Eight sweets for you
and your sweetie

By Claire Wolfe

A dowdy, middle-aged housewife has always lived for the sake of her unappreciative husband and kids. Her kitchen wall is about the only friend she can tell her troubles to. Then she gets an unexpected chance to take a trip to the Greek Isles. She almost backs out, feeling there's no point, feeling her life is doomed to be without adventure. But she goes and finds...well, not quite what you'd expect.

An independent widow (Cher) and a wild beast of a young baker (Nic Cage) find love despite the tugs and pulls of family, duty, and being Italian. A marvelous, unconventional romance in which the moon over New York City is as much a character as the human actors. ("Moonstruck" can be heart-rending to watch because the twin towers of the World Trade Center are as prominent in this 1987 film as the night sky.)

When an honest cop (Nic Cage again!) doesn't have enough cash to pay a tip, he promises a waitress (Bridget Fonda) that he'll share half his lottery ticket with her. He hits a $4 million jackpot. His furious wife can't believe he's actually going to keep his promise to give half a fortune to the waitress. The tale is based (very loosely) on real events and will boost your faith in human nature.

C.D. Bales (Steve Martin) is a brave firefighter. He falls in love with beautiful Roxanne Kowalski (Daryl Hannah). Unfortunately, he believes his big ugly nose will keep her from loving him. (Is this starting to sound familiar?) So when he learns that his handsome but inarticulate pal Chris is also smitten with Roxanne, he helps Chris woo her with poetry and beautiful sentiments. One of the sweetest of all romances, with a noble message you might want to share with your teenagers.

Kathleen Turner is a successful romance writer whose real life is bland and unadventurous. She's swept into a life-threatening real-world adventure in the Columbian jungles with modern-day swashbuckler Michael Douglas. There's enough "Indiana Jones" here to please the guys, and enough romance for the ladies.

Johnny Depp plays a mysterious young man who ardently believes he's the historic lover Don Juan. He's clearly crazy, but his ardor is so charming and so eloquent that the shrink assigned to cure him (Marlon Brando, in a role very unlike his usual) finds his own marriage being revitalized by "Don Juan's" influence.

Dex may be overweight and under-achieving. But he has the awesome, carefully cultured ability to charm and win any woman he wants—except, of course, the one woman he discovers he really wants. For her, he has to learn to be a better, more genuine person.

When his young wife dies tragically, Bob (David Duchovny) donates her heart to an unknown recipient. He seems to be psychically attuned with that living part of his beloved, and when a year later he meets Grace (Minnie Driver), he falls instantly head over heels—not realizing his wife's heart is beating in her chest. Yep, it's sappy. But wonderfully acted and sweet as apple pie.