Sarah Silverman Movies

The Playboy playmate turned Baywatch bombshell proves that beauty is not above ridicule as Comedy Central brings together a who's who of top comedic talents to roast Pamela Anderson in a rousing night of insulting insight featuring the talents of Jimmy Kimmell, Tommy Lee, Eddie Griffin, Nick DiPaolo, Andy Dick, Courtney Love-Cobain, and many more. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

Season one of the quasi-sitcom, funny phone call opus Crank Yankers, offers ten half-hour episodes, introducing the puppet denizens of Yankerville, all of whom have a predilection for making annoying phone calls to unsuspecting civilians. All of the calls are real, even if the foam rubber cast is not. Typical cranks on the opening episode finds one of the callers posing as the editor of a book on unusual names, harassing a hapless soul named Bobby Dicks. Another cranker complains to a fast food restaurant about getting beaks in an order of fried chicken, while another calls a phone sex service on behalf of his hard-of-hearing friend. The second episode focuses on shock jock The Nudge, who gets a 7-11 clerk to bellow, "I peed in the Slurpee machine," for all to hear. In later installments, "Batman's Nemesis" demands the phone number of the caped crusader from a 411 operator; an electrolysis center is solicited for information as to how to remove a monkey's hair; and in a running gag, customers of a genuine parcel delivery services are redirected to the insensitive clods at "YPS." Guest stars during Crank Yankers' first season include Lisa Kushell, Jack Black, Wanda Sykes, and David Alan Grier. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Ten new episodes of Crank Yankers were produced for the series' third season, giving Jimmy Kimmel, Adam Carolla, and their comically gifted cohorts ample time to make even more hilariously annoying crank calls to unsuspecting civilians. Of course, we only hear the recorded results of the pranks; what we see is a menagerie of mangy-looking cloth puppets mouthing the words of both callers and callees, and developing some truly bizarre "relationships" along the way. During season three, the poor suckers who pick up the phone at the other end are subjected to a dizzying array of asinine questions involving childbirth, high school book reports, pest exterminators, private eye investigations, used cars, and used kittens, and the AA's 12-step program. Among the guest voices heard this season are Drew Carey, Kevin Nealon, Nicole Sullivan, and Jamie Kennedy. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Devastated after being fired by director Woody Allen, actress Annabelle Gurwitch sets out on a soul-searching journey to discover whether getting the axe was the best or worst thing ever to happen in her professional career. Anyone who has been in the workforce for an extended amount of time has likely been there -- one minute you've got a good-paying job that you love, and the next minute you're standing in the unemployment line. When Annabelle Gurwitch got fired by the legendary director of such classics as Annie Hall and The Purple Rose of Cairo, she thought her career was over. Upon turning to her many showbiz pals for advice, however, Gurwitch quickly discovered that she was not alone. In this documentary, Gurwitch enlists the aid of filmmakers Chris Bradley and Kyle La Brache in traveling the country to interview such celebrities as Tim Allen, David Cross, Sarah Silverman, and Jeff Garlin to find out exactly how they dealt with the heavy hand of rejection. Additional interviews with GM workers in Lansing, MI, who were handed their pink slips offer some tales that are tragically comedic and others that seems to reinforce the old adage about one door closing and another door opening, while a visit to job fairs and "outplacement services" show just what the jobless endure on a day-to-day basis. Conversations with the downsizers as well as the downsized offer viewers a chance to explore the topic from both sides as host Gurwitch reminds viewers that sometimes the greatest success stories are born of failure. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

As the prom draws near and the popular head cheerleader of Echo Lake High dumps her star quarterback boyfriend in favor of attending the dance with the biggest loser in school, the raging footballer plots murderous revenge in cult animation icon Bill Plympton's darkly satirical take on the teen tragedy radio hits and high-school melodramas of the 1950s and '60s. High-school sweethearts Cherri (Sarah Silverman) and Rod (Dermot Mulroney) are a match made in popularity heaven. When nerdy new student Spud (Eric Gilliland) makes the fateful mistake of offending both Cherri and Rod on his first day at Echo Lake High, his punishment is to serve as Cherri's "slave" until both she and her brutish boyfriend decree that he has made up for his unintentional transgression. Though the mere sight of Spud at first makes Cherri's skin crawl, the unlikely pair soon grow exceptionally close until, one day, love blossoms between them. Upon learning that his onetime sweetheart will now be attending the prom on the arm of the socially awkward Spud, Rod angrily forces their car off of the road on and into the icy waters of Echo Lake as the couple makes their way to the big dance. Though cunningly successful in thwarting attempts made by local authorities to locate the missing teens, Rod soon discovers that sometimes the dead have a curious way of exposing the crimes of their killers. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

