Absolutely Fabulous was first broadcast in 1992 and became an instant hit. Originally a sketch on the French and Saunders Show, Jennifer Saunders saw its potential and created one of the most ground-breaking and debauched comedies on British TV. Centred around the hip London fashion scene the series follows Edina (Saunders) and Patsy (Joanna Lumley), two women who refuse to grow up and are constantly on a mission to lose weight, gorging themselves with cocaine and/or champagne, endlessly throwing parties (or throwing up at parties) and sporting outrageous outfits which were the height of fashion at the time-honestly sweetie! The superb comic performances offered star status to Julia Sawalha as Edina's straight-laced daughter and Jane Horrocks as the sublimely dippy Bubble, and re-invented the careers of Joanna Lumley and June Whitfield. Saunders meanwhile secured her status as one of the top female comedians Britain has ever produced. Although its consciously chic clothing looks a little dated now, its mad characterisations endure and the jokes remain as hilariously slick and apt as ever. Ab Fab remains a landmark in TV since it was the first time that female comedians and writers had had the freedom and exposure to satirise problems close to their own heart, from their own perspective. With Feminist writers claiming that the ideals of feminism were dead in the 1990s and that female concerns were moving in the wrong direction-towards the "Laddette Culture"-and reports claiming that careers were taking a central role, forcing motherhood onto the back-burner, the series sought to embody and satirise these new supposedly "female" characteristics. As the show continued to grow in opularity both in Britain and the States, plans were made to transfer the formula to America. However, as with many other great British series, the content was considered too risky for American audiences due to the amount of sex and drug references. Thus domestic audiences breathed a sigh of release that their beloved Ab Fab would forever stay British to the core. [+]

The ultimate small-screen representation of Loaded-era lad culture-albeit a culture constantly being undermined by its usually sharper female counterpart-there seems little argument that Men Behaving Badly was one of 1990s' definitive sitcoms. Certainly the booze-oriented, birds-obsessed antics of Martin Clunes' Gary and Neil Morrissey's Tony have become every bit as connected to Britain's collective funny bone as Basil Fawlty's inept hostelry or Ernie Wise's short, hairy legs. Yet, the series could easily have been cancelled when ITV viewers failed to respond to the original version, which featured Clunes sharing his flat with someone named Dermot, played by Harry Enfield. Indeed, it was only when the third series moved to the BBC and was then broadcast in a post-watershed slot-allowing writer Simon Nye greater freedom to explore his characters' saucier ruminations-that the show began to gain a significant audience. By then, of course, Morrissey had become firmly ensconced on the collective pizza-stained sofa, while more screen time was allocated to the boys' respective foils, Caroline Quentin and Leslie Ash. Often glibly dismissed as a lame-brained succession of gags about sex and flatulence, the later series not only featured great performances and sharp-as-nails writing but also sported a contemporary attitude that dared to go where angels, and certainly most other sitcoms, feared to tread. Or, as Gary was once moved to comment about soft-porn lesbian epic Love in a Women's Prison: "It's a serious study of repressed sexuality in a pressure-cooker environment. " Series 6 includes: "Stag Night" in which Gary agrees with Dorothy's suggestion they get married ("We've tried everything else. ") provoking potentially disastrous stag-night shenanigans; "Wedding" in which Gary and Dorothy's wedding day fails to run smoothly. ("I don't want to get married-I haven't slept with enough women," he complains. [+]

As she does in The Truth About Cats and Dogs, Janeane Garofalo proves she's a capable leading lady-beautiful, charming, self-effacing, and what used to be referred to as sharp as a tack. Garofalo plays Marcy, aide to dim Massachusetts senator McGlory (Jay O. Sanders). Denis Leary is appropriately slimy as a fellow aide. The senator and Nick dispatch Marcy to the remote (and fictitious) Irish town of Ballinagra, where she's supposed to unearth relatives to use in the senator's PR campaign. Along the way, Marcy not only encounters the eccentric locals, but finds herself in the maelstrom of the town's annual matchmaking festival. The single Marcy inadvertently catches the eye of the movie's eponymous matchmaker Dermot (a captivating Milo O'Shea). Dermot senses sparks between Marcy and the equally cynical, recently returned local boy, Sean (David O'Hara), once a successful journalist who's returned home to work on a book. The intimacies of the small town, the relationships between the locals, and the dialogue are credible and engaging. Look for beautiful cinematography and music, too. [+]

The joined-at-the-hip team of director Richard Donner and star Mel Gibson (all the Lethal Weapon movies and Conspiracy Theory) had obvious fun resurrecting the Wild Western comedy television series about a roguish rambler-gambler. In Maverick, Gibson assumes the role of cardsharp Bret Maverick, equally quick with a pair of aces and a pair of guns. Good sport James Garner (who played Maverick on TV) takes another role, as a lawman who travels alongside the hero to a big-money poker game on a riverboat. The real peach in this fruit salad of satire and broad jokes, however, is Jodie Foster, who plays a crafty Southern belle quite adept at poker herself. Sexy, funny, and (from the onscreen evidence) a great kisser, Foster has never been more of a delight. Written by William Goldman (Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid). -Tom Keogh.

Sometimes grace and hope come in surprising packages. The title character of Hedwig and the Angry Inch-a would-be glam-rock star from East Germany-undergoes a botched gender-change operation in order to escape from the Soviet bloc, only to watch the Berlin Wall come down on TV after being abandoned in a trailer park in middle America. Hedwig gets involved with Tommy, an adolescent boy who steals her songs and becomes a stadium-filling musical act. Suffering from a broken heart and a lust for revenge, Hedwig follows Tommy's tour, playing with her band (The Angry Inch) at tacky theme restaurants. Into this simple storyline, writer-director-star John Cameron Mitchell packs an astonishing mix of sadness, yearning, humour and kick-ass songs with a little Platonic philosophy tucked inside for good measure. A visually dazzling gem of a movie. -Bret Fetzer, Amazon. com.

For the satirist, country music has always presented the slowest moving of targets; the genre wears its absurdities on its sleeve, has an appeal which baffles non-adherents and is generally most beloved by people who don't pay money to watch the clever mock things they believe are beneath them. On paper, then, Otis Lee Crenshaw-the creation of American comic Rich Hall-should be about as funny as the Barron Knights in ten-gallon hats. The reality is that Crenshaw, as evinced by this recording of a performance before a nigh hysterical London audience, is very funny indeed. This is because Hall's satire is grounded, one suspects, in an abiding love of country music and as such is laughing with the music and fans rather than at it; he holds an unmistakable depth of knowledge of its conventions and idioms. In a guttural drawl evocative of what John Hiatt might sound like with a broken jaw, Hall/Crenshaw delivers a series of impeccably observed pastiches, inspired improvisations and, most memorably, a triumphant deconstruction of "Jailhouse Rock". -Andrew Mueller.

Although Sandra Bullock and Hugh Grant display little on-screen romantic chemistry in Two Weeks Notice, by having them do what they do best the film manages to work around the missing key ingredient. Bullock is on top form as a bumbling but clever woman who is left ashore by her eco-warrior boyfriend and begins to work (against her better judgement) for Grant, the well-spoken and charming yet inept public face of a multi-million-pound building empire. Although sparks conspicuously fail to fly between them, the two make for genial pals and, as a result, the fact that little romance is evident until the end is actually a bonus. It would be easy to dismiss this as just another Hollywood star vehicle, a formulaic rom-com that could have been produced anytime in the last 50 years or so. But it is impossible to deny that, although offering nothing new, the script does at least work well. In casting the stars exactly to type, making no social comment and leaving the audience happily gorged on feel-good vibes by the end, if nothing else Two Weeks Notice at least offers universal appeal. -Nikki Disney.

Hancock turns the standard superhero movie inside-out. The titular character, played by Will Smith, can fly, has super strength and is invulnerable. But he's also a sloppy, arrogant alcoholic who causes millions of dollars in property damage whenever he bothers to fight crime. When he saves the life of a PR agent named Ray (Jason Bateman, Arrested Development), Ray decides to improve Hancock's image-starting by having Hancock surrender himself to the authorities and go to prison for his lawless behaviour. The idea is that once he's in prison, the crime rate will go up and people will start realising Hancock might be of value after all. This is only the first act of Hancock though-from there, the film takes several surprising turns that shouldn't be revealed. Hancock isn't a great movie, but it is an extremely entertaining one. The script, which holds together far better than most superhero movies, has a propulsive plot, good dialogue, some compassion for its characters, and even an actual idea or two. The spectacular action at least gestures towards obeying the laws of physics, which actually makes the special effects more vivid. The three leads (Smith, Bateman, and Charlize Theron as Ray's wife, Mary) deftly balance the movie's mixture of comedy, action, and drama. [+]

Writer Paul Rudnick knows a good idea when he hears one. When Tom Hanks talked about his openly gay high school drama teacher after winning the Oscar for Philadelphia, Hanks had already warned the teacher about the prime-time speech. For Rudnick's comedy, golden-boy star Cameron Drake (Matt Dillon) announces at the Oscars (in a great lampoon of the ceremony) that his high school teacher was his inspiration, and by the way, he's gay. It's a shock to Howard Brackett's (Kevin Kline) small world in the corn belt. That includes his students, parents, coworkers and most importantly, his soon to be bride (Joan Cusack). Rudnick, the most successful and outspoken gay screenwriter-playwright (Jeffrey, The Addams Family) working today has hit cinematic gold. Besides Brackett's running around in crisis control, Rudnick allows a great deal of time to what others think. A typical line: "Mr Brackett's not gay! He just likes poetry and Shakespeare and uses his napkin!" In & Out is a screwball comedy first, a banter of how society deals with homosexuality second. Kline is at the top of his comedic talents here; a weaker actor would permit Joan Cusack to steal the entire movie as the bemused bride. Cusack, an Oscar nominee for the role, nails some of the funniest moments from any film that year. [+]

When a pop singer at the height of her career appears in a film there's never going to be any doubt who the star is, and Crossroads makes sure the audience doesn't forget it. Britney Spears is Lucy, who, along with her friends Kit (Zoe Saldana) and Mimi (Taryn Manning), buries a time capsule to be opened upon their high-school graduation. They all grow apart because of their different backgrounds, but reunite after the prom and bizarrely decide to embark on a road trip to Los Angeles for various reasons. Enter Enrique Iglesias look-alike, the lovable rogue Ben (Anson Mount), who kindly drives them all the way cross country. Throw in car trouble, singing for money and Britney falling in love and that's the journey over with. By the time they get to LA it gets even more predictable and ends with Britney singing "I'm Not a Girl, Not Yet a Woman" at the audition for Slide Records, winning the respect of her father (played by Dan Aykroyd) and gaining the love of Ben. Spears performance and that of her costars is perfect for the nature of the film-an homage to 80s flicks about teen angst-which even begins with Lucy dancing round her 80s-themed bedroom singing along to an old Madonna record. Spears' Lucy is a resourceful gal who saves the day every time, whether they need a mechanic, an accountant, a driver, a lead singer, or just a shoulder to cry on. She writes poetry, too. Is there anything Britney Spears can't do? On the DVD: Crossroads the DVD comes with an impressive list of interactive features, including a "Pop-Up Britney" where her head bursts through the screen and describes how she felt filming the current scene. [+]