Janeane Garofalo Movies
Actress, comedian, and paragon of cynicism Janeane Garofalo was born on September 28, 1964, in Newton, NJ. During high school, her family relocated to Houston, TX, where the trauma of the move prompted her famously insecure, self-loathing persona to begin blossoming in full. While studying history at Providence College, Garofalo entered a comedy talent search sponsored by the Showtime cable network, winning the title of "Funniest Person in Rhode Island." Dreaming of earning a slot on the writing staff of the Late Night With David Letterman program, she became a professional standup upon graduating college but struggled for a number of years, working briefly as a bike messenger in Boston.Upon moving to the Los Angeles area, Garofalo met actor/comedian Ben Stiller, who in 1992 invited her to join the cast of his short-lived but acclaimed Fox television sketch comedy program The Ben Stiller Show. A stint on Garry Shandling's breakthrough HBO series The Larry Sanders Show (for which she was nominated for an Emmy award in 1996) soon followed, and in 1994 Garofalo reunited with Stiller in the film comedy Reality Bites, a role which earned her the much-despised tag of "Generation X comedian." That fall, she joined the cast of Saturday Night Live but exited before the conclusion of the season, publicly disheartened by the show's increasing drop-off in quality.
After signing on as a correspondent on Michael Moore's news magazine TV Nation and hosting Comedy Product, a standup showcase on the Comedy Central cable network, Garofalo began work on her breakthrough role, co-starring with Uma Thurman in the 1996 romantic comedy hit The Truth About Cats and Dogs. That same year, she also co-starred with Bill Murray in Larger Than Life, and appeared briefly in The Cable Guy and Kids in the Hall: Brain Candy. Garofalo's prolific output continued in 1997; in addition to starring roles in two comedies, Romy and Michelle's High School Reunion and The Matchmaker, she was featured prominently in James Mangold's Cop Land and Paul Schrader's Touch, she hosted the MTV series Indie Outing, and she remained a fixture of the emerging alternative comedy circuit.
In 1998, Garofalo's career continued to thrive, with starring and supporting roles in a number of films. Some of her more notable work included Clay Pigeons, a black comedy with Vince Vaughn and Joaquin Phoenix; Permanent Midnight, which marked another collaboration with Stiller; and the animated Kiki's Delivery Service, which featured Garofalo as the voice of a new age artist and mystic. She also acted against type as one half of a revoltingly cheerful couple in Bruce McCulloch's comedy Dog Park. The following year, Garofalo appeared in no less than five films, with a supporting part in the ensemble piece 200 Cigarettes, a starring role as an unconventional action heroine called the Bowler in Mystery Men (which also featured Stiller), and prominent turns in Kevin Smith's eagerly awaited Dogma, Hampton Fancher's psychological thriller The Minus Man, and the satirical comedy Can't Stop Dancing, in which she acted alongside fellow comedienne Margaret Cho. ~ Jason Ankeny, All Movie Guide
On New Year's Eve, no one wants to be alone. On this night in 1981, several different groups of young desperate people begin a journey from around New York City to a big party hosted by Monica (Martha Plimpton) and new friend Hillary (Catherine Kellner). As the hours pass and no one shows, Monica begins to unravel. She must bribe Hilary to stay with the promise of a clear shot at Monica's old boyfriend, Eric (Brian McCardie). Eric, at that moment is drinking in a nightclub with his new girlfriend, Bridget (Nicole Parker) and her friend Caitlyn (Angela Featherstone). When Bridget learns the host of the party is Eric's ex-girlfriend, she moves in on the bartender (Ben Affleck). Another group consists of two teenagers from Long Island, Monica's cousin Val (Christina Ricci) and Stephie (Gaby Hoffmann). The two get lost on the way when they run into a pair of punk rockers, Tom (Casey Affleck) and Dave (Guillermo Diaz). In a nearby diner, Lucy (Courtney Love) commiserates with her best friend Kevin (Paul Rudd) who has just been dumped by performance artist Ellie (Janeane Garofalo) so she could move in with her therapist. As they bar hop it slowly dawns upon the two that they could be more than friends. Elsewhere, new acquaintances Jack (Jay Mohr) and Cindy (Kate Hudson) are celebrating more than the new year. Cindy lost her virginity to Jack the night before, though is afraid Jack is with her out of sense of obligation. Now if only everyone can get to the party by midnight. Linking the different stories is the disco cabbie (Dave Chappelle) in whose cab the party never stops. ~ Ron Wells, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ben Affleck, Casey Affleck, (more)
A handful of New Yorkers struggle to tie together the loose ends of their lives following the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, in this drama. It has been several weeks since the twin towers of the World Trade Center fell, and Liz (Janeane Garofalo), a writer who watched as one of the jets sailed past her window and into the skyscraper, has refused to leave her apartment since the disaster. However, an eccentric but street-smart poet named Karl (Giancarlo Esposito) carries a torch for Liz and is determined to bring her back to the land of the living. Judy (Nicole Hansen) suffers through an unpleasant one-night stand with Billy (Dov Davidoff) before waking up in the apartment of Punch (Tony Spiridakis), a fellow lost soul whose car is covered with the dust left by the falling towers...only now, some of his neighbors claim they can see a holy apparition in the dirt, so it's hard for him to move. And Samantha (Jennifer Carpenter), who has been observing the neighborhood from behind the bar at a local watering hole, finds some much-needed comfort in the arms of renegade would-be rock singer Gina Mascara (Pauley Perrette). Screened at film festivals as Ash Tuesday, Beyond the Ashes was written by Tony Spiridakis, who also plays Punch. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
Barry Sonnenfeld directs this kissing cousin of his own 1995 hit Get Shorty, a comic caper adapted by Robert Ramsey and Matthew Stone from the novel by newspaper humorist Dave Barry. When two New Jersey hitmen (Dennis Farina and Jack Kehler) show up in Miami to whack crooked businessman Arthur Herk (Stanley Tucci), they happen to creep into his backyard at the same time as Matt (Ben Foster), a high school kid with his own assassination plans. Only, Matt plans to use nothing heavier than a squirt gun on Jenny (Zooey Deschanel), Arthur's daughter, as part of a school-wide game of "killer." When the plans collide, mayhem ensues, and Matt's struggling ex-columnist dad (Tim Allen, loosely modeled on Barry), Arthur's bored wife (Rene Russo), and two confused police officers (Janeane Garofalo and Patrick Warburton) are also called to the scene. Shift to the next day and there's more craziness to follow. Two dimwitted petty criminals (Tom Sizemore and Johnny Knoxville) choose the exact moment Arthur is transacting a nuclear arms deal to hold up the dive bar where they're regulars, which is actually a front for the Russian mob. Soon the whole motley cast -- including an agreeable drifter (Jason Lee), a buxom maid (Sofia Vergara), and a pair of ruthless FBI agents (Heavy D and Omar Epps) -- are caught up in a hostage scenario in which the weapon accidentally gets brought aboard a hijacked plan. ~ Derek Armstrong, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Tim Allen, Rene Russo, (more)
Three divorced fathers, played by Paul Reiser, Matthew Modine, and Randy Quaid, experience the joys and hardships of their former marriages, their relationships with their kids, and getting back into the dating scene in this whimsical comedy. Dave (Modine) is diligently playing the field, while Vic (Quaid) is enraged over his ex-wife's spending problem and Donny (Reiser) is struggling with the love he still feels for his ex and his own feelings of rejection. However, what develops over the weekend changes each man's life forever. Vic goes on a nightmare date with a neurotic woman (Janeane Garofalo), Dave loses control of his female interests when they all show up at the house simultaneously, and Donny finds himself literally out on a limb in order to communicate with his teenage daughter. Though it deals with serious subject matter, Bye Bye Love is a lighthearted look at modern American divorce and the often humorous ways in which people adjust to a new life. ~ Don Kaye, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Matthew Modine, Randy Quaid, (more)
- 1999