Jeff Garlin, best known for his role as Larry David's manager on Curb Your Enthusiasm, has directed standup comedy specials for Jon Stewart and Denis Leary, and makes his feature-film debut with his own adaptation of his one-man stage show, I Want Someone to Eat Cheese With. Garlin stars as James, an overweight, depressed actor who does improv at Second City. James lives with his mother (Mina Kolb) and constantly cheats on his diet. His life seems to be in a downward spiral. He quits his acting job on a sleazy prank show, his girlfriend (Rebecca Sage Allen) breaks up with him, and his agent (Richard Kind) dumps him. When he visits his friend's daughter's elementary school for Career Day, he embarrasses himself in front of the attractive teacher (Bonnie Hunt) by rambling inappropriately about his personal problems in front of the kids. He hears about a Chicago-based remake of Paddy Chayefsky's Marty, one of his favorite movies, and the role he seemingly was born to play, but he can't even get an audition. One day, after giving up on Compulsive Eaters Anonymous, he seeks solace in an ice cream parlor, where he meets Beth (Sarah Silverman), who quickly wins his heart by offering him free ice cream, and asking him a sexually provocative question. But his attraction to the sexually aggressive and somewhat demented Beth may bring James more problems than it solves. The film, which features appearances by Amy Sedaris, Dan Castellaneta, Wallace Langham, Roger Bart, Paul Mazursky, David Pasquesi, and Joey Slotnick, had its world premiere at the 2006 Tribeca Film Festival. ~ Josh Ralske, All Movie Guide

The sixth-season opener of Monk finds obsessive-compulsive consulting detective Adrian Monk (Tony Shalhoub) in full "paranoia" mode as he tries to elude his biggest fan Marci Maven (Sarah Silverman), who details his every move in her own "Monk" website. Marci insists that her idol help clear her pet dog Otto of a posthumous murder charge: Otto is accused of killing a neighbor, each though the mutt died three days before the neighbor did. Try as he might to steer clear of Marci, Monk must concede defeat when the persistent woman wins his detective services at a charity auction. In his efforts to wrap the case as quickly as possible, Monk tries to prove that the dog was framed...a task that would have been a lot easier had not an important fact about the dead neighbor's husband completely slipped Marci's mind. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

As one of the few heavyweight comedians of Vegas's "Golden Age" to topline standup routines in 21st century Glitter Gulch - a time and place that saw him still reeling in massive audiences well into his 70s and 80s - Don Rickles qualifies as a show business legend. Rickles, of course, pioneered the use of insult comedy to mercilessly rib, skewer, and cut down to size anyone who happened to fall into his line of fire, earning him the sobriquets "Mr. Warmth" and "The Merchant of Venom" and lending a whole new meaning to the term "hockey puck." This approach, which seemed unprecedented and even outrageously uncouth in the late 1950s and early 1960s, eventually won Rickles legions of fans and innumerable protégés within show business - everyone from Richard Pryor to Chris Rock and Sarah Silverman. Director John Landis (National Lampoon's Animal House, Trading Places) stands at the forefront of Rickles's fan club and created the documentary Mr. Warmth: The Don Rickles Project as an homage to the comic's life and career. Landis intercuts footage from the Dean Martin Celebrity Roasts and Rickles's appearances on The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson, with extended clips from the shtickmeister's comedy routines and on-camera interviews in which the comedian reflects at length on his approach to comedy and journey through showbusiness. Admirers, colleagues and followers of Rickles also turn up to offer their views on the comedian - including Martin Scorsese, Christopher Guest, Robin Williams, Sarah Silverman, Sidney Poitier, Clint Eastwood and many others. ~ Nathan Southern, All Movie Guide

This film adaptation of the Broadway musical based loosely on Puccini's opera La Bohème features many members of the original cast. It follows a year in the lives of seven friends living the disappearing Bohemian lifestyle in New York's East Village. AIDS and both its physical and emotional complications pervade the lives of Roger (Adam Pascal), Mimi (Rosario Dawson), Tom (Jesse L. Martin), and Angel (Wilson Jermaine Heredia); Maureen (Idina Menzel) deals with her chronic infidelity through performance art; her partner, Joanne (Tracie Thoms), wonders if their relationship is worth the trouble; Benjamin (Taye Diggs) has sold out his Bohemian ideals in exchange for a hefty income and is on the outs with his former friends; and Mark (Anthony Rapp), an aspiring filmmaker, feels like an outsider to life in general, always behind the camera recording the events but never playing a part. ~ Cammila Albertson, All Movie Guide

Comedian Sarah Silverman cheerfully ignores any and all taboos in this performance film based on her hit off-Broadway show. Combining stand-up material with comedy sketches and musical numbers, Sarah Silverman: Jesus is Magic is dominated by Silverman's typically edgy monologues, including bits on racism, September 11, family dysfunction, drug abuse, rape, the Holocaust and plenty of other unlikely sources of comedy guaranteed to make viewers squirm while they laugh. Sarah Silverman: Jesus is Magic had its American premier at the 2005 South by Southwest Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Old School director Todd Phillips takes the reins for an updated remake of the 1960 comedy, this time starring Napoleon Dynamite's Jon Heder as Roger, a lovelorn meter reader who enrolls in a confidence-building class in order to win the love of his dream girl, and Billy Bob Thornton as Dr. P, the scheming, egomaniacal teacher who has designs of his own for the attractive young female. The rivalry soon spins out of control, as pranks and insults fly fast and furiously in a battle to determine the ultimate "guy's guy." ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide