Louie Anderson Movies
A former counselor of abused children from Minneapolis, MN, Louie Anderson has found great success as a standup comedian, author, provider of cartoon voices, and actor. Born in St. Paul as one of 11 children, Anderson began his performing career in late 1978 in a small Minneapolis comedy club in answer to a dare from a co-worker at the children's home where he worked. People responded well to his act and Anderson felt he'd found his true vocation. After winning the St. Louis Comedy Competition in 1981, Anderson became a gag writer for Henny Youngman and then moved to Los Angeles to try to launch his own career by getting a contract with one of the major television networks, but success did not come quickly to the portly, blond comedian and he returned to Minneapolis where friends and cohorts helped him finance a comedy special. Showtime bought and aired the show which became a hit and the highest-rated program on the network for a month. This led Anderson to take to the talk show circuit and also won him a coveted spot on Comic Relief. Anderson also began working as an actor on such television series as Remington Steele and Grace Under Fire. He began a career as a character actor in feature films in Cloak and Dagger (1984). Since he became a star, Anderson has gone on to make several more cable television specials. Originally, his humor was centered upon his obesity, but in time, he began to focus more on his childhood and the experiences he'd had growing up with an alcoholic father and many siblings. But though he often joked about it in public, he was haunted by painful incidents from his youth and, following his father's death, he began keeping a sort of diary comprised of letters to his dad. One of these was published in People magazine. Tremendous reader response led to his penning the best-selling Dear Dad -- Letters From an Adult Child. In 1993, he penned a second, more upbeat tome that reflected an upturn in his personal life, Good-bye Jumbo, Hello Cruel World. In 1994, he and Matt O'Callghan created the animated Fox series Life With Louie. For Anderson, it was his second stint as a voice artist; his first was with the animated feature film Bebe's Kids earlier that year. Life With Louie has since garnered high critical praise that culminated in his winning a daytime Emmy in May 1997. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
The first mainstream animated feature film directly aimed at African American audiences, Hyperion Productions' Bebe's Kids is based on a comedy routine by the late Robin Harris. Voiced by Faison Love, Harris endures a "date from hell" when he goes out with the lovely Jamika. His romantic rendezvous is ruined when he is stuck with Jamika's son-as well as Bebe's kids, three little horrors spawned from three different fathers. The worst of the batch is unhousebroken baby Peewee. The film manages within its 74 minute timeframe to skewer such topics as Hip-Hop music, urban riots and whitebread theme parks. Further proof that this is not a Disney flick was provided by the folks from the Motion Picture Production Code office, who bestowed a PG-13 rating upon the film. Bebe's Kids was released theatrically in tandem with the cartoon short Itsy Bitsy Spider, which was later spun off into a TV series. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Faizon Love, Vanessa Bell Calloway, (more)
- 1990
Robin Williams, Whoopi Goldberg, and Billy Crystal once again donate their time and talent to host the Best of Comic Relief '90, a charity event to benefit the Comic Relief organization, which aids America's homeless. Among the over 40 comedy stars performing in this program are Louie Anderson, George Carlin, Dennis Miller, Joan Rivers, and the Simpsons, America's favorite cartoon family. Comic Relief has raised and distributed nearly 50 million dollars, providing direct health care services to homeless men, women, and children throughout the United States. ~ Steve Blackburn, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Billy Crystal, Whoopi Goldberg, (more)
Juvenile actor Henry Thomas, late of E.T., is the star of Cloak and Dagger. Given to telling whoppers, Thomas finds himself in a boy-who-cried-wolf dilemma when he overhears two spies plotting to smuggle valuable info out of the US. When he can't get his own father Dabney Coleman to believe him, Thomas turns disconsolately to a computer game called "Cloak and Dagger" and begins to fantasize, imagining that he is in cahoots with secret agent Jack Flack, also played by Coleman. Finally coming to grips with the fact that the mythical Jack Flack cannot help him this time, Thomas takes on the spies with the help of his schoolmates, who are also "Cloak and Dagger" addicts. Cloak and Dagger is a heavily disguised remake of 1949's The Window; both are based on the Cornell Woolrich story The Boy Cried Murder. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Henry Thomas, Dabney Coleman, (more)
- 1987