Actor Ben Zook co-wrote and co-directed this broad comedy, in which he stars as Randy Rubio, the leader of a small-time dance troupe who hasn't let his 260-pound girth get in the way of his dreams. When Randy and his fellow hoofers are told their 15-year run at a Topeka, Kansas theme park has come to an end, they decide to pack up their bus and move to Hollywood, where he's convinced fame and fortune await them. Randy's dance partners include Saturday Night Live's Melanie Hutsell and comic Margaret Cho; Janeane Garofalo, Illeana Douglas, Noah Wyle and Laura Innes also make cameo appearances. Satirizing sad-sack showbiz hopefuls and 1980's pop musicals such as Flashdance and Footloose in equal measure, Can't Stop Dancing milks its characters' big ambitions and small talent for all they're worth. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ben Zook, Melanie Hutsell, (more)
David Dobkin made his feature directorial debut with this comedy thriller about an ordinary guy mistakenly viewed as a serial killer by the FBI. In small-town Mercer, Montana (population 1,536), easy-going gas station attendant Clay Bidwell (Joaquin Phoenix) endures a comical nightmare that gets underway when Clay's best buddy Earl (Gregory Sporleder) learns Clay slept with Earl's wife Amanda (Georgina Cates). Earl commits suicide as a horrified Clay watches. Amanda would rather see Clay in prison than have the local gossipers chatting about their affair, so to cover-up, Clay puts Earl's body into a faked auto accident. Clay then finds comfort with waitress Gloria (Nikki Arlyn), but Amanda kills Gloria, leaving Clay to dispose of another body. At the local bar, Clay is befriended by trucker Lester Long (Vince Vaughn), and they go fishing, hooking a corpse. Lester asks Clay to tell the cops he found it alone. The next victim is Amanda, stabbed 40 times. Clay tries to explain what's going on to the law -- Sheriff Mooney (Scott Wilson) and FBI agents Dale Shelby (Janeane Garofalo) and Reynard (Phil Morris) -- but he becomes the main suspect and is arrested, while serial killer Lester is on the loose. Clay manages an escape from jail and goes in search of Lester. David Dobkin, a Ridley Scott protégé, is an award-winning director of music videos (including the Coolio clips that won MTV's "Best Dance Video of 1996") and commercials, many helmed under the auspices of Ridley and Tony Scott's production companies. Shown at the 1998 Toronto Film Festival. ~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Vince Vaughn, Janeane Garofalo, (more)
- 1995
- R
A quiet young fellow becomes a reluctant, but effective hit man in this comedy. Cosmo, a robot-like bookie, is promoted to hit man by his crime boss, Gordon. Cosmo's teacher is to be the philosophical and chatty Steve, a real pro. Cosmo is an excellent shot and quickly learns. His problem is that he likes to get to know his clients and empathize with them before he kills them. In time Cosmo feels conflict after he begins to fall in love with Jasmine, his yoga-instructor. He wants out of the profession. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jason Priestley, Peter Riegert, (more)
- 1995
Comedic actress Janeane Garofalo (The Larry Sanders Show and Mystery Men) hosts two episodes of the Comedy Product from cable television's Comedy Central channel. The series showcased some of the hottest, progressive twentysomething comedic talent that emerged from the alternative scene of the 1990s. In this video, Garofalo introduces routines by standup comic Bobcat Goldthwait and sketch artist Julia Sweeney. Garofalo also has fun with guests Bob Odenkirk and Andy Dick, her fellow cast members from the short-lived television comedy The Ben Stiller Show. ~ Steve Blackburn, All Movie Guide
The second film from writer/director James Mangold, the corruption drama Cop Land stars Sylvester Stallone as Freddy Heflin, the much-denigrated sheriff of tiny Garrison, NJ, a community which -- thanks to a technicality -- is populated almost entirely by members of the New York City Police Department. When young cop Murray "Superboy" Babitch (Michael Rapaport) becomes embroiled in a controversial shoot-out which leaves two black youths dead, he apparently commits suicide rather than face the wrath of an official investigation. In reality, however, he flees to safety back home in Garrison. In the wake of the controversial events, NYPD Internal Affairs lieutenant Moe Tilden (Robert De Niro) arrives in Garrison to uncover the truth, attempting to enlist Freddy to help watch the watchmen, including Superboy's uncle, veteran cop Ray Donlan (Harvey Keitel); coked-out Gary Figgis (Ray Liotta); and Joey Randone (Peter Berg), the husband of the woman (Annabella Sciorra) Freddy loved and lost. A rich, complex film about redemption, Cop Land's portrayal of Freddy's struggles to prove his worth mirrors Stallone's own return to thoughtful, character-driven drama after years of vacuous action roles. Like Freddy, he faces an uphill battle, fighting for respectability in the face of a superb cast including Janeane Garofalo, Cathy Moriarty, and Paul Calderon. ~ Jason Ankeny, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Sylvester Stallone, Harvey Keitel, (more)
- 2003
- Add Dangerous Living: Coming Out in the Developing World to QueueAdd Dangerous Living: Coming Out in the Developing World to top of Queue
After Stonewall director John Scagliotti approaches the issue of international gay rights in the documentary Dangerous Living: Coming Out in the Developing World. With the 2001 police raid on an Egyptian disco at its center, the film explores several global instances of mistreatment against homosexuals. Through interviews and personal accounts, Scagliotti finds human rights violations and other dire conditions in Honduras, Samoa, India, Namibia, Pakistan, and Vietnam. This film also includes a discussion of pop culture images, the Internet, and the progression of changing attitudes in some countries. Narrated by Janeane Garofalo, Dangerous Living was screened at the 2003 San Francisco Gay & Lesbian Film Festival. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Janeane Garofalo
- 1999
Janeane Garafolo narrates this program about three young teenage girls who dared to oppose Hitler's reign of terror. Shulamit Gara Lack, Barbara Lederman Rodbell, and Faye Lazebnik Schulman were both clever and daring. One young woman was able to pass for a gentile and hid Jews in her home, while another helped Jews escape over dangerous border crossings. Each of the women details how their lives were forever altered as the Nazis tried to round up Jews all over the European continent. ~ Elizabeth Smith, All Movie Guide
Former Kids In The Hall member Bruce McCulloch wrote and directed this comedy about the romantic tribulations of a group of Toronto twenty-somethings whose relationships with their dogs are more stable and long-lasting than their romances with people. Nice guy Andy (Luke Wilson) gets dumped by his girlfriend Cheryl (Kathleen Robertson) when she meets another man (Gordon Currie); worst of all, Cheryl also ends up with custody of Andy's dog. On the rebound, Andy meets Lorna (Natasha Henstridge), the host of a children's TV show, but she's too obsessed with her dog Peanut to pay Andy much mind. Keiran (Kristin Lehman), on the other hand, is a bit too enthusiastic for Andy, leading to yet another short-lived relationship. Cheryl ends up taking her dog (formerly Andy's dog) to a pet psychiatrist (Mark McKinney) who thinks that her promiscuity may be traumatizing the pooch. Meanwhile, Bruce McCulloch and Janeane Garofalo are cast against type as Jeff and Jeri, Andy's cheerful and annoyingly romantic friends. Although it was completed in 1998, Dog Park's U.S. release was delayed until September 1999 due to the film's sale to New Line Cinema; as a result, Bruce McCulloch's directorial debut hit theaters only a month before the scheduled release of his second film, Superstar. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Natasha Henstridge, Luke Wilson, (more)
Would you believe that the last living descendent of Jesus Christ is a woman working at an abortion clinic in Illinois? And that she's been sent on a holy mission with two minor characters from Clerks and Mallrats as her guides? Prepare to suspend any and all disbelief as you watch the religious satire Dogma, the fourth film from writer/director Kevin Smith. Bethany (Linda Fiorentino) has been disappointed in life and has found her faith severely tested after her husband leaves her when she discovers she cannot have children. So Bethany is all the more puzzled when she's approached by Metatron (Alan Rickman), a grumpy angel. Metatron wants her to help him stop Bartleby (Ben Affleck) and Loki (Matt Damon), two fallen angels who were ejected from paradise, have escaped from exile and are heading to New Jersey. If they are able to pass through the arc of a certain church, it will prove God is fallible and the world will come to a swift end. Bethany has no idea what to do or why she's been given this project, but she heads out anyway, with her assigned assistants Jay (Jason Mewes), an appallingly rude former dope dealer and self-styled ladies man, and Silent Bob (Kevin Smith). Along the way, Bethany picks up more helpers, including a celestial muse named Serendipity (Salma Hayek) and Rufus (Chris Rock), who claims to have been the 13th apostle and that Jesus owes him 12 dollars. Boasting a huge supporting cast -- including George Carlin, Jason Lee, Janeane Garofalo, Bud Cort, and Alanis Morissette (as God) -- Dogma proved to be highly controversial even before its release. Miramax Pictures, owned by Disney, financed the film, but several weeks before Dogma's world premier at the Cannes Film Festival, they announced they would not release the picture and intended to sell it to another distributor (which would turn out to be Lions Gate Films). Director Smith, however, has always contended that Dogma is a film about the importance of faith, if not organized religion. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ben Affleck, George Carlin, (more)
