Jennifer Irwin Movies
Lucy Maud Montgomery's novel Anne of Green Gables, previously filmed in 1934, was afforded a TV-movie treatment in 1985. Megan Follows stars as 13-year-old Anne Shirley, an orphan girl sent to live with a foster family on Canada's Prince Edward Island. Though she has great difficulty controlling her temper, impulsiveness and vivid imagination, Anne eventually wins over her new guardians, domineering Marilla Cuthbert (Colleen Dewhurst) and Marilla's shy brother Matthew (Richard Farnsworth). Anne's secondary adventures concern her "bosom friend" Diana (Schuyler Grant) and her supposed enemy Gilbert Blythe (Jonathan Crombie). Anne of Green Gables was offered on American television as a 3-part presentation on PBS' Wonderworks; it aired from February 17 through March 3, 1986. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Megan Follows, Colleen Dewhurst, (more)
- 1986
Gerald McRaney flies in the face of his likeable Simon and Simon image in the made-for-TV Easy Prey. McRaney plays real-life serial rapist/murderer Christopher Wilder who, in early 1984, abducted a teenaged girl from a California shopping mall. Repeatedly assaulting the girl and keeping her quiet with threats of death, Wilder forced her to accompany him on a crime spree that ranged from one end of the country to another. Shawnee Smith is excellent as Wilder's terrified victim. Filmed in Canada, Easy Prey was first aired on October 26, 1986. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
During a boring, routine weekend, young Glen (Stephen Dorff) and his best buddy Terry (Louis Tripp) decide to explore Glen's backyard. Before long, the boys come across a strange hole in the ground which yields all manner of sinister prizes. Consulting one of his heavy-metal record albums, Glen comes to the correct conclusion that the hole is actually the Gate to Hell. Offering a sacrifice in the form of a dead dog, Glen further opens the portals of Hades, through which pass some of the most hideous demons imaginable. A surprise box-office hit, The Gate yielded a sequel, predictably titled Gate II. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Stephen Dorff, Christa Denton, (more)
When some land developers threaten to get their hands on the public California beach, a couple of dudes and a few scantily-clad babes hold a bikini contest in a scheme to foil the plans. ~ Kristie Hassen, All Movie Guide
Molly Shannon brings her Saturday Night Live character Mary Katherine Gallagher to the silver screen. A mildly hyperactive Catholic school student convinced that she smells bad, Mary Catherine has a dream: she wants a boy to kiss her. Not just any old sloppy teenage make-out party kind of smooch, but the sort of kiss that will make her tingle with joy from head to toe. The trouble is, boys aren't all that interested in Mary Catherine, especially not Sky (Will Ferrell), the boy she'd most like to be kissed by. So Mary Catherine has a goal: if she wants to be kissed the way boys kiss girls in the movies, then she must become a movie star. Not a bad idea, but how does one bring this about? Superstar co-stars Elaine Hendrix and former Kids in the Hall cast member Mark McKinney, while another Kids in the Hall alumnus, Bruce McCulloch, directed. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Molly Shannon, Will Ferrell, (more)
The true story of one of the most contentious labor disputes of the 1970s is the basis for this made-for-cable drama. In 1973, many of the men of Harlan County, Kentucky, were employed by Brookside Mining, who operated a number of coal mines. Brookside paid its employees meager wages for dangerous, backbreaking work, and also controlled housing and retail sales in the area, boarding its workers in shacks without central heating or indoor plumbing, and selling them food and clothing at inflated prices. Warren Jakopovich (Stellan Skarsgard), an organizer for the United Mine Workers Association, encouraged Brookside's workers to join the union and go on strike for fair wages and better working conditions. Many of the miners simply couldn't afford the loss of income that a strike would mean, but when two workers died as a result of Brookside's willful ignorance of safety standards, most of Harlan County's mine workers finally went on strike. A judge formerly employed by Brookside handed down an order forbidding the workers to picket the mine sites, but Ruby Kincaid (Holly Hunter), whose husband Silas (Ted Levine) was fired for protesting dangerous conditions and whose father was attacked by scab laborers, organized the wives of striking miners to picket in their place. The Harlan County War was based on the same strike portrayed in the Academy Award-winning documentary Harlan County, USA. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Holly Hunter, Stellan Skarsgård, (more)
Three years after her controversial ABC sitcom left the airwaves, comedian Ellen DeGeneres is back on another network. In The Ellen Show, the eponymous star plays an attractive gay woman named Ellen Richmond. When her once-thriving dot.com company goes belly-up, Ellen skedaddles from New York and returns to her Norman Rockwell-style home town, moving in with her eternally judgmental mother Dot (Cloris Leachman) and her unlucky-in-love sister Catherine (Emily Rutherfurd). After a brief period of unemployment, Ellen goes to work as a guidance counselor at her former high school, under the aegis of her old principal Mr. Munn (Martin Mull). Here she works side by side with her one-time prom date Rusty (Jim Gaffigan), who still has a crush on her, notwithstanding Ellen's radically altered lifestyle. Originally packaged by Mike Ovitz's ATG Productions, Ellen was taken over by CBS when the Ovitz enterprise died on the vine. Slated to be shown on Fridays, the series finally debuted on Monday, September 24, 2001, where it failed to make a dent in the ratings despite the strong lead-in from Everybody Loves Raymond . ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ellen DeGeneres, Cloris Leachman, (more)
- 2001
Sort of a jock's version of the popular cable sitcom Dream On, Inside Schwartz stars Breckin Meyer as the title character, aspiring sportscaster Adam Schwartz. Obliged to work in his family's bar, Adam dreams of a big-time career on ESPN or some other sports outlet. On each half-hour episode, Adam's imagination spills over into reality, with real-life sports announcers Van Earl Wright and Kevin Frasier providing running commentary of our hero's triumphs and tribulations, and with a whole slew of guest stars (Mills Lane, Dick Butkus, etc.) parading through Adam's subconscious. The denizens of Adam's "real" world include his father Gene (Richard Kline), his best friend David (Bryan Callen), and his erstwhile girlfriend Julie (Miriam Shor). Created by Stephen Engel) of Just Shoot Me fame, Inside Schwartz was supposed to have made its NBC debut on September 20, 2001, but the network's ongoing coverage of the World Trade Center attack moved the series' premiere date up to September 27. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Breckin Meyer, Miriam Shor, (more)
- 2002
Is it possible to continue stoking the flames of a raucous high school romance 15 years after the fact? This was the question posed by the CBS situation comedy Still Standing. Mark Addy and Jami Gertz starred as Bill and Judy Miller, a fun-loving blue-collar Chicago couple who began dating as teenagers and who nearly two decades later were happily married and the parents of three children. So where was the "situation"? Well, it seemed that the Millers still thought and acted like troublemaking schoolkids, which caused any number of amusing crises as they endeavored to properly raise their three children -- notably their nerdish and uptight son Taylor Ball. For the most part, Bill and Judy made up their parental game plan as they went along, though usually things turned out all right. Created by Joey Gutierrez and Diane Burroughs, who based the series on their own enduring romantic relationship, Still Standing originally aired on September 30, 2002. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Mark Addy, Jami Gertz, (more)
- 2002
The tragically short life of one of TV's favorite funny ladies is the subject of the network-movie biopic It's Always Something: The Gilda Radner Story. The story begins in Gilda's native Canada, where as a child she develops her comic skills to overcome her shyness and feelings of inadequacy. Gravitating to show business, Gilda (played as an adult by Jami Gertz) becomes a topnotch sketch performer with the famed Second City Troupe, leading to an even more prestigious stint as one of the original "Not Ready for Prime Time Players" on the irreverent American variety series Saturday Night Live. Earning the love and devotion of TV viewers throughout the nation with such ditsy comic characters as Emily Latella and Roseanne Roseanadana, Gilda nonetheless has trouble settling down in a satisfactory romantic relationship in her private life. But after a few go-nowhere affairs and an in-name-only marriage to musician G.E. Smith, Gilda at last finds happiness as the sweetheart -- and later the wife -- of actor Gene Wilder (played by Tom Rooney), her costar in the 1982 movie Hanky Panky. Just when it seems that Gilda's life is on the right course with all cylinders clicking, she is diagnosed with ovarian cancer. Based on her 1989 autobiography (published the same year as her death), It's Always Something: The Gilda Radner Story debuted April 29, 2002, as part of an evening-long ABC network tribute to Radner and her career. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jami Gertz, Tom Rooney, (more)
