Andy Cadiff Movies

Created by Rob Lotterstein, the Fox network sitcom The War at Home tackles a problem faced by millions of parents of the early 21st century: how can one who was raised in the "anything goes" 1970s and 1980s, with no barriers, boundaries, or taboos, suddenly be expected to discipline their own children and set down ground rules without coming off as a hypocrite? This was the dilemma of Dave (Michael Rapaport) and Vicki (Anita Barone), who despite the many wild oats sown in their own teen years felt obliged to go through the motions of tough-love parenthood with their three hormone-driven kids: 15-year-old Larry (Kyle Sullivan), who may or may not be gay; 16-year-old Hillary (Kaylee DeFer), just entering the dating scene; and 13-year-old Mike (Dean Collins), obsessively dedicated to his violent video games and precious little else. One critic cited the series as an amalgam of amusing leftovers from All in the Family, Everybody Loves Raymond, and Arrested Development. The War at Home debuted September 11, 2005. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Television director Andy Cadiff turns toward feature films to direct the romantic comedy Chasing Liberty, which appears to be loosely based on the 1953 Audrey Hepburn classic Roman Holiday. Mandy Moore stars as Anna Foster, the 18-year-old daughter of President of the United States James Foster (Mark Harmon). Anna has led quite a privileged life, but she has grown to resist the constant presence of Secret Service agents getting in the way of her independence. While on a family trip to Europe, Anna manages to get away from security for a brief time. She inevitably falls into the romantic arms of British boy Ben Calder (Matthew Goode), with whom she enjoys a fresh and clean European vacation. Not wanting to ruin her fun, she doesn't tell him about her upper-class social status. But, alas, Ben surprises her with a secret identity of his own. Jeremy Piven and Annabella Sciorra play two Secret Service agents. Caroline Goodall plays the wise, conventional First Lady. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, Rovi

In the tradition of Police Squad and Barney Miller comes this ensemble comedy about New York's wackiest police station. ~ Jonathan Crow, Rovi

The Cleaver Family makes the jump from the small black and white screen to color and Panavision in this updated version of the classic TV sit-com. Eight-year-old Theodore "Beaver" Cleaver (Cameron Finley) is a good natured kid with a habit of getting in trouble; he's not bad, mind you, just a bit absent-minded. Beaver lives with his 12-year-old brother Wally (Erik Von Detten), his father Ward (Christopher McDonald), and his mother June (Janine Turner) in a small town in Ohio. Beaver wants a new bicycle more than anything, but his father wishes that he had more of an interest in team sports; someone suggests to Beaver that if he joined the school's football team, Ward might be impressed enough to buy him the bike. Beaver signs up, but his skills on the gridiron fall somewhere between slim and none, and the experience proves more than a bit embarrassing for both Beaver and Ward. Before long, Beaver has quit the team, but he tries to hide this fact from his father. Beaver does get his bike -- but he doesn't get to do much with it before it's stolen by a bigger kid in the neighborhood. Meanwhile, Wally's best friend, the mildly sleazy Eddie Haskell (Adam Zolotin), has fallen for a cute girl at school, Karen (Erika Christensen), and wants Wally to help him impress her; however, Karen seems to like Wally more than Eddie. This puts Wally in dutch with his best friend, and Wally feels even worse when he and Karen begin to quarrel. Ken Osmond, who played Eddie Haskell on the original TV series, plays Eddie's father here, and Barbara Billingsley, the original June Cleaver, appears as Aunt Martha. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

Tim (Tim Allen) is too preoccupied with his hot rod to repair such household items as the doorknob, the stove, and the ice dispenser. Out of frustration, Jill (Patricia Richardson) calls in a repairman, much to Tim's dismay. But when repairman Gus (David Correia) shows up, Tim is delighted--the man is an absolute genius when it comes to hot rods. Of course, this doesn't help Jill too much...but since when have both Jill and Tim been happy at the same time? ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Al (Richard Karn) meets a girl named Stacy Lewis (Kathleen Garrett) and invites her to accompany him to the Taylor home. The problem: Stacy used to be Tim's girlfriend. The big problem: Tim (Tim Allen) never "officially" broke up with Stacy, though he told his wife, Jill (Patricia Richardson), that he did. To avoid a confrontation between Stacy and Jill, Tim resorts to a minor prevarication that rapidly snowballs into a major disaster. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Legendary tap dancer Ann Miller guest stars in this episode as (what else?) a dance instructor. After mulling through several options, Tim (Tim Allen) finally arrives at the "perfect" birthday present for Jill (Patricia Richardson): ballroom dancing lessons. But disaster ensues when Tim insists upon cracking jokes during the first lesson, leading to a momentous confrontation with the teacher. Back at Tool Time, Al (Richard Karn) is offended when his name is excluded from a "Certificate of Appreciation." ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Tim (Tim Allen) and Jill (Patricia Richardson) quarrel over their possessions -- beginning with the issue of who really owns the family car (and this is one dispute that cannot be settled with a "technicality"). Meanwhile, Brad (Zachery Ty Bryan) is asked to take care of his girlfriend Jennifer's pet fish, Howard. Unfortunately, thanks to Brad's carelessness the fish dies of heat stroke. Will Jennifer (Jessica Wesson) be fooled when Brad tries to make the fatally flacid fish appear to be alive -- with the help of a scientifically applied ball bearing? ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Stuck at work with an emergency, Jill (Patricia Richardson) insists that Tim (Tim Allen) take their son Mark (Taran Noah Smith) to the ballet -- on same night that Tim gets two choice tickets for the Pistons-Bulls game from Wilson (Earl Hindman). Ducking out of the ballet early to catch the game, Tim and Mark try to "delay the truth" from Jill, but things don't go as planned. While Tim is out, his other sons, Brad (Zachary Ty Bryan) and Randy (Jonathan Taylor Thomas), experiment with cigar smoking -- yet another fatal error in the Taylor household. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Brad (Zachery Ty Bryan) is feigning illness to stay home from school, and Jill (Patricia Richardson) wants to know why. Turns out that Brad is in danger of failing a math test because of his strained relations with girlfriend Jennifer (Jessica Wesson) -- who now refuses to let him copy off her paper. Also, Tim (Tim Allen) is driven nuts by a persistent woodpecker, but this annoyance may turn out to have a silver lining (if we may mix a metaphor). ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi