Jennifer Coolidge Movies
A character actress who has used her blond, voluptuous features to shrewd comic effect, Jennifer Coolidge appeared in some of the most celebrated film and TV comedies of the 1990s. Perhaps best known by mainstream audiences for her role as Stifler's mom in American Pie (1999), she has also done equally memorable work in films like Christopher Guest's Best in Show (2000), which cast her as the lesbian trophy-wife of a frail and oblivious old multimillionaire.Originally hailing from Boston, Coolidge began her professional acting career when she moved to New York, where she became a member of the Gotham City Improv group. Work with the group led her to Los Angeles, where she continued to nurture a career in improvisational acting as a member of the Groundlings, the city's legendary improv troupe. In the early '90s, Coolidge broke into television-acting through spots on various shows, including Seinfeld and the animated King of the Hill, and segued into films with her debut in the forgettable 1997 comedy Trial and Error.
The actress earned her first dose of recognition for her scene-stealing cameo as a high school student's seductive mother in the blockbuster comedy American Pie, then further endeared herself to audiences a year later in both Best in Show and The Broken Hearts Club. The latter cast her as a laconic but wildly popular hairdresser, capitalizing on the kind of deadpan glamour that was well on its way to becoming Coolidge's trademark. ~ Rebecca Flint Marx, All Movie Guide
Comic Chris Rock co-scripted and stars in this remake of 1941's Here Comes Mr. Jordan, which was also remade with Warren Beatty in 1978 as Heaven Can Wait. Comedian Lance Barton (Rock) is struggling to get his career off the ground when he dies in an untimely bus accident; arriving at the Pearly Gates, he discovers that he's not supposed to have passed on for another 50 years. Barton is not happy with this turn of events, and eventually the Powers That Be send his spirit back to Earth, but for the time being he has to make do with the body of a middle-aged, closed-minded millionaire, Charles Wellington. Lance falls in love with a young community activist (Regina King), but he soon finds he has bigger problems at home: the millionaire's wife and her lover are both trying to kill him. The supporting cast includes Mark Addy as an actor passing himself off as an English manservant, Chazz Palminteri as Mr. King, Heaven's no-nonsense manager, and Eugene Levy as Mr. Keyes, the angel who accidentally ends Barton's life. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Chris Rock, Regina King, (more)
Reese Witherspoon stars in this romantic comedy, the feature film debut of award-winning Australian director Robert Luketic. As a ravishing Miss Hawaiian Tropic, sorority president, and calendar girl, Elle Woods (Witherspoon) is a big hit on the campus of her sun-drenched Los Angeles college. She's also got the perfect boyfriend in Warner Huntington III (Matthew Davis), a wealthy East Coast blue blood. Fearing that his snooty friends and family will never accept the bubble-headed Elle, however, Warner dumps her before heading off to graduate law school at Harvard University. Determined to win back her man, Elle enrolls in the same imposing institution, quickly becoming an object of scorn and ridicule, especially to Warner's old prep school flame (Selma Blair). Despite her penchant for malls, makeup, and tanning, Elle is no dummy and is soon showing elite Ivy League snobs a thing or two about class, self-confidence, and courtroom victory. ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Reese Witherspoon, Luke Wilson, (more)
- 2000
- R
- Add The Broken Hearts Club: A Romantic Comedy to QueueAdd The Broken Hearts Club: A Romantic Comedy to top of Queue
Greg Berlanti directs this comedic romp about a quartet of gay yuppies looking for love in all the wrong places. Though photographer Dennis (Timothy Olyphant) longs for a long-term relationship, he continues his routine of one-night-stands until he meets neophyte queer Kevin (Andrew Keegan) at a birthday party. Dennis' associates aren't faring much better. Apartment mate and hunky actor Cole (Dean Cain) goes through boys like Kleenex, that is until he is courted by a closeted movie star. Taylor (Billy Porter) is ditched by his longtime boyfriend during a long distance phone call. And Patrick (Ben Weber) generally whines about how ugly he is. Romantic misunderstandings, drug dalliances, and hugs follow. This film was screened at the 2000 Sundance Film Festival. ~ Jonathan Crow, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Timothy Olyphant, Andrew Keegan, (more)
After parodying the idiosyncrasies of community theater devotees in the mock documentary Waiting for Guffman, actor/director Christopher Guest returns with another semi-improvised comedy that casts a satirical gaze on the world of championship dog breeding and training. A television crew is on hand to document the prestigious Mayflower Kennel Club Dog Show, and competition is fierce among the canine devotees vying for top honors. Salesman Gerry Fleck (Eugene Levy), who is cursed with two left feet (literally), and his wife Cookie (Catherine O'Hara) have entered their Norwich terrier "Winky" in competition. Wealthy and neurotic Meg Swan (Parker Posey) and her husband Hamilton (Michael Hitchcock) are on hand with their Weimaraner "Beatrice," who they fear may have been traumatized by watching them have sex. Scott Donlan (John Michael Higgins) and his life partner Stefan Vanderhoof (Michael McKean) have brought their beloved Shih Tzu, "Miss Agnes." Trophy wife Sherri Ann Cabot (Jennifer Coolidge) and her close friend and trainer Christy Cummings (Jane Lynch) are hoping for a repeat victory for Sheri's poodle, "Rhapsody In White." And Harlan Pepper (Guest), who operates a store specializing in fly-fishing gear, has decided to stack his bloodhound "Hubert" up against the competition. In addition to Guest, Levy, O'Hara, and Posey, several other veterans of the Waiting for Guffman cast also appear in Best in Show, including Fred Willard, Bob Balaban, and Lewis Arquette. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Eugene Levy, Catherine O'Hara, (more)
