Jack Gilpin Movies
Actor Jack Gilpin first charmed audiences in 1984 when he was cast in the recurring role of Roger on the TV series Kate and Allie. Soon, he was acting in numerous film and TV projects like The Dream Team, Quiz Show, and Adventureland, with a résumé that spanned the decades. Gilpin would also make countless guest appearances on TV shows like Law & Order: Special Victims Unit and Ed. ~ Cammila Albertson, All Movie Guide
- 2008
- PG13
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Director Robert Luketic adapts Ben Mezrich's best-seller Bringing Down the House: The Inside Story of Six M.I.T. Students Who Took Vegas for Millions to tell the true-life tale of six genius students who used their brains to beat considerable odds. Ben Campbell (Jim Sturgess) may be shy, but his wallflower reputation betrays his inner brilliance. As smart as Ben may be, however, if he can't pay his tuition he'll be kicked out of M.I.T. Fortunately, the answer to all of Ben's problems is right there in the cards. Recruited to join a team of extremely gifted students who have used their mastery of numbers to beat the odds at blackjack, Ben procures a fake identity in order to join the casino scammers and their brilliant leader -- eccentric math professor and stats genius Micky Rosa (Kevin Spacey) -- in some highly profitable weekend excursions to Las Vegas. Counting cards isn't illegal, and by using a complex series of signals, this team has cracked the code. Of course, it doesn't take long for Ben to become seduced by the glamorous Las Vegas lifestyle, and the attention afforded to him by his sexy teammate Jill Taylor (Kate Bosworth) finds him pushing his luck to the absolute limits. Laurence Fishburne stars as Cole Williams, the Sin City security chief who catches on to the group and makes it his mission to expose their lucrative blackjack scam. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jim Sturgess, Kevin Spacey, (more)
Inspired by writer/director Greg Mottola's own true-life job-from-hell experience, Adventureland stars The Education of Charlie Banks' Jesse Eisenberg as an uptight recent college graduate who discovers that he'll have to get a degrading minimum-wage job at a local amusement park instead of spending his summer drinking German beer, visiting world-class museums, and flirting with cute French girls. It's the summer of 1987, and James Brennan (Eisenberg) has just graduated college. James is all set to embark on his dream tour of Europe when his parents (Wendie Malick and Jack Gilpin) suddenly announce that they won't be able to subsidize the trip. Now the only things James has to look forward to this summer are sugar-fueled children, belligerent dads, and an endless parade of giant stuffed animals. When James strikes up a relationship with captivating co-worker Em (Kristen Stewart), however, he finally starts to loosen up. Suddenly, the worst summer ever doesn't seem quite so bad. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jesse Eisenberg, Kristen Stewart, (more)
The second film from writer/director Whit Stillman, Barcelona is a smart, urbane comedy of manners set in Spain at the tail end of the Cold War. Taylor Nichols stars as Ted, an American salesman living in Barcelona. Out of the blue, he is visited by his acidic cousin Fred (Chris Eigeman), a U.S. Navy officer sent abroad to work damage control on rising anti-American sentiment. The textbook "Ugly American," Fred travels through the city in full military regalia, impervious to the constant taunts of "Fascist!" Like the similarly self-absorbed Ted, who has become involved with political activist Monsterrat (Tushka Bergen), Fred also finds romance, with a party girl played by Mira Sorvino. A brittle fish-out-of-water comedy, Barcelona is literate and sophisticated, a knowing essay on cultural identity and perception. ~ Jason Ankeny, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Taylor Nichols, Christopher Eigeman, (more)
In this dark comedy, Seth Warner (Aidan Quinn) is a good man having a run of bad luck. His pregnant wife disappeared in the ocean during a trip to the beach, a tornado destroyed his house while leaving everything else in the neighborhood untouched, his boss fired him, and he was struck by a bolt of lightning that also injured his dog. While recovering in the hospital, Seth comes to the conclusion that God has cursed him. His brother-in-law Harry (Anthony LaPaglia) thinks that this conclusion is absurd -- after all, Harry reasons, he violates five or six commandments every day before lunch, and things are just great with him. This notion puts a bug in Seth's ear, and when he gets out of the hospital, he decides to confront God by deliberately violating all ten commandments; he hopes to start by seducing Harry's wife, Rachel (Courteney Cox). ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Aidan Quinn, Courteney Cox Arquette, (more)
- 1985
- R
Director Frank Perry brings Susan Issacs' comedic whodunit novel to the screen with Susan Sarandon as a Long Island housewife who tries to escape her deadening suburban life by trying to solve the murder of a philandering local dentist. The dentist, Bruce Fleckstein (Joe Mantegna), is the kind of swinging ladies' man who wears gold chains and jazzy clothing. He also arranges to meet his lonely housewife patients in hotel rooms for afternoon quickies. When he is found murdered in his office, the suspects are as numerous as the names in the Nyack telephone directory, especially since Fleckstein had the habit of taking incriminating Polaroid snapshots during his one-on-one sessions. Judith Singer (Sarandon) is an ex-Newsday reporter and bored wife of Bob Singer (Edward Herrmann), a stuffy business executive, and she was one of the last people to see Fleckstein alive. Considered a suspect by police detective David Suarez (Raul Julia), she determines to solve the case herself, interviewing suspects and searching for evidence. If she solves the crime, Judith hopes to write an article about it and get her old job back at the newspaper. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Susan Sarandon, Raul Julia, (more)
- 1981
Gregory Harrison breathes some humanity into his two-dimensional character in For Ladies Only. Harrison plays an unsuccessful actor who decides to bank on his awesome physique to survive. He becomes a $100-per-night exotic dancer at a ladies-only nightclub. For those female fans who can get past the sight of Harrison bumping and grinding away, For Ladies Only affords some excellent choreography and a modicum of wry humor. Patti Davis, daughter of you-know-who, makes her TV-movie acting debut in For Ladies Only, which debuted on November 9, 1981; also in the cast are Lee Grant and her daughter Dinah Manhoff. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1983
Two giants of American TV comedy--Dick Van Dyke and Sid Caesar--were teamed for the first (and thus far last) time in Found Money. Forced into early retirement, bank executive Max Shepherd (Van Dyke) befriends bank guard Sam Green (Caesar) who likewise has been given the sack. Since both men have been cheated of their pensions, Max and Sam plot an intricate revenge. They will use their combined "inside" know-how to rob the bank, then cleanse themselves of perfidy by redistributing the wealth to the needy. Originally telecast December 19, 1983, Found Money was directed by former Dick Van Dyke contributor Bill Persky; it was co-written by actor Richard Sanders, of WKRP in Cincinnati fame. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Chevy Chase stars as Andy Farmer, a sportswriter who moves with his schoolteacher wife Elizabeth (Madolyn Smith) to the country in order to write a novel in relative seclusion. Of course, seclusion is the last thing the Farmers find in the small, eccentric town, where disaster awaits them at every turn. The veteran production staff features the likes of composer Elmer Bernstein, cinematographer Miroslav Ondricek, production designer Henry Bumstead, and director George Roy Hill (The Sting, The World According to Garp). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Chevy Chase, Madolyn Smith, (more)
Though she always played coy about the fact in interviews, Nora Ephron's novel Heartburn is a thinly disguised "a clef" rehash of her marriage to Washington Post reporter Carl Bernstein. Meryl Streep plays Rachel, an influential food critic who marries charismatic columnist Mark (Jack Nicholson) after a whirlwind courtship. Warned that Mark is constitutionally incapable of settling down with any one woman, Rachel gives up her own job to make certain that her marriage works. When Rachel announces that she's pregnant, Mark virtually jumps out of his skin with delight. But as the news sinks in, Mark chafes at the impending responsibilities of fatherhood, and the philandering begins-- as if it had ever really stopped! Our favorite scene: Rachel and her friends being robbed at her therapy group. That's Meryl Streep's real-life daughter playing Rachel's offspring. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Meryl Streep, Jack Nicholson, (more)
