SHALL WE DANCE [2004]

Step Out Of The Ordinary
 

The rumba is the vertical expression of a horizontal wish. 
You have to hold her, like the skin on her thigh is your reason for living. 
Let her go, like your heart's being ripped from your chest. 
Throw her back, like you're going to have your way with her right here on the dance floor. 
And then finish, like she's ruined you for life. 

[Paulina]

[Bobbie]: ...and stop looking at my ass. 

[John Clark]: I'll try. 

[Paulina]: What made you wanna dance? 

[John Clark]: You. 
Looking out that window, right there. 
You could see it from the train. 
Every night, I'd come home from work & I'd look for you, your face... 
you looked on the outside the way I was feeling on the inside. 

[Paulina]: I was watching you, too. 
From the window, I saw you practicing on the platform.  
That night I said all those thing to you, I didn't think I'd ever see you again. 
But you kept coming back. 

*****

MAID IN MANHATTAN [2002]

This Christmas ... Love Checks In

Chris: What's your name?
Ty: Ty.
 Chris: Nice to meet you, Ty. I'm Chris.
Jerry: I'm bald and no one in particular.
Ty: I know who you are.
Chris: Yeah, what do you know?
Ty: I know that you're the state assemblyman.
I know you're thinking of running for senator.
I know your voting record and your stand on environmental causes.
Chris: Great.
Jerry: Look, I hate to interrupt, but...
Ty: Are you Republican?
Chris: Yes.
Jerry: Why?
Ty: Richard Nixon was Republican.
Jerry: So what?
Ty: He lied.
Jerry: So, what does that mean?
Ty: Nothing.
Jerry: Okay, who told you to ask these questions?
Ty: Nobody.
Jerry: What press are you affiliated with?
Ty: I'm 10

Marisa: What is it for?Chris: For the inner-city literacy campaign, something I support.
Marisa: Wait a minute.
Isn't that the guy who hired Yatter to get pictures of you?
Chris: Yes, it is.
Marisa: I don't get it. Why would you go?
Chris: It's exposure.
Marisa: Won't everyone know you're there just to expose yourself?
Chris: Well, I kind of have to expose myself.
When you put it that way...
Marisa: I didn't. You put it that way.
I don't care how much you pay for dinner.
You shouldn't serve yourself up, no matter what the cause.
Chris: So why don't you tell me what you really think?
Marisa: You really want me to tell you what I think?
Okay. If this Mr. Wanton Maddox, or whatever his name is, really wants to help
why doesn't he give the $2500 per plate to the inner-city schools?
And eat a little bit lighter that night, you know?
Chris: So why don't you come with me and tell him yourself?

Marisa: What am I supposed to do? Make his bed with me in it?
Get real!
 He thinks I'm a guest here.
Stephanie: All right, all right...
But just tell me what he was like.
Marisa: Ohhh, sexy eyes.
And nice lips.
Stephanie: What about the hands? Were they big?
Marisa: They were perfect.
Stephanie: Perfect works.

Marisa: You filled out an application for me?
Stephanie: They're considering you.
Marisa: Do you know what you've done?
Stephanie: I did you a favor.
Marisa: No.
If you wanna do me a favor, then mind your own business once in a while.
Stephanie: For 2 years, you've yapped about getting out of uniform and what ideas you got.
 This morning, I'm having coffee with Rosalie from personnel and I ask her.
I go, "Marisa got a shot?"
She goes, "Marisa who?"
I go, "Marisa Ventura. She's applied."
She goes, "If she applied, I'd slip it to the top of the pile."
So I just act real nonchalant like and I go, "Are you sure?"
So she goes, she double-checks, and she tells me, 
"Marisa Ventura ain't never applied for no management program ever."
Imagine my shock and dismay.
My own partner lying to me like that.
Then I figured maybe you were too chickenshit, so I did it myself.
If they took you, you'd be happy.
And if they didn't, you wouldn't know the difference.
So sue me!
These are the golden years, we gotta prove our mothers wrong.
Don't waste them.

Marisa: What we did today was wrong.
Ty: But you didn't really lie. Not technically.
Marisa: Now you're starting to sound like Richard Nixon.
Listen, let someone believe it's true but it's not is just as much a lie as a lie is.
I let him think I was staying in the suite, not cleaning it.
I'm the maid, Ty.
Ty: Ma, I hate to break it to you, but I don't think he's after your money.
Marisa: I can't believe you just said that!

Caroline: What do you think? Dolce coat, Gucci pants or Ralph Laurent skirt, Manolo pumps?
Rachel: Let's see. 
How about the pants, open sandals, see-through blouse, colored bra and carry the Dolce coat for effect.
Caroline: Maria?
Rachel: She barely speaks English.
Caroline: Maria, what do you think?
Marisa: What about the beaded skirt with that beige crocheted halter that you have in the closet?
You know, casual sexy. No stockings.
Definitely eighty-six the coat.
It sends the wrong message.
Looks like you're going some place.
Besides, that whole see-through blouse, colored-bra thing, 
reads a little desperate older gal, trying too hard, don't you think?
You want to make him work for it.

Chris: Lionel, who is that over there?
Lionel: Caroline Lane.
Chris: No, it's not her.
Lionel: Not her?

Chris: You know who I can't figure out where I know them from?
The woman visiting you the other day, kind of Mediterranean, with a little boy about 10...
Caroline: Rachel Hoffberg.
Mediterranean? She's from Westport.

Chris: She's about 5'6", dark hair, really beautiful, has a kid named Ty.
What the hell happened?
Lionel: I'm sorry, sir.
Chris: Don't be sorry. Just find her.
Pleaseeee....

Jerry: Who the hell is she?
Chris: I'll tell you who she isn't.
She isn't like anyone I've met before. And she isn't a phony.

You are not in love with this man.
He is not in love with you.
You have no connections, affiliations or loyalties.
You're from 2 different worlds.
Do you hear me?
~Stephanie Kehoe

Caroline: Excuse me, haven't we met?
I'm Caroline Lane, and you're...
Marisa: Sotheby's Caroline Lane?
Oh, that's wonderful to see you again.
Caroline: I just knew we knew each other. I never forget a face.
Wow! Is that a Harry Winston wreath?
They haven't made that design since the late 60's.
Marisa: You're very good.
Excuse me, I have to go.
Caroline: Listen, just between us girls, are you here with Chris?
Marisa: Can you keep a secret?
Caroline: Of course.
Marisa: Good. So can I.

Chris: Do you have somewhere else to be?
Marisa: No, I just have to leave.
Chris: You're not leaving. You're running.
What I can't figure out is, 
are you running towards something you want, 
or are you running away from something you're afraid to want?
Marisa: Look, I've made so many mistakes already, I just don't want to make it worse.
Chris: You won't. I promise.

Caroline: Oh, Chris, I can't help but feel that this is partly my fault.
Chris: It isn't, spare yourself.
Caroline: At least let me buy you lunch.
After all, we've only got each other to get through this humiliation.
Chris: Caroline, the first lunch was a mistake.
A second would be complete torture.
Caroline: Drinks, then?

Sometimes we're forced in directions that we ought to have found for ourselves.
~Lionel Bloch

To serve people takes dignity and intelligence.
But remember, they're only people with money.
Although we serve them, we are not their servants.
What we do, Miss Ventura, does not define who we are.
What defines us is how well we rise after falling.
I think you'll make a wonderful manager someday.
It's been a great honor to work with you.
~Lionel Bloch

Chris: I don't get it, what just happened?
Marisa: What don't you get? I'm the maid.
Chris: What was all this? Some kind of bet?
A little game of what, get-the-guests?
Marisa: No!
I was trying on her clothes and you were there, and then you invited me out, and everything...
Chris: And you thought you had to lie to keep me interested?
Marisa: Who's kidding who here?
You think you would've looked at me if you knew I was the maid?
Come on, with all due respect for your big-hearted politics, I don't think so, Mr. Assemblyman.
Chris: How do you know, you didn't give me a chance.
You stand on your soapbox, judging everyone, so sure they're judging you.
Marisa: And you think they're not?
Come on, half the time, I'm a stereotype they make fun of.
The other half that I'm invincible.
Maybe that's the point.
The first time you saw me, I was cleaning your bathroom floor, only you didn't see me.
Chris: Was I supposed to introduce myself while taking a leak?
You can't nail me for that.

Chris: Marisa, I just want the truth.
Marisa: You want the truth?
There was a part of me that wanted to see what it felt like 
to have someone like you look at me the way you did, just once.
And I'm sorry, truly.
If I could rewind the past week, I would.
Chris: Was any of it real?
Marisa: Yeah, it was real.
It was so real it made me wonder how I was ever gonna give you up.
But I had to give you up, that was the plan.
And then, last night, I couldn't.

Veronica: What were you thinking, going out with someone like that?
Marisa: Someone like what?
Veronica: Chris Marshall.
You had to pretend to be somebody else so he'd go out with you?
Where is your pride, Marisa?
Marisa: People like you make people like him a some kind of God.
Why, because he's rich? White?
He has things we don't have that we don't want to dream about?
It must really burn you that I think I have the right to go out with him.

Marisa: I love you, Mom, I do.
But I don't want to clean houses.
There's nowhere to go from there.
Veronica: Hasn't this taught you anything, Marisa?
Wake up, little girl, you have responsibilities.
And they come every month like clockwork.
You want to end up back in the projects?
Keep dreaming dreams that will never happen.
You want to put food on the table? Call Senora Rodriguez.
Marisa: You're right, Ma, I'm a good cleaning lady.
I'll start over, but not with Mrs. Rodriguez.
I'm gonna find a job as a maid in some hotel.
After some time passes, I'm gonna apply for the management program.
And when I get the chance to be a manager, and I will, Ma, I know I will,
I'm gonna take that chance without any fear.
Without your voice in my head telling me that I can't.

 Ty: Isn't it weird, when you'll be there, he'll be there?
Marisa: And so will a thousand other people.
We talked about this.
Ty: I know but it's like a fate.
Marisa: No, it's like New York city and an available conference room.

Ty: I know everyone makes mistakes.
And as a characters, to give the person a second chance, right?
Chris: Right, I'm with you.
Ty: Even if someone lied, they should be forgiven.
Otherwise, we'd never have any congressmen or presidents.
What if you're not a politician trying to do good for everybody?
What if you're just a regular person, like a maid or something?
And she made mistake.
Do you think she could get a second chance?
I mean, nobody's perfect, right?
Chris: No, nobody's perfect.
Ladies and gentlemen of the press, take a look at a future candidate.

Chris: Can we start over?
Second chance, second date? You as you, me as me. No secrets.
What do you think?
Marisa: Marisa Ventura. Housekeeping
Chris: Chris Marsall, Candidate for Senate.
I appreciate your vote.
Marisa: We'll see.


*****

THE WEDDING PLANNER [2001]

His Big Day Is Her Big Problem

[seeing Steve picking out his colorful chocolate]
Mary: What are you doing?
Steve: I only eat the brown ones.
Mary: Because?
Steve: 'Cause I figure they have less artificial coloring cause chocolate's already brown.
Mary: That's very scientific of you, dr. Steve.

Mary: I don't know, Fran.
I've been so out of the dating-relationship loop.
Fran: You?
Mary: You know, those who can't do, teach?
Those who can't wed, plan.

[while they're dancing]
Mary: You told me your name was Steve.
Steve: It is Steve.
My last name is Edison.
Fran calls me Eddie. It's a nickname.
Mary: I have a better nickname for you.
How about common, cheating, sleazy...
Steve: If you're thinking...
Mary: What I'm thinking involves a machete and a pair of pliers.
Steve: Okay... the day that you had the accident...
Mary: That was a special day.
Steve: It was.
I was running late.
I was meeting Fran and our wedding planner, which you turned out to be.
What's the odds?
Mary: Don't dance around the issue.
You didn't show cause you don't wanna get married.
I see it all the time.
Steve: You see what?
Mary: Why'd you tell your fiance you saved an old lady?
[Steve cannot answer her]
Exactly!
You think you want to get married, but you don't.
You're pitiful and confused, looking to get some hot pepper wherever you can.
Steve: Mary, you have no idea what you're talking about.
Mary: Then why did you go to the movies with me?
Steve: Why did Steve go to the movies with you? Let's see...
First of all, Steve likes the movie.
Steve had the night off.
Steve said, "Hey, you know what? A movie sounds good."
Plus he got an invitation.
Mary: Why is Steve referring to himself in the third person?
Steve: What are you talking about?
Mary: You think you can double- talk your way out, throw me off your scent?
I smell you!
Steve: And I smell like sweet red plums and grilled cheese sandwiches.
Mary: What?
Steve: Yes. You said that before you passed put.
Mary: I did not!
Steve: You did too.
If anybody was looking to get some, it's M-A-R-Y.
Mary: You are hideous.
Steve: Then why'd you ask me to dance?
Mary: I didn't.
Steve: You did too.
Mary: I did not!
Steve: You said, "Would you like to dance?"
Mary: And even if I did, I'm not the one who's engaged.
Steve: It was a dance, whoop-dee-doo, it didn't mean anything.
Mary: Then why'd you almost kiss me?