It's said that most American men think about sex once every two or three minutes, but this statistic would seriously underestimate the horniness of Jim (Jason Biggs), a high school senior in suburban Michigan. Jim is thoroughly obsessed with sex, a fact of which his parents become aware when they discover him performing the sin of Onan with a gym sock while watching scrambled pay-per-view porn. Jim's buddies Kevin (Thomas Ian Nicholas), Finch (Eddie Kaye Thomas), and Oz (Chris Klein) are no less anxious to relieve themselves of their virginity, so they all make a pledge: they will go to bed with a woman in the three weeks before senior prom or die trying. Kevin appears to have the advantage, since he already has a girlfriend, Vicky (Tara Reid), but before he ventures into the Final Frontier, Kevin is urged to consult "The Bible," a hand-written how-to manual possessing erotic wisdom passed down through the ages. Oz is a good-looking jock who is actually a nice guy -- which is part of the problem, since he has his heart set on a nice girl, Heather (Mena Suvari), who does not seem the type to leap into bed within 21 days. Finch has no immediate prospects, though Jessica (Natasha Lyonne) is in a position to know if those rumors about him are true. And Jim is a truly hopeless case -- after his attempted seduction of beautiful Czech exchange student Nadia (Shannon Elizabeth) turns out to be a disaster, he ends up going to the prom with Michelle (Alyson Hannigan), an annoyingly chatty band geek who does, however, have a fascinating story about a flute. American Pie was the directorial debut of Paul Weitz, who, along with his brother Chris Weitz (who served as producer), previously wrote several screenplays, including Antz and Madeline (where they presumably worked all their wholesome ideas out of their system). ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jason Biggs, Shannon Elizabeth, (more)
At Dartmoor Academy snooty principal Morgan Brinway (B.D. Wong) has second-graders studying opera appreciation, but five feisty kids, nicknamed the "Stinkers" by Brinway, skip class to create chaos on the school grounds. Although they get a warning from Brinway, they soon rebel with more misadventures. Discovering sea lion Slappy during an aquarium field trip, they smuggle him back on the school bus and install him in Brinway's hot tub. Groundskeeper Roy (Bronson Pinchot) mistakes the sea lion for a giant gopher and plans to kill him, but before that can happen, animal thief Boccoli (Sam McMurray) makes off with Slappy, planning to sell him to the circus -- prompting the Stinkers to set forth on a rescue mission. ~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- B.D. Wong, Bronson Pinchot, (more)
Based on a novel by acclaimed crime writer James Ellroy, this film stars Michael Rooker as Fritz Brown, a former L.A.P.D. detective who was kicked off the force due to his drinking. Now struggling to remain sober, Brown works as a private eye when he can, but he makes most of his money repossessing cars. One day, Brown is offered some detective work by Freddie "Fat Dog" Baker (William Sasso), a golf caddy who has some severe reservations about his younger sister, Jane (Selma Blair) and her relationship with Solly (Harold Gould), a wealthy businessman with mob connections who is old enough to be Jane's grandfather. Brown isn't interested at first, but when "Fat Dog" starts flashing an impressive bankroll, he decides to take the case. Brown's investigation of Solly causes him to cross paths with Cathcart (Brion James), the head of L.A.P.D. internal affairs who was responsible for Brown losing his job. Soon Brown runs afoul of a group of hired thugs and several key figures wind up dead as Brown tries to find out the truth about Solly and Jane. Ellroy wrote Brown's Requiem, his first novel, while he was still supporting himself as a golf caddy and breaking himself of a decade-long addiction to drugs and alcohol. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Michael Rooker, Tobin Bell, (more)
This comedy features TV's Seinfeld regular Michael Richards in his first starring role, opposite Jeff Daniels. Daniels plays Charlie Tuttle, an up-and-coming attorney engaged to Tiffany Whitfield (Alexandra Wentworth), the daughter of the law firm's boss (Lawrence Pressman). His boss sends him to a small Nevada town to represent a down-and-out relative, Benny Gibbs (Rip Torn). Benny has been charged with fraud for bilking people in a mail-order scam. At a bachelor party that Charlie's future father-in-law arranges for him in the small town, Charlie gets plastered. A small-time actor, Richard Rietti (played by Richards), agrees to switch places with Charlie for a simple hearing that day. The judge and prosecutor think he's Tuttle. As the trial begins, Charlie tries to pose as his associate, but the judge won't allow that. Charlie is forced to send signals to Richard during the trial by honking on a car horn in the parking lot. In the meantime, Charlie finds a new kind of happiness with a free-spirited local waitress, Billie Tyler (Charlize Theron). ~ Michael Betzold, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Michael Richards, Jeff Daniels, (more)
