Linda Spheeris Movies

A washed-up actor finds an unlikely path back to the big screen in this offbeat family comedy. Bill Williams (Tom Arnold) is an actor whose career has gone into a severe tailspin ever since his brief fling with fame -- a supporting role in the Arnold Schwarzenegger vehicle True Lies. Sinking into a well of alcohol and depression, Williams unsuccessfully attempts suicide before his agent (Henry Winkler) tells him he's finally found a project for him. Aaron Roman (Eric Gores) is a teenager with cerebral palsy who loves action movies, especially True Lies. Aaron's father, Davis Roman (Joe Mantegna), is a very wealthy man -- so wealthy that, as a present for his son's 18th birthday, he's going to bankroll a professionally shot action movie which will star Aaron. Would Williams be willing to write and co-star in Aaron's birthday movie? Williams isn't so sure this is a great idea, even with a million-dollar payday, until he meets Aaron. Charmed by the kid's pluck and determination, Williams signs on for the world's most expensive home movie. Williams and producer Susan Mandeville (Linda Hamilton) hire Wayne's World director Penelope Spheeris to helm the project, and persuade bikini model Arielle Kebbel to appear as Aaron's love interest, but what started out as strictly a job-for-hire becomes something more as Williams and his fellow cast and crew members get to know their challenged young star. The Kid & I actually was written by co-star Tom Arnold, and Penelope Spheeris directed the film as well as playing herself. Arnold Schwarzenegger, Jamie Lee Curtis, and Shaquille O'Neal also appear in cameo roles. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

Penelope Spheeris directed this Marlon Wayans comedy, scripted by the Rocket Man team of Greg Erb and Craig Mazin. Saddled with several on and off-campus jobs, hard-working college student Darryl Witherspoon (Marlon Wayans) is aiming for a position with the Smythe-Bates brokerage firm, but twit Scott Thorpe has the right resumé and connections. A frat failure, Darryl also doesn't score at ice hockey. For extra cash, Darryl becomes a test subject for an experimental drug that heightens the senses by five times. The initial effect is a rectal irritation, but then Darryl finds his enhanced hearing enables him to pick up distant conversations, and his upgraded coordination improves his hockey game. However, an overdose literally leaves Darryl senseless, as he discovers only four of his five senses operative at any given time. ~ Bhob Stewart, Rovi

Handsome, smooth-talking Al Donnelly (Tim Matheson) has everything going for him. A politician, he is engaged in a heated gubernatorial race with the feisty Governor Tracy (Christine Ebersole), a tough old bird who doesn't hesitate to play hardball with opponents. Unfortunately for her, things are looking good for Donnelly. Fortunately she finds his Achilles' heel with his young brother Mike Donnelly (Saturday Night Live alumnus Chris Farley), a fat slob gym teacher and hopeless imbecile who only wants to win his more successful sibling's respect. Unfortunately all he does is embarrass poor Al to death. In desperation, Al assigns the sardonic and prissy Steve Dodds (David Spade) to keep Mike under constant surveillance. The real trouble begins when Tracy's aids try to frame hapless Mike for arson. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

Spanky, Alfalfa, Buckwheat, and the other characters made famous in the Our Gang shorts of the 1920s and 1930s are brought back to life in this nostalgic children's comedy. Although the setting is the present day, the characters remain much the same, down to their old-fashioned clothing and their membership in the "He-man Womun Haters Club." When Alfalfa (Bug Hall) starts to question his devotion to the club's principles after falling for the beautiful nine-year old Darla (Brittany Ashton Holmes), the rest of the gang sets out to keep them apart. An attempt to win the grand prize in a go-cart race also comes into play, providing opportunities for physical comedy, while Darla's and Alfalfa's story trades on the humor of innocent puppy love. Most critics found the film less a tribute to the original series of shorts than a blatant attempt to capitalize on the familiar name, though younger audiences may be entertained by the simple gags and child-like attitude. ~ Judd Blaise, Rovi

Penelope Spheeris directed this compulsively faithful film adaptation of the popular 1960s television series. The familiar story 'bout a man named Jed Clampett (Jim Varney), a poor mountaineer who barely kept his family fed, continues to follow the TV show's format. Jed discovers oil on his Arkansas property and overnight becomes a multi-millionaire. He moves his family to Beverly Hills, wanting to turn his daughter Ellie May (Erika Eleniak) into a sophisticated woman. At his new Beverly Hills mansion, he meets Mr. Drysdale (Dabney Coleman), a kow-towing banker, and Drysdale's assistant, the repressed crone Miss Hathaway (Lily Tomlin). Jed announces that he would like to re-marry, and that leaves the door open for Drysdale's scheming lackey Woodrow Tyler (Rob Schneider) and his fortune-hunting partner Laura Jackson (Lea Thompson) to make the moves on Jed. ~ Paul Brenner, Rovi

Controversial and often offensive stand-up comedian Andrew Dice Clay made his debut as a feature film star in this crude comedy. Fairlane is a "rock and roll detective" who works in the music business, has an office on Sunset Boulevard, and drives a 1957 Ford, with clothing to match. He floats through the rock clubs of Hollywood, picking up women and clients, and soon stumbles into a case involving the death of a heavy metal singer, a corrupt music executive (Wayne Newton), the murder of a radio shock-jock (Gilbert Gottfried), and the kidnapping of the jock's daughter (Maddie Corman). Music stars like Sheila E. and Motley Crue singer Vince Neil also have cameos in the film, which attempts to transplant Clay's aggressively obnoxious stage persona into a movie environment. ~ Don Kaye, Rovi

Were it not for its profanity-laden opening scenes, John Hughes' Planes, Trains and Automobiles might have been suitable family entertainment: certainly it's heaps less violent and mean-spirited than Hughes' Home Alone. En route to Chicago to spend Thanksgiving with his family, easily annoyed businessman Neal Page (Steve Martin) finds his first-class plane ticket has been demoted to coach, and he must share his flight with obnoxious salesman Del Griffith (John Candy). A sudden snowstorm in Chicago forces the plane to land in Wichita. Unable to find a room in any of the four-star hotels, Neal is compelled to accept Del's invitation to share his accommodations in a cheapo-sleazo motel. Driven to distraction by Del's annoying personal habits, the ungrateful Neal lets forth with a stream of verbal abuse. That's when Del delivers the anticipated (but always welcome) "I don't judge, why should you?"-type speech so common to John Hughes flicks. The shamefaced Neal tries to make up to Del, but there's a bumpy time ahead as the mismatched pair make their way back to Chicago, first in a balky train, then by way of a refrigerator truck. We know from the outset that the oil-and-water Neal and Del will be bosom companions by the end of Planes, Trains and Automobiles, but it's still a fun ride. The best bit: a half-asleep Del thinking that he's got his hand tucked between two pillows -- until his bedmate, Neal, bellows "Those aren't pillows!" ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Trailer-park teenager Lance Guest regularly escapes from his humdrum existence by playing the video game Starfighter. His expertise at this recreational endeavor attracts the attention of affable stranger Robert Preston. Before he knows what's happening, Guest is whisked by Preston into the outer reaches of the galaxy! It turns out that the Starfighter game is being played in deadly earnest in outer space, and that Guest is expected to join Preston's Star League, then do battle with the wicked Kodan forces. Guest's principal ally is the lizardlike Grig (Dan O'Herlihy--and we didn't recognize him either). His great rival is the traitorous Xur (Norman Snow). The contrast between Guest's earthbound life as the son of single-mother Barbara Bosson and his new position as Starfighter is daunting at first, but soon the boy is manning a spacecraft and zapping the baddies as though he's been doing it all his life. The Last Starfighter was clearly designed with "sequel" in mind: giveaways include the resurrection of a "dead" character and the surprisingly casual escape of the villain. While the film didn't stir up enough business to warrant a sequel, the Starfighter video game remained a much-sought-after commodity by joystick-happy "warriors" all over the country. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Michael Apted directed and Lawrence Kasdan wrote the screenplay for this diverting romantic comedy -- a film that attempts to recapture the spirit of an old Spencer Tracy-Katharine Hepburn vehicle. A very subdued John Belushi plays a star columnist for the Chicago Sun-Times named Ernie Souchak (but loosely based on columnist Mike Royko), who uses his column as a direct line to report on the dirty dealings at Chicago City Hall. When his political reports on a local corrupt alderman get too hot, Ernie is sent to the Rocky Mountains to do a fluff piece on reclusive ornithologist Nell Porter (Blair Brown). Ernie arrives at her mountain hideaway, but Nell is hostile and orders him to leave. Ernie informs her that his guide won't return for a few weeks and she reluctantly permits him to stay. The two first learn to put up with each other and then their aversion slowly turns into love. ~ Paul Brenner, Rovi

Used Cars is one of Robert Zemeckis' pre-Roger Rabbit and pre-Forrest Gump efforts starring Kurt Russell is a devious car salesman who goes to work for affable but monumentally unsuccessful used car dealer Jack Warden. Warden's principal rival is his more prosperous twin brother, also played by Warden, who schemes to take over the "good" brother's lot. After a series of raunchy vignettes, the film boils down to an every-man-for-himself price war between the two Wardens, which rages on even after we're one Warden short. The supporting cast of Used Cars is populated by such reliables as David L. Lander, Michael McKean, Al Lewis, Dub Taylor, Dick Miller and Betty Thomas. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Albert Brooks made his feature-length debut as a writer and director with this wickedly funny satire, in which Albert Brooks plays "Albert Brooks," an arrogant and self-centered comedian who has decided to make a documentary film. Following the lead of the infamous pre-Real World PBS series An American Family (in which a "typical" family was filmed during most of their waking hours and eventually self-destructed on camera), Brooks moves in with the Yeager family of Phoenix, Arizona and chronicles their lives, with the support of a battery of psychiatrists and sociologists. He arrives at the Yeagers' doorstep with a two-man crew, wearing high-tech cameras that look like space helmets from a grade-B sci-fi movie, and it quickly becomes obvious that he is incapable of being unobtrusive. The Yeagers are driven to distraction by Brooks, who repeatedly ignores the advice of his team of experts and wishes there were some way to make the family's life more interesting (leading to perhaps the least expected homage to Gone With the Wind in film history). Of all Brooks' features, Real Life most resembles his cutting but deadpan short subjects for Saturday Night Live; Brooks never fails to cast himself in an unflattering light, and the supporting cast does admirable work in reacting to him, especially Charles Grodin and Lee McCain as Mr. and Mrs. Yeager. Harry Shearer contributed to the screenplay and plays a small role. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi