Kevin Zegers Movies
The Canadian child actor-turned-young heartthrob Kevin Zegers inevitably recalls an early Tom Cruise, with his high-gloss and surreal handsomeness. These photogenic, audience-pleasing qualities helped to carry Zegers through his adolescent screen career, with a steady series of roles in family-friendly films. Zegers then proved himself capable of sustaining more mature, adult-oriented Hollywood turns, signified by his fine contribution to the pansexual comedy drama Transamerica (2005).Born September 19, 1984, into a blue-collar family (his dad worked in a lime quarry), Zegers attended Holy Family French immersion school in his hometown of Woodstock, Ontario, and received an invitation at eight years old to participate in a London fashion show as a child model. Zegers did a few of these events, then talked his parents into letting him audition for a Toronto-based talent agent; not long after, Zegers landed his first screen role, as a younger version of Michael J. Fox's character in James Lapine's uneven comedy drama Life with Mikey (1993), and spent the preponderance of the next ten years starring in innumerable animal-oriented comedies -- everything from Air Bud and its sequels to Virginia's Run to Nico the Unicorn and MVP: Most Valuable Primate. Lest he be typecast, however, Zegers demonstrated his versatility throughout this period with occasional turns in dark horror outings and telemovies as well. Zegers later recalled how, throughout this period, he honed his ability to size up the fundamental strengths and weaknesses of a script, and by his early twenties, he placed a high premium on this instinct, often rejecting screenplays on the basis of poor quality. Transamerica (which Zegers reportedly read and then fell in love with at first glance) marked the actor's first dramatic leap away from child and adolescent-oriented roles. He later told interviewer Selma Blair that he refused to be turned down for the part, and stalked director Duncan Tucker for weeks on end after an initial rejection from the film, until Tucker recanted. In that well-received picture, Zegers plays Toby, the long-estranged juvenile-delinquent son of pre-operative transsexual Bree (christened Stanley and portrayed by Felicity Huffman). Toby reconnects with his father for a road trip -- just as Bree is about to undergo a permanent sex-change operation. Together, they set off for Los Angeles -- Bree to have her procedure and Toby to make it as a porn star. Zegers proved himself thoroughly worthy of the role; few critics who praised the film failed to single out the actor's performance.
Unfortunately, Zegers followed this with an ill-advised retread of his career origins -- first in the critically reviled, Tim Allen-starring family comedy Zoom, then in the Nick Hurran-directed teen film It's a Boy Girl Thing (both 2006) -- leading many of the actor's fans to grow impatient for additional Zegers work on the level of Transamerica. Not long after, he signed for a small role in more substantial fare: the eagerly anticipated, female-driven ensemble drama The Jane Austen Book Club (2007), directed by Robin Swicord and starring Amy Brenneman, Maria Bello, and Jimmy Smits. ~ Nathan Southern, All Movie Guide
- 1997
- R
Nearly 20 years after the Holocaust, a survivor's new life in America is torn asunder when she learns that the son she thought a casualty of war is alive and anxious to see her. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Blythe Danner, Joe Mantegna, (more)
The heartwarming story of a boy, his dog and a basketball forms the basis of this family comedy from Disney. Snively (Michael Jeter) is an unfunny clown whose appearances at children's parties are usually upstaged by his dog Buddy, who has learned how to shoot a basketball. Snively is tired of being upstaged by the pooch, and he eventually abandons him. Buddy is taken in by Josh (Kevin Zegers), a shy boy whose father recently died. Josh's mother Jackie (Wendy Makkena) moves them to a small town in Washington, where the naturally withdrawn Josh doesn't quite fit in. Too shy to try out for the basketball team, he instead becomes team manager, and he practices on his own after the team goes home. One night, Josh discovers Buddy that can not only shoot hoops, but he's a better shot than anyone on the team. Coach Barker (Stephen E. Miller), hungry for victory, adds Buddy to the team and soon the dog with game is famous -- just famous enough, in fact, for Snively to return, demanding the return of his pet. Buddy the Dog was spotted by the film's producers shooting baskets on the "Stupid Pet Tricks" segment of The Late Show with David Letterman. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Michael Jeter, Kevin Zegers, (more)
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
- Starring:
- Kevin Zegers, Cynthia Stevenson, (more)
With her older brother, Josh (Kevin Zegers), off at college, and her yuppie parents (Richard Karn and Cynthia Stevenson) obsessed with the new baby, young Andrea Framm (Caitlin Wachs) joins the junior high baseball team to escape the tedium of her home life. She's not very good, but luckily her sports-inclined golden retriever, Buddy, is a natural. Buddy also makes the team and becomes the star player. When the team gets into the championship game, a pair of zany scientists traveling in a laboratory inside a mobile home kidnap the pooch and his offspring in the interest of their experiments to clone sports-prone animals. ~ Buzz McClain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Caitlin Wachs, Cynthia Stevenson, (more)
The world's most athletic Golden Retriever is back, and he's becoming a family man in this, the second sequel to the 1997 hit Air Bud. Josh Framm (Kevin Zegers) suddenly has a lot to get used to -- his mom Jackie (Cynthia Stevenson) has just tied the knot with her boyfriend Patrick (Gregory Harrison), and now that Josh and his best friend Tom have made the school soccer team, Coach Montoya (Miguel Sandoval) informs them that the team has gone co-ed -- Emma, whose family has just moved to America from England, will be playing alongside the boys. As it turns out, Emma's family has a Golden Retriever named Molly, and Molly makes the acquaintance of Josh's basketball- (and football) playing pooch, Bud. Soon Bud and Molly are the proud parents of a litter of puppies, and Josh and Emma discover that Bud's previously displayed ball-handling skills apply to the soccer field as well. But while Josh, Emma, and Bud are trying to push their team to the state championships, the clown-turned-dogcatcher Snively (Michael Jeter) has evil plans for Bud and his new family. Air Bud: World Pup marked the directorial debut of Bill Bannerman, who had previously worked as a producer and assistant director. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Kevin Zegers, Caitlin Wachs, (more)
The feature-film debut of director Zack Snyder, Dawn of the Dead is a modern retelling of George Romero's 1978 horror classic, which was actually the second film in a trilogy that began with Night of the Living Dead and concluded with Day of the Dead. Sarah Polley and Ving Rhames star as two of the last remaining people on an earth that has been ravaged by flesh-eating zombies. After escaping to a shopping mall with a handful of other survivors, they decide that they only way to truly elude the approaching throng of undead is to somehow make their way to an island that is supposedly zombie-free. Jake Weber and Mekhi Phifer also star. ~ Matthew Tobey, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Sarah Polley, Ving Rhames, (more)
In this independent horror film from writer/director K.C. Bascombe (Swindle, The Contract), Jesse James plays Brian Billings, a young boy suffering from an intense fear of the dark. His older brother Dale (Kevin Zegers) thinks the phobia is childish and unwarranted, but when the power goes out while the boys are home alone, Dale begins to become aware of the true evil that does indeed lurk in their house when the lights go out. Fear of the Dark also stars Linda Purl and Rachel Skarsten. ~ Matthew Tobey, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Kevin Zegers, Jesse James, (more)
- 2005
- Add Felicity: An American Girl Adventure to QueueAdd Felicity: An American Girl Adventure to top of Queue
Everyone's favorite doll comes to life in this feature based on the best-selling books about a nine-year-old, pre-American Revolution Virginian girl whose love for the outdoors leads to the friendship of a lifetime. Felicity (Shailene Woodley) loves horses, and though her parents plead with her to remain indoors, she years to ride the open plains. When Felicity comes into contact with a beautiful mare which has suffered at the hands of its callous owner, she takes it upon herself to care for the creature, and in the process learns a series of important life lessons. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Shailene Woodley, Katie Henney, (more)
- 2008
- R
Loosely based on the remarkable true story of the British undercover agent who successfully infiltrated the IRA, writer/director Kari Skogland's thriller takes its title from author Martin McGartland's best-selling book of the same name. Set at the absolute height of the Irish civil conflict, Fifty Dead Men Walking begins as 22-year-old Martin McGartland is recruited by the British police to infiltrate the IRA and report back with intelligence. It's an extremely dangerous job that could result in death or worse should his true identity be revealed, yet McGartland realizes that the information he's gathering will save countless lives. At first, the prospect of being discovered provides something of a rush for McGartland, though that initial buzz quickly wears off when his true identity is revealed and he's forced to attempt an impossible escape. Two decades later, McGartland is still on the run. Sir Ben Kingsley, Jim Sturgess, and Rose McGowan star. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jim Sturgess, Ben Kingsley, (more)
- 1999
Devoted father and two-bit hood Milt (William Forsythe) plans an interesting father-son activity: a bank heist. The plan hinges on double crossing his long-time partner in crime Fury (Colm Meaney) and Milt's son (known simply as The Kid) fleeing with the cash to a rendevez point up north. After the heist, the Kid wanders about waiting for his dad for four days, not realizing that pops had been shot during his getaway. Meanwhile, the enraged Fury along with Milt's ex-girlfriend Feather (Anne-Marie Cadieux) are hot on the Kid's trail. On the road, the Kid stumbles upon Crystal (Lolita Davidovich), a free-spirited live wire hell-bent on angering her jealous husband. Crystal flirts with the lad, convincing her hubby that she has hooked herself a strapping young beau. Everyone's paths collide at the Paradise Lodge, off in the northern woods. This film was screened at the 1999 Toronto Film Festival. ~ Jonathan Crow, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Kevin Zegers, Lolita Davidovich, (more)
Abducted by two men and forced into child prostitution when she was just eight years old, a homeless San Diego street teen is finally reunited with her family only to find that the traumas of the past may have scarred her for life. Leslie (Ryan Simpkins) was walking to school when her neighbors Alex (Tom Arnold) and Frank (Kevin Zegers) pulled up alongside her and asked for help finding their missing dog. After scouring the neighborhood with the young girl to no avail, the men offer Leslie a ride so she won't be late for school. Along the way, the men tell Leslie that they work for her father. After school, Leslie is surprised to find the two men waiting to drive her home. Claiming that her parents have been called away on urgent business, Alex and Frank coerce Leslie into the car and give her a drink. Later, after dozing off in the backseat, Leslie awakens in a tiny bedroom with eight-year-old Donnie. Like Leslie, Donnie has been drugged and kidnapped. Donnie is led to believe that his parents have sold him for drugs, while Leslie is told that her parents want nothing to do with her anymore. Now, as the two innocent children are forced into prostitution, they use their imaginations to escape into a wondrous world of light where anything is possible.
Years later, Leslie and Donnie are struggling to rebuild their lives on the streets of San Diego. Donnie is deeply in love with Leslie, but Leslie's perception of love has been completely destroyed by her harrowing experience. One day, Leslie walks into a children's shelter and begins the painful process of reconnecting with the past. Though she is soon reunited with her parents, everything is different now, and it gradually becomes apparent that any hope she had for a normal life evaporated the fateful day she placed her trust in two monstrous strangers. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
Years later, Leslie and Donnie are struggling to rebuild their lives on the streets of San Diego. Donnie is deeply in love with Leslie, but Leslie's perception of love has been completely destroyed by her harrowing experience. One day, Leslie walks into a children's shelter and begins the painful process of reconnecting with the past. Though she is soon reunited with her parents, everything is different now, and it gradually becomes apparent that any hope she had for a normal life evaporated the fateful day she placed her trust in two monstrous strangers. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Gillian Jacobs, Evan Ross, (more)
- 2004
After calling in sick at work, 22-year-old college student Brandon (Kevin Zegers) spends the morning having wild sex with his fiancee--and then lapses into unconsciousness. It's obvious to Dr. House (Hugh Laurie) that Brandon wasn't lying about being sick, but his symptoms are mysterious and contradictory--and worse, they keep multiplying. As he tries to figure out this puzzle, House saves time by treating all of his other patients in a record five minutes. All in all, not a bad day's work for the clinic's most obstreperous doctor, even though House is taken down a peg or two by his supervisor Dr. Cuddy (Lisa Edelstein), who sharkishly informs him that he will never get her goat no matter how hard he tries! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Hired to help locate a missing author, an insurance investigator discovers to his terror that the nightmarish events depicted in the writer's best-selling horror novels are coming true. Wishing to be both a horror film and a parody of the genre, John Carpenter's In the Mouth of Madness combines supernatural thrills with winking references. For instance, the vanished author, Sutter Cane (Jürgen Prochnow), is modeled on writers like Stephen King and Howard Phillips Lovecraft, from his great popularity to his obsession with small-town New England. Indeed, it is to one such hamlet that investigator John Trent (Sam Neill) and Cane's female editor (Julie Carmen) travel, discovering a town filled with terrifying scenes right out of Cane's books, from random axe murders to far worse. Have Cane's fans gone psychotic and begun imitating his writings, or are Cane's stories of an otherworldly evil invading the earth actually true? In the Mouth of Madness's mix of self-referential satire and real frights anticipates the later Scream (1996). ~ Judd Blaise, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Sam Neill, Julie Carmen, (more)
