Vincent Ventresca Movies

Queen Latifah makes her second series appearance, this time in the role of Dee-Dee, the full-figured relative of one of Uncle Philip's law partners. Although Will (Will Smith) discovers to his delight that he and Dee-Dee have a great deal in common, he is reluctant to invite her to a school dance because of his friends' derisive comments about the girl's weight. This episode marks the first appearance of Perry Moore as Tyriq; also, future series regular Nia Long, aka "Lisa Wilkes", shows up in a different role. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Popular mystery writer Richard North Patterson found two of his potboilers, Eyes of a Child and Degree of Guilt, turned into a four-part miniseries for NBC with this star-studded opus. Degree of Guilt stars Daphne Zuniga as Terri, a young wife and mother trapped in an abusive marriage to Ritchie (Vincent Ventresca) in the San Francisco Bay area. With Ritchie sleeping around on her and burning through the family's savings, Terri turns to the sheltering arms of Patterson's recurring attorney-hero Christopher Paget (David James Elliott), much to her mother Rosa's (Tricia O'Neil) dismay. Torn between two men, Terri moves back in, child in tow, with the scolding Rosa. But when Ritchie turns up dead, it's up to Christopher to get his love off the hook. Degree of Guilt also stars Sharon Lawrence as an icy femme fatale whom Christopher is called upon to represent. ~ Michael Hastings, All Movie Guide

Two dimwitted pals attempt to fib their way through their high school reunion with disastrous results in this bubbly comedy from David Mirkin, frequent director of the cult TV sitcom Get a Life!. Los Angeles dim-bulbs Romy (Mira Sorvino) and Michelle (Lisa Kudrow) have been best friends since childhood. Their shared passions include shopping, club-hopping, and creating their own candy-colored fashions. When their tenth high school reunion looms, the friends realize that their lives are not impressive enough to cow the popular crowd that tormented them in their teen years. So Romy borrows a Jaguar, and the duo concocts a story about how they became top corporate executives by creating Post-It Notes. Once they are at the reunion, however, Romy and Michelle's scheme unravels. Saturnine classmate Heather (Janeane Garofalo), who really did make a fortune as an inventor, exposes their fraud, and the girls find themselves mocked again, by everyone except Sandy Frink (Alan Cumming), a nerd millionaire with a lingering crush on Michelle. Kudrow reprised the role of Michelle from her late 1980s stage performance in the play Ladies' Room by Robin Schiff, who expanded both the play and the part of Michelle for the feature film version. ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide

In this TV sitcom, Maggie Winters (Faith Ford), after a bitter divorce, returns home to Shelbyville, Indiana, where she was once voted "most likely to succeed." Minus husband and job, she spends time with her insensitive mom (Shirley Knight), and her high-school friends, including cynical boutique owner Lisa (Alex Kapp Horner). She finds former BMOC Tom (Brian Haley) is now a bartender with a case of arrested development, and her gal-pal Robin (Jenny Robertson) is busy filling cribs with babies. Maggie turns to her old high-school flame Bobby (Vincent Ventresca). Filmed in L.A., this series premiered September 30, 1998 on CBS. ~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide

The first season of The Invisible Man begins as lifelong criminal and chiseler Darien Fawkes (Vincent Ventresca), facing life imprisonment courtesy of the "three strikes you're out" law, agrees to be paroled in the custody of his scientist brother Kevin (David Burke), who is conducting secret invisibility experiments on behalf of a shadowy (and perennially underfunded) government agency called--well, The Agency. No sooner has Kevin planted a quicksilver-filled "invisibility gland" in Darien's neck than terrorists burst in and murder the hapless scientist. As a result, Darien is left with the awkward gland permanently grafted to his person, enabling him to disappear from view whenever he becomes terribly frightened (which is often!). Unfortunately, Darien now faces the likelihood of succumbing to "Quicksilver Madness" unless he is regular injected with a temporary antidote by gorgeous government scientist Claire Keeply, aka The Keeper (Shannon Kenny). Thus, Darien is in no position to refuse an offer from The Agency's head man The Official (Eddie Jones) to use his invisibility on behalf of the United States' counterespionage activities--if he had refused, the antidote doses would have been immediately cut off (and of course there would have been no series). In the course of Season One, reluctant spy Darien is teamed with slovenly, neurotic veteran agent Bobby Howes (Paul Ben-Victor) and is regularly menaced by the sinister Chrysalis organization, whose minions include terrorists Arnaud DeThiel (Joel Bissonette) and Jarod Stark (Spencer Garrett). Darien also faces the danger of sudden exposure whenever a severe change in temperature renders him visible at the most inopportune moments. Season highlights included the poignant episode "Ralph", in which Darien pretends to be the imaginary friend of a little girl traumatized by witness an assassination; "Impetus", wherein Darien's troubles are doubled when he contacts a disease that causes rapid aging; "Liberty and Larceny", guest-starring Priscilla Barnes as Darien's criminal mentor Liz, who hopes to use his invisibility to her advantage; and "Ghost of a Chance" in which Darien poses as a ghost in order to persuade a South American prime minister to vote against a dangerous weapons system--only to face extermination at the hands of a real ghost! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Reluctant secret agent Darien Fawkes (Vincent Ventresca continues to use his ability to render himself invisible on behalf of the government agency known as--er--The Agency, in Season Two of The Invisible Man. Of course, Darien is doing this only in the hopes that some day, some how, sexy scientist Claire Keeply (Shannon Kenny) will come up with a method to remove the invisibility gland that has been grafted to his neck--thereby not only ending his forced servitude to the Official, but also rescuing him from the likelihood of succumbing to "Quicksilver Madness." Making things particularly difficult this season is the fact that the perennially underfunding Agency is shunted from one government regulatory bureau to another in order to keep it alive: First, it is taken over by the Bureau of Fish and Games, then by the Bureau of Indian Affairs, then the Department of Human Services, next the Post Office, and finally by the Bureau of Weights and Measures. It is during his tenure with Human Services that Darien gains a new boss, imperious secret agent Alex Monroe (Brandy Ledford), who turns out to have a connection with the Chrysalis, the sinister terrorist organization that murdered Darien's scientist brother in Season One. Among the Season Two highlights: Albert Eberts (Michael McCafferty), the bean-counting liason between the Agency and the Federal Government, is "possessed" by Darien's frequent nemesis, terrorist Arnaud DeThiel (Joel Bissonette); Darien uses DNA to channel his late brother in hopes of finding a permanent cure for his chronic invisibility; and in a particularly prickly situation, our hero falls into the clutches of an insane acupuncturist (Justine Micelli)! In the series' somewhat open-ended finale, Darien is finally cured--at least halfway--and he leaves the Agency to work for the FBI...sort of. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Based upon a true story, Madison is a father-son drama based on the highly publicized efforts in Madison, IN, during the hydroplane racing season of 1971. Jim McCormick (James Caviezel) has left behind his life of hydroplane boat racing to settle down and start a family and take a job as an air-conditioner repairman. Though he tries to embrace his new life, he still longs for his racing days, and the boat has become the town laughing stock. The town has also experienced harsh financial strain and the rich corporate sponsors of Jim's competitors have stolen the spotlight again and again. The town of Madison is suddenly asked to host the prestigious Gold Cup championship, and Jim cannot resist, though the town is far less supportive. Jim rallies the community for support in an attempt to bring the pride back to it, though his wife, Bonnie (Mary McCormack), is eager to move to the big city and out of the doldrums of Madison, and his son, Mike (Jake Lloyd), has become disillusioned with the idea of the boat races and watching the larger contenders win every time. But Jim stubbornly presses on and soon is permitted to play again with the big boys. The film also features veteran actors Bruce Dern, Brent Briscoe, and Paul Dooley. ~ Jason Clark, All Movie Guide

Harris Done co-writes and directs Purgatory Flats, a low-level actioner about Thomas Reed (Vincent Ventresca), a California physician thrown into the slammer after offing his wife in a drunk driving accident. Upon release, Reed high-tails it to a small town where he finds trouble yet again, this time at the hands of the saucy Sunny Burkhardt (Alexandra Holden), a young woman distantly involved with the extraordinarily dysfunctional and violent Mecklin family, including the hotheaded, bullet-thirsty Owen (evin Alejandro). A conflict soon erupts between the two men. Purgatory Flats features supporting performances by Pat Corley, (Murphy Brown) and Nicholas Turturro (NYPD Blue). ~ Nathan Southern, All Movie Guide

A road trip rolls through a small town where the line between the dead and the living has become a bit problematic in this horror parody. A handful of twentysomethings are driving to Galveston, TX, in an RV to attend the wedding of a close friend. After a long day on the road, the travelers find themselves in a tiny town called Lovelock, where the only available accommodations are at a bed and breakfast run by the eccentric Mr. Wise (David Carradine). One of the kids, Johnny (Oz Perkins), notices that Mr. Wise is carefully looking after a small box; curious about its contents, Johnny opens it, only to unleash a torrent of evil spirits who turn the local rednecks into bloodthirsty creatures hovering somewhere between life and death. Dead & Breakfast features supporting performances by Portia de Rossi, Diedrich Bader, Jeremy Sisto, and David Carradine's daughter Ever Carradine; co-star Oz Perkins is also the offspring of a well-known actor, Anthony Perkins. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

This direct-to-video thriller concerns a meteor that crash lands into a prehistoric museum, resurrecting an eons-old woolly mammoth. The beast then proceeds to go on a virulent rampage, terrorizing everyone in the small town that lies nearby. ~ Nathan Southern, All Movie Guide