[1][8] That year he wrote the screenplays for two movies based in San Francisco, California: Nina Takes a Lover and Just One Night (then titled SFO).
[13] Todd McCarthy of Variety called it "a wisp of a film that leaves no indelible impression save a general attractiveness and civilized sensibility.
"[14] Roger Ebert praised the acting and said the two leads "generate authentic chemistry," but said he "felt vaguely cheated and empty" when the movie concluded.
"[16] David Armstrong of the San Francisco Chronicle wrote that while the film's twist ending didn't feel convincing, Alan Jacobs "coaxes warm yet wary performances from his actors" and "has a good ear for how lovers talk - the shyly revealed secrets, the shared code words - and a strong sense of the way newly intimate strangers peel away layers of defense, their own and the other person's.
It is a screwball comedy about the crazy exploits of an earnest groom-to-be (Timothy Hutton) who seeks his lost shoe all over the city with the help of an unhappily married woman (Maria Grazia Cucinotta).
[21][22] The movie tells the story of Sinbad the Sailor, best known from One Thousand and One Nights, as he seeks the ingredients for a magic potion to save the life of a king.
However, the reviewer also praised the film's "conceptual wildness of animation" and the more exciting adventure scenes in its second half, such as a sequence with a giant robotic manta ray.
[22] Jeff Vice for Deseret News said that the technology looked "more like a video game than a movie" and disliked the acting and screenplay, though he also praised the "imaginative production design".
Starring James Coburn, Virginia Madsen, and Barbara Bain, the film tells interwoven stories centering on a fatal shooting.
"[27] In 2009, Jacobs released his next film, Down for Life, a docudrama chronicling the true story of Lesly Castillo, a Hispanic teenage girl who was a gang leader in South Central Los Angeles.
Adult cast members include Danny Glover as a supportive teacher, Kate del Castillo, Laz Alonso, Elizabeth Peña, and a cameo by rapper Snoop Dogg.
"[31] Reed Johnson of The Los Angeles Times described the film as "more authentic and credible than many of the countless other movies that have been made over the decades about L.A. gang life.
"[30] Erin Oke of Exclaim wrote that "It's well realized and not without some hope, but the unrelenting bleakness and harsh depictions of violence make Down for Life difficult to watch.
[35] In 2021, the US Congressional Hispanic Caucus nominated Down for Life to be included in the National Film Registry as one of 25 "important examples of Latino artistic and cinematic achievement.