Earl Schuman Movies
An inept cop suddenly gets a new partner in the person of a cabbie with attitude in this high-rolling comedy. Washburn (Jimmy Fallon) is a police officer who becomes the laughingstock of the department after a series of traffic accidents cause him to lose his driver's license. One day, Washburn gets an urgent call to head out to the location of a bank robbery; unable to drive himself there, he hails a cab. As it happens, the taxi is being driven by Belle (Queen Latifah), a single mom who, after making a name for herself as the fastest pizza delivery person in New York, has moved up to driving a hack. What begins as a wild ride to the scene of the crime gets even wilder as Washburn and Belle become unexpected allies while following the trail of a team of beautiful but reckless female bank robbers led by Vanessa (Gisele Bundchen). Adapted from a popular French action comedy with the same name, Taxi was Jimmy Fallon's first big-screen vehicle after leaving the cast of the popular sketch comedy series Saturday Night Live. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
- Starring:
- Queen Latifah, Jimmy Fallon, (more)
Fresh from Iowa, Holly (Melissa Joan Hart) and Calvin (Ryan Browning) arrive in New York, there to pursue careers as actors. Alas, money is mighty tight for the new arrivals, and decent housing is well night impossible to find. Eventually, Holly is forced to move in with her eccentric, cat-crazy Aunt Agatha (Lynne Marie Stewart), who lives in a rent-controlled apartment in the middle of an upscale neighborhood. When Aunt Agatha dies of natural causes, a desperate Holly hits upon a brilliant idea: she and Calvin will pretend that Auntie is still alive, the better to remain in the apartment for a minimal price. The couple enlist the apartment building's feckless elevator operator Dennis (Andrew Kavovit) as their co-conspirator, then spend much of the rest of the movie trying to keep their landlord's suspicious son Vincent (Joseph D. Reitman) from stumbling upon the truth. Filmed in 2002, Rent Control did not make its ABC Family Channel debut until September 9, 2005, by which time the made-for-cable film had been extensively re-edited to accelerate its pace. The film has since been released abroad under its working title Aunt Agatha's Apartment. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Melissa Joan Hart, Ryan Browning, (more)
- 1999
The time has come for the wedding of Steve (John Carroll Lynch) and Mimi (John Carroll Lynch), and since Steve and Drew's dad can't come to the ceremony due to a bad back, Uncle Alfred (Earl Schuman) shows up in his place. The various and sundry intrigues arising from the reluctance of Drew (Drew Carey) and Kate (Christa Miller) to reveal their romance to his mother Beulah (Marion Ross) are trumped by troublesome Uncle Alfred, who has the bad taste to drop dead on the eve of the wedding. Drew, Oswald (Diedrich Bader) and Lewis (Ryan Stiles) are pressed into service as part-time gravediggers, a job that requires lots and lots of Buzz Beer. In spite of everything, the marriage goes ahead as scheduled, but not precisely as planned--especially when Mimi's mom (played by ex-evangelist Tammi Faye Messner) sets up a buffet dinner on top of Uncle Steve's see-through casket! ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- 1997
Classic alert! When Kramer (Michael Richards) asks Jerry (Jerry Seinfeld) to "pick up some Cubans" from his cigar salesman, he wasn't expecting real Cubans -- or even real Dominicans. Elsewhere, George (Jason Alexander) has his curiosity aroused when a woman mistakes him for a guy named Neil. Jerry enters into an athletic competition with an 80-year-old health freak named Izzy Mandelbaum (Lloyd Bridges). And Elaine (Julia Louis-Dreyfus) loses more than a boyfriend when she declares her hatred for The English Patient. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
