''My Sexiest Year'' is a 2007 American

romantic comedy Romantic comedy (also known as romcom or rom-com) is a sub-genre of comedy and Romance novel, romance fiction, focusing on lighthearted, humorous plot lines centered on romantic ideas, such as how true love is able to surmount all obstacles. Ro ...

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. The drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular ...

starring Frankie Muniz and

Harvey Keitel Harvey Keitel ( ; born May 13, 1939) is an American actor and film producer, known for his portrayal of morally ambiguous and "tough guy" characters. He rose to prominence during the New Hollywood movement, and has held a long-running associatio ...

and was written and directed by Howard Himelstein. The film is a romantic

coming-of-age Coming of age is a young person's transition from being a child to being an adult. The specific age at which this transition takes place varies between societies, as does the nature of the change. It can be a simple legal convention or can b ...

story in which the kindness bestowed by a glamorous

model A model is an informative representation of an object, person, or system. The term originally denoted the plans of a building in late 16th-century English, and derived via French and Italian ultimately from Latin , . Models can be divided in ...

is returned 30 years later by the young man in whom she inspired the first stirrings of confidence and love. The film takes place in 1970s

Miami Miami is a East Coast of the United States, coastal city in the U.S. state of Florida and the county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade County in South Florida. It is the core of the Miami metropolitan area, which, with a populat ...

and was shot in various locations such as Collins Avenue and Coral Gables Senior High School. The film had its world premiere at the 2007

Hamptons International Film Festival The Hamptons International Film Festival (HIFF) is an international film festival founded in 1992, by Joyce Robinson. The festival has since taken place every year in East Hampton, New York. It is usually an annual five-day event in mid-October ...

. As of 2022, the film has yet to receive a DVD/Blu-ray release date.

Plot

Jake Stein ( Frankie Muniz) is a 17-year-old who lives with his sick mother and grandfather in

Brooklyn Brooklyn is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City located at the westernmost end of Long Island in the New York (state), State of New York. Formerly an independent city, the borough is coextensive with Kings County, one of twelv ...

. He wants nothing more than to be a writer, but when his mother's health takes a turn for the worse, Jake is sent to Miami to live with his father, "Zowie" (

), a small-time " handicapper" who gives

horse racing Horse racing is an equestrian performance activity, typically involving two or more horses ridden by jockeys (or sometimes driven without riders) over a set distance for competition. It is one of the most ancient of all sports, as its bas ...

tips for a living. Not much of a parent, Zowie has shirked his fatherly responsibilities for most of his son's life. Nonetheless, Jake is excited about the prospects of bonding with his father in sunny Miami. Jake quickly befriends Mark, a local rich kid, whose excessive drug use helps him get through the pressures of teenage life in Southern Florida, where the "in" crowd only cares about how much money one's parents make, who's coming to one's pool party, and whether or not one is getting laid. As Jake tries to navigate the waters of his new home—while trying to connect with his eccentric father—he meets Marina ( Amber Valletta), a famous

who is in town for a photo shoot; the two quickly bond. Jake reminds Marina of her younger brother, who died in a motorcycle accident, and Jake is unable to get over the fact that such a beautiful woman is interested in him. But just when things seem to be going right, all goes terribly wrong. Jake must figure out how to become a man, if he is ever going to finish writing his

memoir A memoir (; , ) is any nonfiction narrative writing based on the author's personal memories. The assertions made in the work are thus understood to be factual. While memoir has historically been defined as a subcategory of biography or autob ...

Cast

* Frankie Muniz as Jake Stein ** Christopher McDonald as Adult Jake Stein *

as Zowie * Amber Valletta as Marina * Ryan Cabrera as Rickie * Haylie Duff as Debbie *

Karolína Kurková Karolína Kurková (; born 28 February 1984) is a Czech model known for her work as a former Victoria's Secret Angel and '' Vogue'' cover star. Mario Testino praised the "proportions of her body and her face, as well as her energy level", which ...

as Pia *

Frances Fisher Frances Louise Fisher (born May 11, 1952) is an American actress. She began her career in theater and later starred as Detective Deborah Saxon in the CBS daytime soap opera ''The Edge of Night'' (1976–1981). In film, she is known for her rol ...

as Faye * Allan Rich as Papa * Victor Alfieri as Fabrizio Contini * Nick Zano as Pierce * Rachel Specter as Sue Ryker * Dan Levy as Mark * Daphna Kastner as Gloria * Noah Matthews as Mikey * Ali Costello as Allison * Chick Bernhard as Rosie * Ashley Blackwell as Rena * Jill Curran as Tammy * Nay K. Dorsey as Jimbo * Angelina Hakansson as Karina * Michelle Jones as Shelly Jenkins * Luis Selgas as Freddy Wilson * Alfred Nittoli as Gene * Ante Novakovic as Ange * Luke Pierucci as Vinny * Sal Richards as Nick * Jennifer Safina as Liz * Anthony Schweiker as Eddie * Roger Wilson as Paul * Evis Xheneti as Greta * Christine Hitt as Pool Girl (uncredited)

References

External links

* * {{rotten-tomatoes, my_sexiest_year 2007 films 2007 romantic comedy-drama films American romantic comedy-drama films Films scored by Anthony Marinelli 2000s English-language films 2000s American films English-language romantic comedy-drama films