Penny: There's only one good reason to quit a wedding is if you break the cardinal rule...
which is ridiculous because we both know you did not fall in love with the groom.
[Mary makes a guilty expression]
No! You didn't! Bad!
Mary: No, no, of course not!
I'd never get emotionally involved.
Never! Never!
It's the doctor.
Penny: I'm confused. Is it the doctor, or did you fall for the groom?
Mary: No, the doctor is the groom.
The groom is the doctor.
The doctor is Fran Donolly's fiance!
-
Dr. John: The dumpster girl is your wedding planner?
Steve: Yes. I'm in hell.
Dr. John: And I'm in heaven.
Now you can fix me up with her.
Steve: I'm not fixing you up, Dr. John.
Look, this is complicated enough.
-
Penny: You are one of the top wedding planners in this great, big, thriving metropolis.
Look on the positive side.
He got you to open up again.
Tank the bastard and move on.
You cannot tell me you would sacrifice your entire career over this!
-
Dr. John: You're not telling me that you think it's a mistake to marry Fran now?
Steve: No, I don't think it's a mistake to marry Fran.
Fran is great.
It's just that... what if what I think is great really is great,
but it's not as great as something greater?
-
Penny: You will go through with this wedding!
 Why?
Because you deserve this partnership. You've earned it!
Mary: You're right.
Penny: Of course I'm right!
Mary: Of course you're right.
-
Dr. John: Your feelings for her, that's not chemistry, that's anxiety.
It's nature.
Steve: It' natural.
Naturaalll. 
It's not chemistry, it's anxiety.
-
Mary: I can do this. I can plan this wedding.
-
Steve: And the feelings I have for Fran run deep.
It's not something that can be swept away in one night with one dance.
Dr. John: Not gonna happen.
Steve: What the hell was I thinking?
Dr. John: You were thinking wrong.
Steve: I was thinking wrong.
I was being a jackass. Come on, Steve.
-
Mary: And I can treat that jackass like any other faceless groom.
That's just what I'm gonna do.
Why?
Because he's nothing!
Because I love a challenge!
And because I am a goddamn professional!
-
Dr. John: So, you're gonna give me her number?
Steve: No, I'm not.

You want a confession in blood?
That night, at the movie, I was attracted to you.
I was. You caught me. I admit it.
Maybe I was a little unsure about the whole marriage thing, I don't know.
Maybe I was just being a guy and an opportunity presented itself.
Bottom line? I never thought I'd see you again.
Bottom line? Nothing happened.
Bottom line? Now, more than ever, I believe Fran is the one for me.
So, I would say, based on the evidence,
all your theories on love sound like the rantings of a bitter, cynical woman.
~Steve Edison

We met on the day of our wedding.
We couldn't even look at each other.
I was in love with another girl, and your mother wanted nothing to do with me.
She said I had big eye brows and a low IQ.
Anyway, one day I got very sick with scarlet fever and she stayed by my side.
She took good care of me.
For the first time, I appreciated her.
Then the appreciation grew to respect.
Respect grew to like.
Then like grew to love.
A deeper love than I could ever hope for.
~Salvatore Fiore

You need to learn patience.
Love can't always be perfect.
Love is just love.
~Massimo

Steve: I barely know you.
I don't know your dad's first name.
I don't know if you ever wore braces or contacts or glasses.
I have no idea how you came to be a wedding planner, Mary.
But I know the curves of your face, and I know every feck of gold in your eyes.
And I know that that night in the park was the best time I've ever had.
Please say something.
Mary: I'm a magnet for unavailable men, and I'm sick of it.
It's simple.
I know Fran.
I respect her.
And she loves you.
So, beside your tux measurements, that's all I need to know.

I know I never done the right thing, I never say the right thing, and I act like a fool.
I know I say we're just buddy-buddy friends, but that would not be true to my heart.
So I ask you this one question.
And if you answer no, then I will leave you alone once and for all.
Be my wife, Mary Fiore, and I will take care of you and be true to you.
And like this house I built for your dolls, I will make sure you have a strong roof over your head.
If you answer is yes, then no one will ever love you as much as I love you.
If you answer is yes, you will make me the happiest man on the earth.
~Massimo

Salvatore: I look in your eyes and it hurts me inside.
This is not what you want. This is what I want.
Shame on me!
Mary: I'm so lucky to have a father like you.
But you're right.
Love isn't like some enchanted evening, isn't a fairy tale, or even love at first sight.
That isn't real life.
Massimo's a good man, don't worry, Papa.
I know what I'm doing.
I'm just all grown up now.

[while Mary picking up the colored chocolates]
Steve: Why are you only eating the brown ones?
Mary: Because someone once said that they had less artificial coloring,
because chocolate's already brown.
And it kind of stayed with me.
Steve: You kind of stayed with me.


*****

JACK [1996]

Jack Powell Is About To Tackle His Biggest Adventure Ever... Fifth Grade!

Mom, am I a giant?

[Jack]

What do I want to be when I grow up? Alive.

[Jack]

*****