A sad sack has to come to term with his own demons after a long run of bad luck in this downbeat comedy drama from writer and director Matt Mulhern. Duane Hopwood (David Schwimmer) lives and works in Atlantic City, where he's a pit boss on the night shift at one of the city's resort hotels, and has a wife, Linda (Janeane Garofalo), and two young daughters, Mary (Ramya Pratt) and Kate (Rachel Covey). Duane also has a drinking problem, and while Linda loves him very much, she's begin to wonder if he's still capable of living up to his responsibilities as a father. The final straw comes when Duane gets arrested for drunk driving while Kate is in the car with him; Linda files for divorce, and the court opts not to give Duane visitation rights. With Duane struggling to hold on to his family, he gets more bad news when he loses his job after he's caught giving money to an argumentative customer to shut him up. With only his friends from work to keep him company -- Anthony (Judah Friedlander), a maintenance man who wants to be a comedian, and Gina (Susan Lynch), a kind-hearted bartender -- Duane realizes he's come to a crossroads where he has to get his life back on track before he loses what little he still has left. Duane Hopwood also features supporting performances from Dick Cavett and Jerry Grayson. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- David Schwimmer, Janeane Garofalo, (more)
The Queen Mother of all dirty words (as it was once described by Jean Shepherd) is examined through all its linguistic, sociological, legal, and ethical implications in this documentary. Filmmaker Steven Anderson interviews dozens of people about the history and function of "the F word," including language historians who have a hard time nailing down its origin, writers (including Hunter S. Thompson and Ben Bradlee) who talk about its role in literature and press freedom, comedians (among them Drew Carey, Janeane Garofalo, and Billy Connolly) who ponder its frequent presence in hipster humor, pop musicians (such as Ice-T, Pat Boone, and Alanis Morissette) who offer their theories about its role in contemporary culture, and social critics (including Michael Medved and Dennis Prager) who believe its currency is taking America into a dangerous place. F*ck also includes footage of famous figures caught using the word unexpectedly and animated sequences by Bill Plympton. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- 2006
A not-unexpectedly raunchy and iconoclastic animated series from the Comedy Central mills, the half-hour Freak Show chronicled the adventures of "The Freak Squad", a superhero aggregation consisting of deformed and misshapen sideshow performers. Sent out on low-priority missions by the Pentagon, the Freak Squad hoped thereby to save the world, but usually succeeded only in living up (?) to their motto: "Failure is not an Option. It's a Guarantee." The main characters included Tuck and Benny, Siamese twins with the ability to separate ("up to 40 years at a time"), who wasted a lot of their time bickering pointlessly; The Bearded Clam, the female spawn of eco-terrorists and the author of "The Anarchist's Guide to the NFL", whose specialty was spitting lethal "bitch juice"; Primi the Premature Baby, a red-hued aberration still attached to its umbilical cord, who was scared of "loud noises and Jews" and whose weapon of choice was strategic projectile vomiting; The World's Tallest Nebraskan, aka Orlando Jones Wilson, whose talents included shrinking to six inches, performing unusual sex acts, and spewing dull, xenophobic homilies; and Log Cabin Republican, a gay GOP member who periodically transformed into Burly Bear, a leather freak with awesome powers in his carefully manicured hands. Created by Arrested Development veteran David Cross and Home Movies alumnus H. Jon Benjamin, both of whom also provided character voices, Freak Show was unveiled on October 4, 2006. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
