迈克（保罗·吉亚玛提 Paul Giamatti 饰）是一名小镇律师，在帮一位老年痴呆症老头里奥（波特·杨 Burt Young 饰）打监护权官司时，阴差阳错自己成了里奥的监护人。光照顾老头还不够，里奥的外孙凯尔（阿历克斯·夏夫尔 Alex Shaffer 饰）又不期而 至，他因为和吸毒的母亲不和来投靠外公，迈克一家只好收留他，并安排他到附近高中念书。迈克同时还兼任该所高中摔跤队教练，很快发现凯尔是个很有天赋的摔跤手。局面似乎很“双赢”，里奥和凯尔得到生活上的照顾，迈克的队伍里多了个主力，每个月还有1500元监护收入补贴家用。 但平衡因为凯尔母亲辛迪（梅兰妮·林斯基 Melanie Lynskey 饰）到来而打破，她想夺回里奥的监护权，母亲来了，凯尔也没理由再和迈克一家生活在一起，但只有凯尔明白，他母亲对他和祖父丝毫没有关爱，一切目的只是祖父的钱…
Ah Huang, Ah Qiang and Ah Hui have been friends for as long as they can remember. When Ah Huang's mounting debts drive him to desperate measures, Ah Qiang and Ah Hui agree to lend him money. He uses the money to build an illegal business. Even after the business become successful, he refuses to repay the money to his friends. However, when the business collapses, Ah Huang is forced to question everything as his family, friendships, and remaining money are all threatened.
Siskel and Ebert once ran a special show entitled "Movies I'm Embarrassed to Admit I Liked." I suppose that if I composed such a list of guilty pleasures, this one would be one of them . . . but upon reflection, it's really a lot better than that. Fifteen year-old science prodigy Mitch (Gabe Jarret) is recruited by ambitious college professor William Atherton (in yet another of his patented roles as a loathsome character) to work on the professor's prize laser project, not knowing that the prof is really developing a government weapon. Along the way, Mitch is befriended by Chris (Val Kilmer), another prodigy a few years his senior who teaches the Mitch how to loosen up. This could have degenerated into nothing more than just another teen revenge comedy, but there's so much more: the dialogue is laced with sharp wit there are some lovely scenes that have nothing to do with the story yet are carefully set up, almost as blackouts (e.g., Mitch goes to a lecture at which a few students have left tape recorders instead of attending later, at another lecture there are more tape recorders than students and, in a final scene, one large tape recorder gives the lecture to a room populated by nothing but other small recorders!) and throw-away scenes that make you want to stop and back up the tape (e.g., Chris off-handedly cutting a slice off a bar of solid nitrogen to make a slug for the coffee machine). It's also one of the few movies to boast the presence of the memorable Michelle Meyerink -- as Jordan, the "girl-nerd" who made being smart and female something to be emulated. And there's Tears for Fears great song, "Everybody Wants to Rule the World" providing the perfect coda as the closing credits begin to roll . . . . Yes: really now, what's there to be embarrassed about?
