Phillip Powers Movies
Clean carpets and dirty minds find a common ground in this comedy written, directed, produced, and distributed by leading man Jeff Daniels. Fred Barlow (Daniels) is a hapless door-to-door salesman who scrapes together a living selling and distributing the Super Sucker Home Cleaning System, a deluxe vacuum cleaning unit, in the small Michigan community of Johnson City. While Barlow and his dedicated but inept staff believe in their product, they don't have much luck in actually moving the merchandise, and hotshot fellow distributor Winslow Schnaebelt (Harve Presnell) is eager to take over Barlow's territory. Super Sucker prexy Cy Suckerton II (John Lepard), tired of the squabbling between Barlow and Schnaebelt, decides to settle the matter once and for all with a contest -- whoever sells the most vacuums in 30 days will have all of Johnson City to themselves. Barlow and his right-hand-man Howard Butterworth (Matt Letscher) try to gear up their staff to make an all-out sales assault on Johnson City, but it turns out that the deciding factor may well be the "Housewife's Little Helper," a little-used vacuum attachment for "cleaning those hard-to-reach places" which Barlow discovers has a surprising use that has nothing to do with sweeping the rug. Super Sucker also features a guest appearance by Dawn Wells (Mary Ann from Gilligan's Island) as the official Super Sucker spokesperson; longtime Bob Seger sideman Alto Reed contributed to the film's soundtrack. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
- Starring:
- Jeff Daniels
- 2001
Laurie Maria Baranyay makes her feature debut with this raw, gritty character study of a young woman struggling to come to terms with herself. The film centers on Mikey (Baranyay), a lass sporting vintage threads, platinum blonde hair, and a series of ugly bruises on her face. At the movie's outset, Mikey has a woodland rendezvous with her thuggish boyfriend Adam. After a round of unsatisfactory sex, Adam starts to heap drunken abuse upon her after Mikey reveals that she has to be at her sister's birthday party where Adam is expressly not invited. Mikey eventually stumbles in to the party late, which infuriates her family who cannot understand why she continues to date such a loser as Adam. But Mikey continues to stand by her man, and the physical abuse he inflicts on her. Later, she has more run-ins with her sisters, and a sleazy ex-beau who rapes her on a bathroom floor. When morning dawns, Mikey and her mother (played by Baranyay's real mom Edith Baranyay) have a heart-wrenching talk. This film was screened at the 2001 Toronto Film Festival. ~ Jonathan Crow, Rovi
- Starring:
- Laurie Baranyay, Phillip Powers, (more)