Released by the now-defunct Simitar Entertainment rather than Rhino Video, which handles the other Comic Relief videos, Comic Relief II is featured on two separate 60-minute videos. A 1987 live charity event benefiting America's homeless, part one of Comic Relief II is hosted by Robin Williams, Whoopi Goldberg, and Billy Crystal, and features comic turns by Elayne Boosler, Louie Anderson, Judy Tenuta, and Michael J. Fox. Part two of Comic Relief II is a continuation of part one, boasting an all-star lineup that includes comic luminaries Richard Lewis, Steven Wright, Steve Allen, Arsenio Hall, and Roseanne. ~ Steve Blackburn, All Movie Guide
- 1996
Robin Williams, Whoopi Goldberg, and Billy Crystal donate their time and talent to host Comic Relief in this 1996 production documenting the seventh edition of this live charity event aimed at benefiting America's homeless people. Directed by Walter C. Miller (who helmed many of TV's All in the Family episodes), one of the highlights of this program is a reunion of the original cast of the golden-age television series The Steve Allen Show. The star-studded lineup of performers includes Dennis Miller, Sinbad, Steve Allen, Louie Anderson, Margaret Cho, Robert Klein, Richard Lewis, and more. The organization Comic Relief has gone on to raise and distribute nearly 50 million dollars, providing direct health care services to homeless men, women, and children throughout the United States. Originally cablecast on HBO. ~ Steve Blackburn, All Movie Guide
Coming to America casts comedian Eddie Murphy as pampered African prince Akeem, who rebels against an arranged marriage and heads to America to find a new bride. Murphy's regal father (James Earl Jones) agrees to allow the prince 40 days to roam the U.S., sending the prince's faithful retainer Semmi (Arsenio Hall) along to make sure nothing untoward happens. To avoid fortune hunters, Prince Akeem conceals his true identity and gets a "Joe job" at a fast-food restaurant. Murphy and Hall play multiple roles, and there are innumerable celebrity cameos peppered throughout the proceedings -- including the Duke Brothers (Don Ameche and Ralph Bellamy) from Trading Places. Coming to America made further headlines when humorist Art Buchwald sued the film's producers for plagiarizing one of his works. Buchwald carried the case to trial, where he won a sizeable judgement against the film's producers. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Eddie Murphy, Arsenio Hall, (more)
Teenaged Ferris Bueller (Matthew Broderick) is a legend in his own time thanks to his uncanny skill at cutting classes and getting away with it. Intending to make one last grand duck-out before graduation, Ferris calls in sick, "borrows" a Ferrari, and embarks on a one-day bacchanal through the streets of Chicago. Dogging Ferris' trail at every turn is high-school principal Rooney (Jeffrey Jones), determined to catch Bueller in the act of class-cutting. Writer/director John Hughes once again tries to wed satire, slapstick, and social commentary, as Ferris Bueller's Day Off starts like a house afire and goes on to make "serious" points about status-seeking and casual parental cruelties. It brightens up considerably in the last few moments, when Ferris' tattletale sister (Jennifer Grey) decides to align herself with her merry prankster sibling. A huge moneymaker, Ferris Bueller's Day Off eventually spawned a TV sitcom. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Matthew Broderick, Alan Ruck, (more)
Nearly anyone who performs in public on a regular basis is familiar with the notion of the audience member who makes their opinions loudly and clearly known during the show, and like most comedians Jamie Kennedy has dealt with his fair share of hecklers over the course of his career. However, when Kennedy moved from stand-up comic to actor, he encountered a new breed of heckler -- the on-line film critic who posts angry rants on the internet, taking Kennedy to task for nearly every aspect of such critically drubbed movies as Son Of The Mask and Malibu's Most Wanted. Kennedy teamed up with director Michael Addis to make the documentary Heckler, which explores the increasingly combative relationship between artists and their audience. Heckler features interviews with a number of comics and musicians discussing their experiences with loud-mouthed spectators (including Bill Maher, David Cross, Louie Anderson, Rob Zombie, Joe Rogan and David Allen Grier), but Kennedy goes a step further, confronting a number of the writers who've bad-mouthed his work and questioning their role in the creative process. Kennedy and Addis also talk with filmmaker Uwe Boll, who went so far as to challenge his critics to a boxing match. Heckler received its world premiere at the 2007 Tribeca Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jamie Kennedy, Louie Anderson, (more)
- 1989
- Add Louie Anderson: Mom! Louie's Looking at Me Again! to QueueAdd Louie Anderson: Mom! Louie's Looking at Me Again! to top of Queue