John Flansburgh and John Linnell are a pair of musicians who met when they were fellow junior-high misfits in the town of Lincoln, MA. Sharing a fondness for off-center pop music and absurdist humor, the pair decided to form a band, and later moved to Brooklyn, NY, in search of their big break. Adopting a rather unusual two-man lineup (guitar and accordion accompanied by a drum machine), the duo began performing as They Might Be Giants, and their shows were part concert, part performance art, and part edgy comedy. Slowly but surely, They Might Be Giants became one of the biggest bands on the alternative rock scene, and while they never threatened to break into the upper reaches of the Billboard charts, they've managed to develop a loyal cult following, and after nearly 20 years together, are still recording and performing their one-of-a-kind songs on their own terms. Gigantic (A Tale of Two Johns) is a documentary which looks at the long and sometimes strange history of They Might Be Giants, featuring extensive interviews with Flansburgh and Linnell; thoughts from fellow musicians Frank Black and Syd Straw; endorsements from noted authors Dave Eggers, Gina Arnold, and Michael Azerrad; and readings of the group's lyrics from actors (and fans) Harry Shearer, Janeane Garofalo, Michael McKean, and Annette O'Toole. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- They Might Be Giants, Frank Black, (more)
Returning from a food run, kindly kindergarten teacher Kenny (Harland Williams) makes the mistake of feeding a massive amount of junk food to a tired-looking, diabetic NYPD horse, which drops dead. Tossed in jail, Kenny relies on his totally stoned roommates (Dave Chappelle, Guillermo Diaz, Jim Breuer) to devise a way to raise the 100,000-dollar bail. Their solution? Sell marijuana stolen from a government research lab. Cameos in this comedy include Stephen Wright, Janeane Garofalo, Stephen Baldwin, Snoop Doggy Dogg, Willie Nelson, and Jon Stewart. ~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Dave Chappelle, Guillermo Diaz, (more)
- 1995
- R
The events leading up to a young man's death are chronicled in this gritty drama. It all begins during a night of youthful carousing. Johnny is a Vegas hustler and just before the event, he and his good friend Grant begin fighting in a blind alley. One has a two-by-four and the other a gun. Watching the scuffle are Gale, Grant's girlfriend, and Martin and Amy. Unfortunately when the death occurred, each of these three saw something different. After the incident, the survivors take off across the Nevada desert toward the California border and their different viewpoints are chronicled via flashback. The story then begins jumping from recent past to present as they try to figure out how everything went so terribly wrong. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- John Stockwell, Janeane Garofalo, (more)
The world's most obnoxious celebrity talk-show host demonstrates how he rose to mediocrity in this pungent show business satire. Jiminy Glick (Martin Short) is a corpulent entertainment reporter who is looking to kick his career into high gear. Hoping to snag some celebrity interviews, Jiminy and his wife, Dixie (Jan Hooks), head north of the border to Canada, where Jiminy will attend the Toronto Film Festival. At first, Glick's attempts to ingratiate himself with stars and semi-stars are little short of disastrous, but after the easily star-struck reporter allows egocentric filmmaker Ben DiCarlo (Corey Pearson) to shamelessly self-promote his latest project on air, word gets around that Glick is an "easy interview," and his star begins to rise. However, Jiminy's good fortune is tempered by his unwitting involvement in a murder plot centered around booze-addled actress Miranda Coolidge (Elizabeth Perkins) and her wildly pretentious husband, Andre Devine (John Michael Higgins). Somewhere along the way, filmmaker David Lynch (played by Short) happens along, offering his theories on the controversial murder of Lana Turner's paramour Johnny Stompanato. A large number of Hollywood celebrities make cameo appearances in Jiminy Glick in La La Wood, including Steve Martin, Kevin Kline, Susan Sarandon, Whoopi Goldberg, Forest Whitaker, Kiefer Sutherland, and Sharon Stone. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Martin Short, Jan Hooks, (more)
The Canadian sketch-comedy masters hit the big screen with Kids in the Hall: Brain Candy, their send-up of psychopharmacology and its social ramifications. Each "kid" plays a plethora of roles; in fact, nearly every character in the film is played by one of the five "kids". When Roritor Pharmaceuticals finds itself on the verge of bankruptcy, research chemist Chris Cooper (Kevin McDonald) finds himself pressured to push his latest development to market without adequate testing at the risk of losing his job. The product -- Gleemonex, an anti-depressant bearing more than a slight resemblance to Prozac -- seems at first to be a wonder drug; users find themselves in a perpetual state of bliss as they relive their fondest memories time and again. Success goes awry, however, when a fatal side-effect surfaces -- users become catatonics. The craze has caught on, however, and the entire world seems to be taking Gleemonex, forcing Dr. Cooper to fight his employers and warn the masses before disaster strikes. The plot is really just an excuse for a series of funny, hallucinogenic sketches involving the memories and fantasies of its users; the funniest include a grandmother's all-too brief holiday visit with her family, and a married man's homoerotic experiences in the military. Another winning scene: a brooding grunge-rock idol (Bruce McCulloch) who's taken the drug unexpectedly changes his tune at a concert to the bewilderment of his angst-hungry fans. Kids in the Hall: Brain Candy is hit-or-miss satire, but much of the humor finds its mark in this humble, surprisingly intelligent film. ~ Jeremy Beday, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Dave Foley, Bruce McCulloch, (more)
Veteran animator Hayao Miyazaki directs this buoyant children's adventure yarn about a young witch striking out on her own. At her mother's behest, 13-year-old Kiki sets out on a year-long apprenticeship with her black cat in tow. With a shaky command of her broom, she ends up in a charming little coastal town that looks like a cross between the French provincial and San Francisco. Unfortunately, the local hotels have a strict "no witches" policy and the police have taken a dim view of her recent aerial mischief making. She's saved from the street by a kindly baker's wife who offers her room and board in exchange for her delivering by broom the baker's wares. Soon she befriends a college-aged artist, an old women who fusses over her, and a boy her same age who is nursing a massive crush. All is well until she wakes up one day and realizes that she can't make her broom levitate nor can she talk to her cat. What will Kiki do? ~ Jonathan Crow, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Kirsten Dunst, Phil Hartman, (more)
Lindsay Lohan stars as an office assistant who fakes a pregnancy to get on the good side of her stringent boss in this romantic comedy from Nu Image and Millennium Films. Chris Parnell, Cheryl Hines, Luke Kirby, and Connie Britton co-star in the Lara Shapiro-helmed production. ~ Jeremy Wheeler, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Lindsay Lohan, Luke Kirby, (more)
Bill Murray teams up with his biggest co-star to date (with the exception of the Stay-Puft Marshmallow Man) in this family-oriented comedy. Jack Corcoran (Bill Murray) is a motivational speaker who makes his living advising others how to tie up the loose ends of their lives, but he has plenty of his own left dangling. Jack is emotionally at the mercy of his mother (Anita Gillette) and his fiancée Celeste (Maureen Mueller), while his booking agent Walter (Jeremy Piven) keeps promising him bigger and better things that don't materialize. Jack has grown up believing that his father died before he was born while trying to rescue a drowning child, but he learns that was not the case at all -- Dad spent a long career working as a circus clown, and died only a few weeks ago. However, Dad was kind enough to bequeath Jack a large stack of debts and his only tangible asset, an Indian elephant named Vera (Tia). Jack is in no position to keep a pachyderm at home, and he has two options for getting rid of the animal -- sell Vera to Terry (Linda Fiorentino), a mean spirited animal trainer, or donate her to Mo (Janeane Garofalo), a zoologist who hopes to return her to the wilds. Either way, Jack has to get Vera from the East Coast to California, and in order to make an important speaking engagement, he and the elephant have five days to cross the country. Larger Than Life also features Matthew McConaughey as an excitable truck driver; Keith David, Harve Presnell, and Pat Hingle also highlight the supporting cast. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Bill Murray, Janeane Garofalo, (more)
