天生狂野

　　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?

　　亨利（考特尼·万斯 Courtney B. Vance 饰）是小镇上受人敬仰的牧师，他的妻子茱莉亚（惠特尼·休斯顿 Whitney Houston 饰）则是教会唱诗班的主唱，这对璧人在旁人眼中是一对天衣无缝的伉俪，可是实际上，他们要面临的问题远比一般人所设想的多得多。
　　作为一名牧师，亨利要做的事情并非只有传教那么简单，他还要负责处理教会中发生了许多棘手的意外，这令亨利感到疲惫不堪，与此同时，对于家庭的疏忽让他和茱莉亚之间的感情也亮起了红灯。某日，走投无路的亨利向上帝祈祷，希望主能够帮他度过难关，谁知道上帝真的实现了他的愿望，派来一位名叫杜德利（丹泽尔·华盛顿 Denzel Washington 饰）的天使来到了亨利的身边。