Cathryn Damon Movies

An aspiring writer faces up to the responsibilities of marriage and family in this romantic comedy from writer, director, and producer John Hughes. Despite the misgivings he pours out to best friend Davis McDonald (Alec Baldwin), Jake Briggs (Kevin Bacon) marries high-school sweetheart Kristy (Elizabeth McGovern). After an abortive attempt at graduate school in New Mexico, the couple settles in suburban Chicago. Jake fakes his way into a job as an advertising copywriter, while Kristy settles into her own corporate job. The couple faces the typical ups and downs of any new marriage, especially after Davis visits with a bimbo on his arm, regaling his pal Jake with tales of the good life. A few years later, Kristy decides to stop taking her birth-control pills -- and tells Jake about it three months later. Plagued by doubts, unfulfilled ambitions, and images of a fantasy girl (Isabel Lorca) he once spotted in a club, Jake resists the idea of fatherhood. Then he finds out he has low sperm count and, his manhood thus challenged, lines up for fertility clinic-assisted stud duty. The birth doesn't go as smoothly as Jake expected, however, setting the stage for climactic realizations. Edie McClurg, who played the nosy school secretary in Hughes' Ferris Bueller's Day Off, makes a cameo appearance as an officious neighbor. In addition, a who's who of other Hughes alums and Hollywood stars lend their faces and voices to a series of closing-credits shots in which each suggests a name for the titular baby. ~ Brian J. Dillard, Rovi

In this quiet though not quite bland semi-autobiographical look at his formative years, director Charlie Loventhal has his main character Charlie (Tim Choate) enrolled in the film school of a small college. But while Charlie has aspirations of making comedies, his classmates and pretentious film professor are all into more avant-garde work. He also aspires to losing his virginity, but the woman of his dreams is not interested. He continues to strike out in spite of coaching from his lothario roommate, until a psychology professor sets him up with an older woman -- all as a part of a research project -- and Charlie, the guinea pig, finally becomes a man of experience. Meanwhile, he has made friends with Wendy (Wendy Fulton), another loner, and the two team up to try for the top prize at the school's annual film festival. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi

In this marital drama, a divorcee moves in with a younger man and finds herself embroiled in a custody battle with her jealous ex-husband. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

The death of Jessica Tate (Katherine Helmond) was the big shocker at the end of Soap's third season. So imagine everyone's surprise when, as the series launched season four, Jessica was brought back to life -- following a brief stopover in Heaven to commiserate with all her ex-lovers! In another dangling plot strand resolved by the fourth-season opener, Jessica's son, Billy Tate (Jimmy Baio), is rescued from the bullet fired by his scorned lover, Leslie Walker (Marla Pennington). Additionally, the Tates have acquired a new butler named Saunders (Roscoe Lee Browne), replacing their former retainer Benson (actor Robert Guillaume had of course left Soap to star in his own sitcom, titled -- you guessed it -- Benson). The many subplots wending their way through the series' final network season include the election of Jessica's brother-in-law, Burt Campbell (Richard Mulligan), as sheriff leading to Burt's run-in with mob-connected hooker Gwen (Jesse Welles) -- with whom Burt's stepson, Danny (Ted Wass), becomes enamored. Also highlighted are the long-delayed wedding of Jessica's daughter, Eunice (Jennifer Salt) and ex-convict Dutch (Donnelly Rhodes); the long, anguished search by Danny's brother, Jodie (Billy Crystal), for his missing daughter; and Jessica's abduction to South America, where she falls in love with revolutionary leader El Puerco (Gregory Sierra), culminating in her divorce from Chester (Robert Mandan). As in previous years, season four of Soap ends with a cliffhanger as Jessica Tate faces a South American firing squad. This time, however, there was to be no resolution -- the series had been canceled! ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

When Soap arrived at its cliffhanging season-two finale, Jessica Tate (Katherine Helmond) was trying to choose between her husband Chester (Robert Mandan) and a detective named Donahue; Jessica's son Billy (Jimmy Baio) was in the clutches of a religious cult called the "Sunnies"; and Jodie's step-father (and Jessica's brother-in-law) Burt Campbell (Richard Mulligan) had been abducted by space aliens. Season Three finds Billy being rescued from the Sunnies by Jessica's butler Benson (Robert Guillaume), while an alien clone of Burt moves into the Campbell home undetected -- much to the delight of Burt's spouse Mary (Cathryn Damon), who immensely enjoys the vast improvement in her sex life! In other developments, Jessica's daughter Eunice (Jennifer Salt) is getting tired of life on the run with her escaped-con husband Dutch (Donnelly Rhodes); Eunice's sister Corrine (Diana Canova) is just about fed up with her do-nothing husband, ex-priest Father Tim; Jodie's gangster brother Danny (Ted Wass) is saved from mob retribution by a girl named Millie (Candy Azzara), but ultimately forges a new romance with a black girl named Polly Dawson (Lynne Moody); Jessica decides to forgive Chester, only to have him cheat on her again; "Alien Burt" impregnates Mary, and later "Real Burt" runs for sheriff; Mary's gay son Jodie (Billy Crystal) launches a few more "straight" relationships; and Benson leaves the employment of the Tate family (a move necessitated by actor Robert Guillaume's defection to his own sitcom titled -- what else? -- Benson). This season's 60-minute cliffhanger finale finds Danny proposing to Polly, Jodie fighting for custody of the son born to him by Carol David, and Mary trying to figure out how to tell Burt that her baby is not his; and, after a lengthy illness, Jessica Tate dies. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

The cliffhanger that brought season one of Soap to a climax is resolved in season two when Jessica Tate (Katherine Helmond) is cleared of the murder of her lover (and step-nephew!) Peter Campbell. Jessica's husband, Chester (Robert Mandan), confesses to the crime whereupon he is convicted and sent to prison. Later on, Chester escapes with fellow con Dutch (Donnelly Rhodes), who, while holding the Tate family hostage, sleeps with Jessica's far-from-unwilling daughter, Eunice (Jennifer Salt), leading to an elopement. As for Eunice's daughter Corrinne (Diana Canova), she marries defrocked priest Father Tim (Sal Viscusco), with whom she has a child -- who, alas, is possessed by Satan!. Still later, Chester loses his memory and wanders westward, ultimately getting a job as a fry cook. To find her missing husband, Jessica hires Detective Donahue (John Byner), with whom she falls in love! Meanwhile, Jodie Dallas (Billy Crystal), the gay son of Jessica's sister, Mary Campbell (Cathryn Damon), opts to give women a try and to that end moves in with Carol David (Rebecca Balding) -- who happens to be carrying Jodie's baby. Later on, Jodie will have a fling with a sucidal lesbian named Alice (Randee Heller). Elsewhere, Jodie's mobster brother, Danny (Ted Wass), forced into a relationship with Mafia daughter Elaine (Dinah Manoff), tries to figure out various ways of getting rid of her. But when Elaine is kidnapped and subsequently killed, a heartbroken Danny swears vengeance. And what of Danny and Jodie's stepfather, Burt (Richard Mulligan)? Well, he has his hands full trying to convince his family that he has seen a UFO. As season two rushes to a close, Jessica Tate is compelled to choose between hubby Chester and Detective Donahue, Billy Tate (Jimmy Baio) is being held captive by a religious cult called the "Sunnies," and befuddled Burt is abducted by those "non-existent" aliens. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi