinze Jr. plays Ryan Dunne, a local kid who spends the summer trying to make it as a professional baseball player and trying to make it with an upper class hottie. Sure, the script by Kevin Falls was littered with cliches, but Summer Catch generally steered clear of ripping off Bull Durham and the film’s ending wasn’t entirely predictable. And as long as Jessica Biel is happy to strut in front of the camera in a pink bikini and a wet T-shirt, do we really care if her “acting” makes Freddie Prinze Jr. seem like Laurence Olivier by comparison? In the end, the best one is likely to say about Summer Catch is that it didn’t completely suck. And that amounts to high praise for a Freddie Prinze Jr. movie!

33. Someone Like You

2001 Box Office: $26,714,909

Ashley Judd, Hugh Jackman and Greg Kinnear star in this shallow attempt at a romantic comedy. Adapted from the novel Animal Husbandry, Someone Like You tells the story of Jane Goodall, who, after suffering through countless failed relationships, develops a theory of interpreting male-female relations by observing the behaviors of wild animals. The intrepid Jane then decides to share her thoughts on the theory in an anonymous weekly editorial column of a men’s magazine. The thirty-second opening credits to Sex and the City are more insightful and have more substance than all 97 minutes of this predictable mess.

34. America’s Sweethearts

2001 Box Office: $93,607,673

With a star-studded cast that includes Julia Roberts, Catherine Zeta-Jones, John Cusack, Hank Azaria, Billy Crystal, Christopher Walken and Stanley Tucci, the terrible America’s Sweethearts is proof that writing matters. Other than a few amusing moments from Billy Crystal, this poor excuse for a romantic comedy about the relationship troubles of celebrity superstars is about as entertaining as a feminine hygiene commercial.

35. The Wedding Planner

2001 Box Office: $59,900,000

Even with the adorable Jennifer Lopez leading the cast, it is astonishing that Columbia Pictures had the audacity to release on the public this contrived and predictable movie about a workaholic wedding planner whose commitment to her profession keeps her from finding the man of her dreams. With $60 million in box office sales, you can almost hear the studio execs laughing.

36. Wet, Hot American Summer

2001 Box Office: $292,102

Set in the summer of 1981, this woefully unfunny “satirical comedy” follows a group of counselors who are each seeking a memorable last day of sleepaway camp. The only thing remotely comical offered up by the film’s creators, David Wain and Michael Showalter (formerly of MTV’s ‘’The State'’) are the myriad low-hanging period references (Dungeons & Dragons, Mattel electronics football, rope bracelets, etc.) that surface throughout the script. Some of the movie’s loosely stitched together scenes go so far beyond being an attempt at parody that they come across as quite bewildering. For example, what starts out as a brief afternoon outing into town for a “snacks and soda” run quickly devolves into a nickel-bag score (kinda funny) and then into a heroine binge in a crack house (huh?). Wain and Showalter could not have made a more worthless, insipid movie if they tried.