Nora Dunn Movies

In this family canine comedy, a sequel to Air Bud (1997), Josh Framm (Kevin Zegers) finds it a problem when his widowed mother, Jackie (Cynthia Stevenson), starts seeing the community's new veterinarian, Patrick Sullivan (Gregory Harrison). Sullivan gives a football to Josh's golden retriever Buddy, and the athletic animal is soon girding for the gridiron. Coach Fanelli (Robert Costanzo) adds Josh as back-up quarterback to the jr. high team, and an accident takes Josh off the bench and onto the field. Meanwhile, two devious dognappers (Nora Dunn, Perry Anzilotti) see news footage of Buddy playing basketball and make plans to spirit him away to a Russian circus. Four dogs performed the tricks seen here. The character of Air Bud was created by Kevin DiCicco, but Buddy died not long after the first movie. The original basketball-shooting Buddy, a popular half-time attraction prior to the first film, achieved a lifetime total of some 22,000 baskets. ~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide

This 1993 remake of the 1950 film Born Yesterday (based on the 1946 Garson Kanin stage play) was retooled as a star vehicle for then-marrieds Melanie Griffith and Don Johnson. Roughneck self-made millionaire Harry Brock (John Goodman) wants to become a powerful Washington lobbyist. Brock's efforts to hobnob with DC uppercrust are compromised by his brash, embarrassingly vulgar mistress Billie Dawn (Melanie Griffith). He'd like to unload the ex-chorus girl, but he thinks he's in love: besides, she knows too much about his crooked dealings to be running around loose. Thus, Brock hires bookish Paul Verrall (Don Johnson) to educate Billie. Verrall does his job amazingly well, awakening Billie to her responsibilities as a loyal, honest American: along the way, the two fall in love. Featured in the cast are Washington Post editor Ben Bradlee and his star reporter (and wife) Sally Quinn, cast as DC power brokers. Also appearing in a small role is 1960s starlet Celeste Yarnell. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Warren Beatty directed, co-produced (with Pieter Jan Brugge), co-scripted (with Jeremy Pikser), and stars in this political satire, a comedy-drama about a U.S. senator who decides to start speaking the truth. Despondent California Sen. Jay Bulworth (Beatty), up for re-election, is disillusioned by the usual campaign banalities; his marriage to Constance (Christine Baranski) seems equally hollow. In the midst of a nervous breakdown, Bulworth goes without sleep or food for three days and takes out a $10 million insurance policy on himself while arranging his own assassination. Drinking during a return to Los Angeles, Bulworth is scheduled to speak at an African-American church in South Central L.A. Once there, he tosses aside his prepared speech, startling both the audience and his campaign manager Murphy (Oliver Platt) by improvising truthful remarks instead of the familiar rhetoric. These loose-cannon salvos gain the attention of an attractive young woman, Nina (Halle Berry). Bulworth finds an exhilaration with this new freestyle approach, and after shocking a gathering in Beverly Hills with further fulminations, Bulworth invites Nina and her girlfriends into his limo. During a spaced-out sojourn at one of South Central's more frenzied after-hours clubs, Bulworth gains respect for hiphop culture. Still reeling from insights gained by this nightlife, he arrives the next day for a fund-raising function at the Beverly Wilshire, startling everyone with a diatribe delivered in the intonations of a rap artist. His interest in Nina and his new optimistic outlook on life give Bulworth a sense of elation and a will to live. He phones to call off the hit, but gears have been set in motion. After an assumed hitman turns up during a church appearance, Bulworth flees, and Nina offers him a safe-house hideout at the home of her family, veterans of the Civil Rights movement. Here Bulworth goes through the final steps in his transformation -- making a Kennedy-styled connection with the disenfranchised as he tunes into forgotten memories of the '60s. Outfitted in homeboy clothing, the born again Bulworth heads for a TV station to unleash even more caustic comments on the American political scene. Language and drug use brought this film an R rating. ~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide

Playwright, performer, and drag queen Charles Busch appears in the leading role as aging pop star Angela Arden in the darkly comic melodrama Die Mommie Die. Based on Busch's own play, this film marks the directorial debut of Mark Rucker. In 1967, Angela's career has hit bottom and she's trapped in a loveless marriage to film producer Sol Sussman (Philip Baker Hall). She gets involved in an affair with unemployed TV actor Tony Parker (Jason Priestley). After Sol suddenly dies, Angela's daughter Edith (Natasha Lyonne) plots a conspiracy of revenge and enlists the help of her brother, Lance (Stark Sands). Also featuring Nora Dunn and Frances Conroy. Busch has previously appeared in drag for the film adaptation of his play Psycho Beach Party in 2000. Die Mommie Die premiered at the 2003 Sundance Film Festival. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, All Movie Guide

Amanda attempts to get a concrete answer from Vince regarding the period film as Barbara leans on Ari to fire an unqualified agent and a new honesty policy finds professional relationships heating up to a passionate pitch. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

Leela invites her old co-workers from the cryogenics lab over for a game of poker. When Bender uses x-ray specs to cheat, Leela's friends beat him up and inadvertently destroy Hermes' office. The anal-retentive Central Bureaucracy officer Morgan Proctor (voice of Nora Dunn) sees Hermes negligence and suspends him, appointing herself to take his place. Dr. Zoidberg suggests that Hermes spend some time at a health spa, but it turns out to be a slave labor camp. Meanwhile, Morgan tries to shape up the Planet Express offices and starts up a secret affair with Fry when she reveals her attraction to his slovenly ways. When Bender catches them, Morgan downloads his brain onto a disc and sends it to Central Bureaucracy. Finally, Hermes comes back and straightens everything out. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, All Movie Guide

This teen comedy from Savage Steve Holland stars Corey Parker as an underachieving high schooler who hatches a crazy plot with valedictorian Lara Flynn Boyle to gain acceptance into a prestigious university. ~ Jason Ankeny, All Movie Guide

An aged, divorced mother becomes "the other woman" in her ex-husband's life when the pair enters into an unexpected affair during an out-of-town trip. Jane (Meryl Streep) has been divorced from Jake (Alec Baldwin) for a decade. The mother of three grown children, she owns a successful Santa Barbara bakery/restaurant and maintains a friendly relationship with Jake, who has since been remarried to the much younger Agness (Lake Bell). Jane and Jake are attending their son's college graduation when they agree to an innocent meal together. Before long a simple dinner date has erupted into an all-out affair, and when architect Adam (Steve Martin) falls for Jane, he realizes he's been drawn into a most peculiar love triangle. Is love sweeter the second time around, or should Jane and Jake just be happy with what they had, and finally move on with their lives? ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

A Colombian law student living in Los Angeles and recently threatened with deportation enters into an unusual agreement with an eccentric couple in hopes of maintaining her citizenship and earning her degree in actor-turned-director Shane Edelman's affectionate romantic comedy. Sofia (Angie Cepeda) once had big plans for her life, but lately it seems like everything is falling apart. Her debts steadily growing and her future in the U.S. thrown into question when the man she had married as a means of obtaining her Green Card cruelly steals all of her possessions while threatening her with divorce, Sofia's sole joy in life is the time spent with her precocious six-year-old neighbor Max (Max Wolf Burkholder), a lonesome boy whose parents have always been too busy to provide him with the attention he so desperately needs. When a series of comic coincidences lead Sofia into the company of wealthy eccentrics Frank (Jim Piddock) and Helen Bauman (Nora Dunn), she soon discovers that she may have found the answer to all of her problems. Saddened by their inability to bear children but determined to realize their dream of parenthood at any cost, Frank and Helen offer Sofia 50,000 dollars if she will agree to become a surrogate mother for the pair. Her outspoken cousin Monica (Martita Roca) and Monica's husband George (Richard Speight, Jr.) providing just the support needed to help her successfully deal with both her pregnancy and the increasingly strange demands placed on her by the Baumans in hopes of birthing a healthy baby, Sofia soon begins to feel an increasing closeness with her kindly doctor Neil (Ken Marino). Though her feelings are seemingly reciprocated at first, it soon becomes increasingly obvious that something in Neil's personal life is preventing him from developing a romantic bond with his adoring patient. Determined to face her labor and forge ahead despite her seemingly unending string of personal disappointments, Sofie strives to find the power to regain control of her life during a time when all hope seems lost and she appears to have no one to turn to. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