Corpulent comic Louie Anderson once more fractures his audience with trenchant recollections of his checkered childhood in this made-for-cable concert video. Using nothing more than his voice, his expressive hands, and his massive frame, Anderson brings to life his redneck dad, garrulous mom, and whining little brother. It is now a matter of record that Anderson was the product of an extremely dysfunctional household (his father was an often abusive alcoholic), but the comedian manages to put a lid on the bitterness that he's expressed on other occasions. The purpose of Mom! Louie's Looking at Me Again is to get laughs, and in this it succeeds many times over. This 60-minute video is not rated, though it may be a bit too ripe for very small children. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Popular comic and television personality Ellen DeGeneres had her first starring role in a feature film in this black comedy. Martha Alston (DeGeneres) is a thirtysomething single working as a producer for a talk show. Ever since Martha's younger sister got married, her parents have been after her to settle down, but Martha has had little luck finding the right guy. On Valentine's Day, Martha is depressed and drinking at a bar when she meets Whitman Crawford (Bill Pullman), who seems like the perfect man -- he's good looking, sensitive, intelligent, and affectionate. However, when she makes the mistake of telling her new beau that he can be himself around her, she discovers the real Whitman -- he's a horrible poet, he likes awful music, he enjoys shoplifting ("Stolen beer just tastes better!"), and he's a borderline psychotic who doses her with LSD for fun. What's more, his mother (Joan Plowright) and ex-girlfriend (Joan Cusack) hate Martha's guts and don't mind telling her so. So how can Martha convince her friends and family that she wants nothing to do with the man of her dreams? More importantly, how does she convince Whitman? ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ellen DeGeneres, Bill Pullman, (more)
In this underscripted and not wholly convincing drama, Kevin Bacon plays Jack Casey, an up-and-coming broker who crashes on the stock market one day and cashes in whatever he has left to become a bicycle messenger in San Francisco. Although not exactly a logical alternative, bicycling the hilly streets of S.F. turns out to be dangerous after Casey runs into Gypsy (Rudy Ramos), the street pusher who has the messengers run drugs for him. A series of characters and events drop in and out of the conflict between Gypsy and Casey, including love interest Terri (Jami Gertz) and Casey's friend Hector (Paul Rodriguez). Music dominates throughout the film which includes scenes of breakdancing on bikes. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Kevin Bacon, Jami Gertz, (more)
- 1986
- PG13
This drama follows an unlikely "ratboy" (S.L. Baird) after he is discovered living in a makeshift shelter in a garbage dump. Along comes Nikki Morrison (Sondra Locke, also the director) who meets the half-rodent, half-human creature and takes him over. She talks to a Hollywood producer and holds forth about him on a television talk show but when she brings ratboy to a press conference, he bolts for freedom -- enough is enough. The garbage dump was better. From that point onward, Nikki begins to change her mind about her treatment of the misbegotten creature and he develops an ambivalent feeling for her. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Sondra Locke, Robert Townsend, (more)
- 1988
- PG
- Add The Wrong Guys to Queue
In this comedy, a group of former Cub Scouts (Louie Anderson, Richard Belzer, and Richard Lewis) get together for a reunion over twenty years later and land themselves in a mess of trouble when a deranged convict (John Goodman) takes them for FBI agents. ~ Iotis Erlewine, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Louie Anderson, Richard Lewis, (more)
- 1999
The famous candy factory Taffy Town has been inherited from its jovial creator Uncle Dudley (Louie Anderson in a cameo role) by his less-than jovial son Bo (Greg Evigan). Having no great affection for Taffy Town, Bo has allowed the business to run into the ground. Enter Heavenly caseworker Monica (Roma Downey), in the guise of an efficiency expert hired to turn Taffy Town around. Though it would seem that the dispirited Bo is Monica's "client" on this occasion, there are several others who need her help, notably Bo's employees Clarence (Tom Sullivan), Susi (Joe Dee Messina), Norma (Jennifer Holliday) and Isaac (Keb' Mo'). Curiously, the solution to everyone's problems involves transforming the Taffy Town work force into a singing group. Alas, a devastating explosion nearly ends Monica's reclamation project before it begins. Musical highlights in this episode include "Hand it Over", sung by Keb' Mo'; "I Have Decided", sung by Joe Dee Messina"; "My Tribute", sung by Jennifer Holliday; and "How Great Thou Art, sung by Greg Evigan. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