Two kids with nothing in common are brought together in a very unexpected way in this comedy. Nell (Samaire Armstrong) is a pretty but hopelessly geeky teenage girl who loves Shakespeare and wants little more than to study literature at Yale when she graduates from high school in a few months Woody (Kevin Zegers), who lives next door, is the quarterback on the school's football team, and seems like a sure bet to land a lucrative football scholarship despite the fact he isn't especially bright. Nell and Woody are not at all friendly and normally have nothing to say to one another, but one day during a class field trip to a historical museum, the two fall under the spell of an Incan icon and when they awake the next morning, Woody's mind is in Nell's body, and vice versa. Neither is comfortable with their sudden gender switch or having to assume the other's personalities, but they quickly realize that until they can find a way to reverse the spell, they have to work together if Nell is to go to Yale and Woody is to get his scholarship and move away from this loutish parents (Sharon Osborne and Maury Chaykin. Elton John was an executive producer on It's A Boy Girl Thing, and songs from his back catalog appear on the soundtrack. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Kevin Zegers, Samaire Armstrong, (more)
Michael Lantieri made his reputation in film as a special effects man, helping to create the dinosaurs for Jurassic Park, so for his directorial debut, it's only fitting that he should find himself working with big lizards again. In Komodo, teenager Patrick (Kevin Zegers) is visiting an island off the coast of North Carolina when his parents (and his dog) are attacked and killed by a pack of large Komodo dragons. The reptiles were brought to the island by workers from an oil company, who foolishly allowed them to breed at will and run free. A psychiatrist treating the boy (Jill Hennessy) tells him (in one of the most poorly considered bits of advice in medical history) that he must face his fears by returning to the place where his mom and dad were attacked. With his aunt (Nina Landis) in tow, Patrick returns, only to discover that the dragons are out in force -- and quite hungry. As in Lantieri's previous work, the killer lizards were actually the product of the special effects department -- not real Komodo dragons (who might not be inclined to kill on command). ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jill Hennessy, Billy Burke, (more)
James Lapine, whose Broadway credits as a writer/director includes work with Stephen Sondheim, made his Hollywood debut with this comedy. Michael J. Fox plays Michael Chapman, who once upon a time was a wise-cracking child star on a situation comedy called "Life With Mikey." Now in his thirties and on the skids, Michael makes personal appearances at grand openings of hamburger stands, and runs an unsuccessful talent agency (specializing in kids) with his brother Ed (Nathan Lane). The agency's only successful client is Barry Corman (David Krumholtz), a fourteen-year-old with an attitude who is known as "the cereal king" for his appearances on television commercials. Ed is trying to talk Michael into closing the agency and Barry is threatening to go elsewhere when a sprightly 10-year-old reprobate named Angie (Christina Vidal) tries to pick his pocket. When Angie delivers a heart-rendering tale of questionable honesty about being an orphan from Queens, Michael realizes that Angie would be perfect for a Sunburst Cookie commercial. She clicks in the commercial, and both her career and the agency's soar. In the meantime, Angie movies in with Michael, and as they bond, Michael realizes how to act like an adult and Angie realizes how to act like a child. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Michael J. Fox, Christina Vidal, (more)
A chimp learns the blue lines rules of hockey (which is more than can be said for many fans) in this family oriented comedy from the creative team behind Air Bud. Jack is a three-year-old chimpanzee who has been the subject of a long-term experiment by Dr. Kendall (Lomax Study), a researcher who been teaching Jack to communicate through sign language. Jack, however, has not been making progress fast enough for Dr. Kendall's sponsor, Dr. Peabody (Oliver Muirhead), who has cut off his funding and sold Jack to a medical research lab. Afraid of what could happen to his simian friend, Dr. Kendall sneaks Jack out of his home in the lab; however, Jack is accidentally sent to Canada, where he gets loose and is discovered by Tara (Jamie Renee Smith), a deaf girl who recognizes Jack's sign language. Jack has an even bigger surprise for Tara's older brother Steven (Kevin Zegers); Jack scrambles onto the ice in the midst of practice for Steven's junior league hockey team, and he and his teammates discover the monkey has a natural talent for the game. With Jack on the team, Steven's team is on their way to a league championship, but Jack's notoriety attracts the unfortunate attention of Dr. Peabody, who are determined to send Jack back to his new owners. Jack is played on screen by three different chimps, Bernie, Mac, and Louie; the suppoirting cast also features former SCTV regular Dave Thomas. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- 1998
Based on the popular novel for young adults by Frank Sacks, this heart-warming drama concerns Billy Hastings (Kevin Zegers), an 11-year-old boy whose life is shattered after his leg is permanently damaged by a drunk driver. Billy and his mother Julie (Anne Archer) move to a new town in hopes of escaping the bad memories of the accident. Not long after they arrive, they visit a threadbare circus, where they discover a neglected horse. Feeling sorry for the animal, they arrange to take it home, only to discover that the horse is pregnant. That's the least of their surprises, though; the horse shortly gives birth to a unicorn, which appears to have magical powers. Nico the Unicorn also stars Michael Ontkean. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Anne Archer, Michael Ontkean, (more)
The massive fences designed to protect the unhappy suburbanites who populate a posh Vancouver neighborhood from the outside world don't prove nearly as effective as the psychological barricades they erect following a tragic accident in director Carl Bessai's simmering small town drama. After popular high-school student Nick is killed in a drunk driving accident, all those touched by the tragedy gradually find their lives beginning to unravel. Nick's grieving mother Catherine (Carrie-Anne Moss) simply locks herself away in her son's room and refuses to permit anyone else entry into her chamber of sorrow. For those directly involved in the accident, the pain is almost too great to bear as well. When Nick's best friend Jordie (Kevin Zegers) -- who was driving the car at the time of the accident -- returns home from juvenile detention, his overbearing stepmother clings to him with every ounce of her energy as his domineering father makes the boy a target for his unchecked rage. But Nick's friends and family aren't the only ones whose lives have been torn asunder by the accident, because as the other driver -- a failed writer named Walt (Callum Keith Rennie) -- gradually falls into an alcoholic haze, his already troubled marriage continues to disintegrate as he becomes unable to provide his autistic brother with the attention he so desperately needs. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Carrie-Anne Moss, Kevin Zegers, (more)
This made-for-TV drama, produced for the acclaimed anthology series Hallmark Hall of Fame, follows four orphans journeying from New York to the American West during the great migration of the 19th century. En route, the four boys find an abandoned baby, whom they adopt and raise as their own. As the girl, whom they name Mary Rose (Jennifer Garner), grows up, she begins to chafe under the authority of Adam (Jeffrey D. Sams), Douglas (Zak Orth), Travis (Tristan Tait), and Cole (Justin Chambers), who are at once brothers and surrogate parents to her. The conflicts come to a head and Mary decides to go to New York, in hopes of finding the parents who gave her up years before. Rose Hill was adapted from the novel For the Roses by Julie Garwood. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
Built more on suspense and audience imagination than on cheap thrills, genre-cliches, and gore, this Canadian horror movie centers on the evil doings of a murderous demon and the determination of a courageous priest (Michael Rooker) to stop it. The smoke-like demon arises from the netherworld in response to a satanic ritual held in an empty warehouse. The priest showed up in time to destroy the worshipers but not soon enough to stop the devil's minion from escaping into the city's labyrinthine sewer system. Travelling underground, the demon eventually resurfaces in Grand River, a peaceful little town. Meanwhile, the priest investigates the bodies of the dead satanist and on one of them finds papers that lead him to a young boy in the aforementioned town. This fatherless child has been divinely marked for greatness, and the demon has been called forth to destroy him, but before he can, the creature must consume large quantities of human blood to build up its power. His presence and the rising body count drives the locals insane, something that only hinders the priest on his desperate quest to save the child and return the demon to his fiery domain. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Michael Rooker, Tony Todd, (more)
Gail Harvey's Some Things That Stay stars Katie Boland as a teenager whose adolescence is complicated by her bohemian family and their resistance to the cultural mores of Eisenhower-era America. ~ Perry Seibert, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Katie Boland, Stuart Wilson, (more)
In this direct-to-video sci-fi thriller, a twentysomething small-town youth whose mother has recently died finds himself confused by his strange powers and his heritage and so sets off to find the father he never met. He had no idea that, while his mom was normal, his father was a space alien, and he is the result of an experiment that the outworldly visitors are now anxious to examine. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Andrew Jackson
- 1996
Alaska's celebrated Idiatrod sled-dog race provides the backdrop for this made-for-TV murder melodrama starring Kate Jackson) as Jessie Arnold. When Jessie's brother dies mysteriously, she takes his place in the marathon race, carefully positioning the flashlight worn on the head of each contestant to avoid unexpected dangers along the trail. But there is one danger for which a flashlight is no defense: One of the racers is the murderer, who will literally do anything to anyone to win the race. Largely filmed on location in the Yukon, the film was based on Sue Henry's novel Murder on the Idiatrod Trail, which star Kate Jackson had been struggling to bring to the screen for years. The Cold Heart of a Killer finally made its CBS debut on January 9, 1996. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
