Portia de Rossi Movies
Luxuriantly tressed blonde Portia de Rossi combined her former interest in the law with her subsequent acting career and achieved TV fame when she joined the cast of the Fox TV hit Ally McBeal in 1998. Born Mandy Rogers in Melbourne, Australia, de Rossi acted in TV commercials as a teen and modeled, but entered college to become a lawyer. She changed professions, however, when she was cast as one of the titular beauties tempting the wife of stuffy Hugh Grant in John Duigan's comedy Sirens (1994). de Rossi relocated to Los Angeles and appeared on TV sitcoms Too Something (1995) and Nick Freno: Licensed Teacher (1996), as well as in the blockbuster horror sequel Scream 2 (1997) as one of the terrorized sorority sisters.After a starring role in the TV crime movie Perfect Assassins (1998), de Rossi joined Ally McBeal in its second season as icy legal hotshot Nelle. Infuriating Calista Flockhart's Ally and enthralling Peter MacNicol's Cage, Nelle swiftly shook up the series' bizarre office politics; de Rossi's burgeoning fame became somewhat of the proverbial burden as well as blessing when her decreasing weight, like Flockhart's, became the subject of press speculation in 2000. Continuing to act in films as well as on TV, de Rossi played a small part in the supernatural horror story Stigmata (1999) and starred as a junkie in the indie drama The Invisibles (1999).
After the 2002 demise of Ally McBeal, de Rossi wasted little time in attaching herself to another edgy and successful project. Another critically-acclaimed Fox show, the ensemble sitcom Arrested Development cast the actress as the self-righteous twin sister of Jason Bateman's Michael Bluth, the only sane member of an affluent and eccentric California family. ~ Lucia Bozzola, All Movie Guide
Sex, religion, and morality are the key ingredients in this Australian comedy set in the 1930s. Rev. Anthony Campion (Hugh Grant) is a liberal, forward-thinking Anglican priest who is sent on an unusual assignment. Norman Lindsay (Sam Neill) is a popular and highly controversial artist whose paintings often feature voluptuous nude women; his latest major exhibition is to feature a work called The Crucified Venus, which depicts a naked female impaled on a cross. Outraged, the Anglican Bishop of Sydney wants Campion to visit Lindsay and persuade him to remove the work from his show. Rev. Campion and his wife, Estella (Tara Fitzgerald), travel to Lindsay's Blue Mountain estate, where the artist is hard at work with a bevy of lovely nude models in tow, including Sheela (Elle MacPherson), Giddy (Portia de Rossi), and Pru (Kate Fischer). The Reverend is quietly appalled by the open sensuality of Lindsay's household, and Estella is mortified; they're even more upset when Lindsay calmly but firmly refuses to remove The Crucified Venus from his show. However, the longer the Campions stay with Lindsay in hopes of changing his mind, the more they find themselves drawn into the sensuous pleasures of his world. Sirens was based on an actual incident and Norman Lindsay was a real artist of the period (his life was depicted in the film Age of Consent, in which he was played by James Mason). But audiences were probably less interested in art and cultural history than in the opportunity to see supermodel Elle MacPherson appear undraped; she also gives a fine and charming comic performance, as do Hugh Grant and Tara Fitzgerald. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Hugh Grant, Tara Fitzgerald, (more)
- 1997
Ally McBeal, despite low expectations from the network, proved to be a highly successful endeavor from writer/producer David E. Kelley. The notoriously tiny Calista Flockhart's neurotic portrayal of Ally fueled the show for five seasons, though it could not have lasted nearly as long without the insights of its eccentric supporting cast. Unique for its forays into the surreal, Ally McBeal as a show is as conflicted as its starring character. Half feministic endeavor, half a frustratingly traditional portrayal of lovelorn women, Ally McBeal danced precariously between law dramas of a more serious nature and Bridget Jones-esque "chick-shows." The series centered around the life of Ally McBeal, the quintessential "little girl lost," who, after graduating with a law degree from Harvard University, found herself in a law firm populated by an extraordinarily unconventional staff, including but not limited to Billy Thomas (Gil Bellows), her high school sweetheart. The show's premise allowed for quite a bit of creative freedom, and most episodes switched seamlessly from the thought-provoking (modern gender issues and sexual boundaries) to the absurd (remote control toilet flushers and pet frogs). Ally's quest for love and emotional fulfillment made for the heart of the series, along with the dark undertone of her often-questionable sanity. ~ Tracie Cooper, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Calista Flockhart, Courtney Thorne-Smith, (more)
A year after the monstrous success of 1996's neo-slasher flick Scream, director Wes Craven and screenwriter Kevin Williamson reunited for this follow-up. Since viewers last saw the characters, nosy newswoman Gale Weathers has written a sleazy best-selling book based on the events of the first film, a book that has been adapted into a Hollywood film called Stab, starring Tori Spelling as Sydney Prescott. The real Sydney (Neve Campbell) has since gone away to college in Cincinnati in hopes of leaving the horrific events of her past behind her. Unfortunately, at a showing of Stab, two college students are murdered in a fashion that is reminiscent of the slayings that took place back in Woodsboro. Suddenly, Sydney, her pal Randy (Jamie Kennedy), and dopy deputy Dewey (David Arquette) find themselves once again pursued by a ruthless masked killer. Among the other potential killers and victims are Sarah Michelle Gellar, Laurie Metcalf, and Liev Schreiber. ~ Matthew Tobey, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- David Arquette, Neve Campbell, (more)
Dominique Swain stars as spoiled, small-town high-school senior, 18-year-old Andrea Marr, who lives with her parents in an upscale suburb of Porter City, Washington -- where Andrea and her gal pals make the scene at various concerts and clubs. Before the summer ends and an Ivy League school takes her East, the virginal and somewhat confused Andrea hopes to achieve sexual satisfaction. She chooses Kevin (Channon Roe), but the encounter isn't quite what she was expecting, perhaps because she's more attracted to rocker Todd Sparrow (Sean Patrick Flanery). Absorbing advice from her friend Rebecca (Summer Phoenix), she plots a course of action and drops Kevin. After she succeeds in linking with her one-and-only, it's not long before she's disappointed to find that Sparrow has flown the coop. Swain's effective voiceover narration contrasts her careful plans with her impulsive actions. Shown in the market section at the 1998 Cannes Film Festival. ~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Dominique Swain, Sean Patrick Flanery, (more)
- 1998
- NR
In this crime drama, a specially-trained FBI agent suspects that his former professor may be involved in terrorist activities. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Andrew McCarthy, Robert Patrick, (more)
This independent drama about rock stars, models and the drugs they share was shown as part of the "American Spectrum" series at the 1999 Sundance Film Festival. Jude (Michael Goorjian) is a rock star whose heroin habit has become too much for his bandmates; while on a European tour, they send him to a detox center in Paris to dry out. Jude escapes from detox faster than you can say "Kurt Cobain" and passes out on a sidestreet, where he's found by Joy (Portia de Rossi), a model who's also addicted to heroin. Joy takes Jude back to her flat, where they hide out from the world (where a reward has been posted for Jude's return) and debate the pros and cons of getting off junk. The Invisibles features a score by former Camper Van Beethoven member Jonathan Segel, who also plays the apparition of John Lennon. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Michael A. Goorjian, Portia de Rossi, (more)
As Ally McBeal (Calista Flockhart) fumbles toward 30, her life becomes more tumultuous than one would have believed possible. What started out as an eccentric fantasy life in the first season has begun to swing sharply toward deeper, darker psychological troubles. Ironically, as Ally considers taking antidepressants to suppress her frequent trips into her imagination, Billy (Gil Bellows) begins to have his own hallucinations. Though the office thinks that Billy's chauvinistic behavior, newly bleached hair, and entourage of female assistants are merely his reaction to his recent divorce from Georgia (Courtney Thorne-Smith), they turn out to be the results of a fatal brain tumor. Billy's death leaves the firm reeling, and provides a wealth of opening and closing doors for its occupants. ~ Tracie Cooper, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Calista Flockhart, Courtney Thorne-Smith, (more)
