Tom Rooney Movies
- 2003
When Undercover Christmas first aired over CBS on December 7, 2003, a number of critics lauded the film for its "fresh" and "unique" storyline--blissfully unaware that the film bore a marked resemblance to the 1940 Fred MacMurray-Barbara Stanwyck vehicle Remember the Night. Jamie Gertz tops the cast as Brandi O'Neill, a sassy cocktail waitress who is the "great and good friend" of billionaire Scott Shift (Cameron Bancroft). Determned to nail Shift on a tax fraud charge, FBI agent Jake Cunningham (Shawn Christian) figures that Brandi will make an excellent federal witness, and takes her into protective custody. Unfortunately, not long afterward Jake receives word from his mother Anne (Tyne Daly) that his father Joe (Winston Rekert), a very wealthy and very conservative jurist, has suffered a heart attack--and that it would behoove Jack to come home for Christmas to see his dad just one more time. Naturally, Jake is forced to take Brandi along to meet his folks, who are shocked beyond measure when, to avoid compromising his case against Shift, Jake passes Brandi off as his new girlfriend! Things get dicier still when it turns out that Joe Cunningham's heart attack was just a sham to force Jake to come home and get his annual dressing-down for not living up to his parents' hopes--and all the while, Brandi begins to really enjoy her new luxurious surroundings, and seriously considers latching onto Jake for keeps. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- 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, Rovi
- Starring:
- Jami Gertz, Tom Rooney, (more)
Unhappy with her job and her loser boyfriend, Melanie Griffith takes a secretarial post at a major Wall Street firm. Her boss is Sigourney Weaver, an outwardly affable yuppie whose grinning visage hides a wicked and larcenous propensity for exploiting the ideas of her employees. While Weaver is incapacitated, Griffith is compelled by circumstances to pose as her boss. Her inborn business acumen and common sense enable Griffith to rise to the top of New York's financial circles, and along the way she wins the love of executive (Harrison Ford). Things threaten to take a sorry turn when Weaver returns, but it is she who suffers from the consequences of her own past duplicity. Working Girl was Melanie Griffith's breakthrough film, proving than she was more than just the off-and-on "significant other" of Don Johnson. The film was later adapted into a brief TV series, starring a pre-Speed Sandra Bullock. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Melanie Griffith, Harrison Ford, (more)
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