Metropolitan Library System

Bursting with mordant wit and alive with urgent real-life dramatic energy, Rashid Masharawi's Laila's birthday is a "fleet, dark urban comedy," (New York Times) that "moves at a brisk clip, ticking incidents like a meter on overtime" (Time Out New York).

Seven comedies, including four restored from turn of the century Italy and France, a recently-discovered nitrate negative of Charlie Chaplin's first appearance in his tramp attire, a frenetic Mack Sennett gag fest replete with tin lizzies, and The pest (1922), starring a pre-Hardy Stan Laurel.

The history of screen comedy did not begin with Charlie Chaplin or Buster Keaton. Before their appearances on the American screen, an entire generation of comedians was already establishing (and breaking) the boundaries of this rapidly evolving genre. While working at the Vitagraph Studios, music hall artists such as John Bunny, Frank Roberts, and Mr. and Mrs. Sidney Drew retooled their brands of comedy into something uniquely cinematic, advancing...

Ice Cube, Anthony Anderson, Sean Patrick Thomas, Eve and Cedric the Entertainers star in this bust-a-gut, hit comedy about a Chicago barbershop where razor-sharp comedy never goes out of style! Calvin (Ice Cube) is a would-be entrepreneur with big plans…and running his family's barbershop isn't one of them. But, when he impulsively sells the shop to a shady loan shark, he soon realizes just how important the neighborhood parlor is to him…and just...

Three longtime friends band together to set up SIDECHIC GANG, an agency dedicated to exposing cheating husbands and boyfriends, and clamping down the side chick menace. While initially only servicing female clientele, a potentially lucrative opportunity presents itself when a rich businessman wants to hire them to confirm his suspicions.

David Warwik (Wyatt Cenac) is a struggling writer who has been toiling away at the same novel for years. His wife Jennifer (Greta Lee) is a hot young literary figure, who has just released a new masterpiece. When her publisher invites the couple to an artists' salon at his home in Connecticut, the pair embark on a twisted journey, and David must face his demons and try to "not be weird" among the waspy salon guests and competitive artists in attendance....

A young artist, searching for his vocation, makes a mannequin so perfect he falls in love with it. Finding the mannequin in a store window, he gets a job there and his creation comes to life.

A documentary crew follows an actor from filming his movie to the Academy Awards in this Hollywood satire.

On the verge of turning 15; Georgia sets her sights on the new guy at school, ‘gorgeous sex-god’ Robbie, who plays bass for the Stiff Dylans. Unfortunately, Robbie happens to already be dating her evil archrival; blonde, perfect Lindsay. With her flamboyantly dressed cat Angus and her girl posse, the Ace Gang by her side, Georgia sets her mad schemes in motion to nab the boyfriend of her dreams and have the best birthday party ever.

Aspiring composer Jim Sanders is engaged to spoiled rich girl Patty. But the morning after his bachelor party, Jim wakes up hung-over to discover a real-life angel in his swimming pool. Now he must deal with his dangerously jealous fianceé, his exploitive future father-in-law, and an impossibly gorgeous angel who must balance both the wrath of God and her discovery of French fries. Can an earthbound mortal be passionately touched by an angel and...