Based on the late Charles Willeford's series of hard-boiled crime novels featuring Miami cop Hoke Moseley, the Jonathan Demme-produced Miami Blues opens with the prison release of Frederick Frenger Jr. (Alec Baldwin), a deranged killer who has barely de-boarded his plane before he's killed a Hare Krishna in the airport. Checking into his hotel, Frenger meets up with Susie Waggoner (Jennifer Jason Leigh), a young prostitute with dreams of domestic life, and the two quickly become romantically involved. Meanwhile, the Hare Krishna murder case is given to Moseley (Fred Ward), a grizzled vet who vows to hunt down Frenger, but may be getting too long in the tooth for the demands of his job. ~ Matthew Tobey, All Movie Guide

Credit cards and women on skates prove to be a dangerous mixture in this comedy. Frank Hopper (Jon Bon Jovi) is a former lawyer whose career has hit the skids, and he currently lives off the largesse of his more successful sister, Leona (Nora Dunn). Frank has dozens of business ideas, but has no way to finance them, until he heads out with his friend Carl (David Faustino) one evening and fills out a questionnaire in which he jokingly states his income is a million dollars a year. Suddenly Frank's mailbox is flooded with pre-approved credit cards, and with his new line of credit, Frank launches his dream project -- a women's hockey league. But it seems that the world is not yet ready for women playing professional ice hockey, and before long Frank is 300,000 dollars in debt, with a handful of credit agencies taking him to court to get back the money he's spent so far. Frank turns to his former girlfriend Jessica (Estella Warren), now a successful lawyer, to help him stay out of jail, but it seems their work is cut out for them when they learn Jessica's very competitive former beau Norman (Cary Elwes) is prosecuting Frank's case. National Lampoon's Pucked was directed by Arthur Hiller; it was his first directorial project since 1997's An Alan Smithee Film: Burn, Hollywood, Burn, for which Hiller opted not to take credit. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Director Carl Franklin and actor Denzel Washington team up again (following 1995's Devil in a Blue Dress) for the crime thriller Out of Time. Washington stars as Matt Lee Whitlock, the well-respected chief of police in a quiet Florida community. While in the process of getting a divorce from fellow detective Alexandra (Eva Mendez), Matt engages in an affair with his high school sweetheart Anne (Sanaa Lathan). Unfortunately, Anne is married to the extremely jealous Chris (Dean Cain), a former pro football player who works as a security guard. After a major murder occurs in the community, Matt finds himself the main suspect. With the help of his medical examiner pal Chae (John Billingsley), Matt must solve the case before he is found guilty himself. Out of Time premiered at the 2003 Toronto Film Festival. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, All Movie Guide

With his trademark emphasis on character development and dialogue, writer/director John Sayles tells the story of May-Alice Culhane (Mary McDonnell), a New York soap opera actress left paralyzed by a car accident. As the film opens, she lies in a hospital bed, confused and scared, watching her own show on TV and shrieking, "That was supposed to be my closeup!" With no other options, she returns to her family's old and empty Southern home, where she drinks hard, offends every caregiver, and wallows in self-pity. Her outlook begins to changes with the arrival of Chantelle (Alfre Woodard), a nurse with her own life problems. The two gradually find a heartfelt connection with one another, and, as a result, their lives subtly change. McDonnell's work in Passion Fish earned her an Oscar nomination as Best Actress. ~ Norm Schrager, All Movie Guide