''Pipe Dream'' is a 2002

romantic comedy Romantic comedy (also known as romcom or rom-com) is a subgenre of comedy and slice of life fiction, focusing on lighthearted, humorous plot lines centered on romantic ideas, such as how true love is able to surmount most obstacles. In a typica ...

film, starring

Mary-Louise Parker Mary-Louise Parker (born August 2, 1964) is an American actress. After making her Broadway debut as Rita in Craig Lucas' '' Prelude to a Kiss'' in 1990 (for which she received a Tony Award nomination), Parker came to prominence for film roles i ...

and

Martin Donovan Martin Donovan (born Martin Paul Smith; August 19, 1957) is an American actor. He has had a long collaboration with director Hal Hartley, appearing in many of his films, such as ''Trust'' (1990), '' Surviving Desire'' (1991), '' Simple Men'' (199 ...

. The film was directed by John C. Walsh, who previously wrote and directed the film ''

Ed's Next Move ''Ed's Next Move'' is a 1996 American romantic comedy film written and directed by John Walsh. It stars Matt Ross, Callie Thorne, and Kevin Carroll. A micro-budget film about a transplanted Midwesterner adapting to life in New York's East Vill ...

''.

Plot summary

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

, David (Donovan), a plumber who is unsuccessful with women, creates a new identity as David Coppolberg, a film director, as a way to meet women. Due to his good looks and unfamiliarity with film, which passes for inscrutability, he is considered an

indie Indie is a short form of "independence" or "independent"; it may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Gaming *Independent video game development, video games created without financial backing from large companies *Indie game, any game (board ...

talent. Complicating the situation is the script stolen from Toni (Parker), who in turn uses his success to further her own ambitions.

Cast

as David Kulovic *

as Toni Edelman *

Rebecca Gayheart Rebecca Gayheart (born August 12, 1971) is an American actress and model. She began her career as a teen model in the 1980s and subsequently appeared in a student short film by Brett Ratner, with whom she had an extensive relationship. In the ea ...

as Marliss Funt * Anthony Arkin as Cousin Mike * Marla Sucharetza as Lorna Hufflitz * Kevin Carroll as RJ Martling * Kevin Sussman as James * Natalie B. Pyper as Melanie Phillips *

Guinevere Turner Guinevere Jane Turner is an American actress, screenwriter, and film director. She has written such films as ''American Psycho'' and '' The Notorious Bettie Page'' and played the lead role of the dominatrix Tanya Cheex in '' Preaching to the Per ...

as Diane Beltrami *

Peter Jacobson Peter Jacobson (born March 24, 1965) is an American actor. He is best known for his portrayal of Dr. Chris Taub on the Fox medical drama series ''House''. He also starred on the USA Network science fiction drama ''Colony'' as former Proxy Snyd ...

as Arnie Hufflitz *

Jill Hennessy Jillian Noel Hennessy (born November 25, 1968) is a Canadian actress and singer. She is most known for her roles on the American television series '' Law & Order'', on which she played prosecutor Claire Kincaid for three seasons, and ''Crossin ...

as Marina Peck

Reception

Entertainment Weekly ''Entertainment Weekly'' (sometimes abbreviated as ''EW'') is an American digital-only entertainment magazine based in New York City, published by Dotdash Meredith, that covers film, television, music, Broadway theatre, books, and popular cu ...

'' film critic Owen Gleiberman called ''Pipe Dream'' "One of the funniest films I've seen this year...". The picture was also dubbed "neo screwball" by Karen Durbin of the ''

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

''. Durbin notes, "In bringing class tensions into play for his sparring lovers, Mr. Walsh...revives an aspect of classic screwball that has become almost taboo in Hollywood even as the sexual strictures that once fueled the genre have dissolved." ''Pipe Dream'' was featured in ''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the U ...

'' film critic

Kenneth Turan Kenneth Turan (; born October 27, 1946) is an American retired film critic, author, and lecturer in the Master of Professional Writing Program at the University of Southern California. He was a film critic for the ''Los Angeles Times'' from 1991 ...

's 2004 book ''Never Coming To A Theater Near You''. The book features a group of some less-widely seen films he felt deserved more attention. Of this film and John C. Walsh's previous film ''

'', Turan writes, "The two films share Walsh's unmistakable sensibility, a gentle and unforced way of examining the vagaries of human behaviour that is as sure-handed and insightful as it is understated."

References

External links

* * * 2002 films 2002 romantic comedy films American romantic comedy films Films set in New York City 2000s English-language films 2000s American films {{2000s-romantic-comedy-film-stub