Hiding Out, a surprisingly entertaining and engaging action comedy, directed by Bob Giraldi, takes the implausible idea that an adult man could enroll in high school and pass as a student and makes it real. Andrew (Jon Cryer) is a stockbroker hunted by a professional killer. He flees to stay with his sister and her teenage son Patrick (Keith Coogan). Andrew shaves off his beard, cuts his hair, and enrolls in Patrick's high school, pretending to be 17 years old. Cryer does a great job of convincingly playing both ages, and Coogan shines as the teenage son. Director Giraldi has great visual style and gives the film an energy that makes it both enjoyable and believable. ~ Linda Rasmussen, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jon Cryer, Keith Coogan, (more)
- 1996
In this low-budget screwball-mystery, the death of an L.A. woman leads to a surreal murder investigation on the outer fringes of la-la land. When Molly McMannis (Justine Bateman) turns up dead, still impaled with the murder weapon -- a carrot -- the police launch a probe into the colorful world Molly inhabited. The suspects range from her ex-con brother to her roommate to her high-strung friend (Heather Graham). But a more likely culprit lurks among the ranks of a therapy group full of off-the-wall serial killers and the shrinks who coddle them. The fetishistic police detectives -- including sadistic interrogator Angela Pierce (Jill Hennessy) -- prove as disturbing as the people they're investigating. In fact, their unorthodox procedures leave the door open for the killer to strike again. Written, produced, and directed by Jordan Alan, who previously helmed the similarly offbeat Love and Happiness, Kiss and Tell features a who's who of obscure and indie Hollywood talent, including veteran actor Lewis Arquette and his three famous sons. ~ Brian J. Dillard, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Peter Howitt, Daniel Craig, (more)
- 1998
A youngster dies of a virus at a day-care center. As detectives Briscoe (Jerry Orbach) and Curtis (Benjamin Bratt) trace the source of the illness, evidence is unearthed of embezzlement and an extramarital affair. Somehow these diverse elements are all bundled together when A.D.A.'s McCoy (Sam Waterston) and Carmichael (Angie Harmon) target a drug manufacturer for prosecution. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 2001
A paroled hitman turns up murdered. The detectives have every reason to believe that the victim had been hired by wealthy widow Lorraine Cobin (Cathy Gentile-Moriarty) to kill an unwanted relative. Once the case goes to trial, the D.A.'s office is presented with seemingly irrefutable proof that they've been barking up the wrong tree. The viewer is advised to pay close attention to this episode until the very last scene. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1995
In this 100th episode of Law & Order, an abortion clinic doctor is murdered. Detectives Briscoe (Jerry Orbach) and Logan (Chris Noth) suspect that the man was the victim of a radical pro-life activist group. This places the D.A.'s office in the unenviable position of charging the group's leader, former priest Drew Seeley (Edward Herrmann), with murder. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1997
A group of party cruisers is besieged by a gunman, resulting in several fatalities. The subsequent investigation leads to a man who is leading a double life. When D.A. Adam Schiff (Steven Hill) refuses to seek the death penalty, he is removed from the case, leading to a tense judicial showdown between Schiff and the Governor of New York. This final episode of Law & Order's seventh season culminates in a devastating personal tragedy for the beleaguered Adam Schiff. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 2000
An extremely likely suspect is arrested after a woman is found murdered in a subway car. Unfortunately, he may be able to beat the rap if it is proven that, due to budget cutbacks, he wasn't provided proper medication in prison. This Law & Order episode provides an interesting contrast to earlier plot lines in which the right of mentally disturbed people not to submit to treatment was the crux of the case. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1988
- R
Nine-year-old Thelma (Cassie Barasch) is the sweet little girl next door who engages in blackmail, robbery, and murder in this amoral melodrama. Neighbor Robert (John Hurt) is a bank employee who leaves his wife for Delores (Karen Young) after he embezzles money from work. He tries to bribe Thelma with the gift of a camera, but she uses it to photograph evidence and pin the murder of a child on him. When little Elizabeth (Ellie Raab) is shot and killed by Thelma with a gun she steals from John, he is charged with her kidnapping and murder. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- John Hurt, Karen Young, (more)
Bill Murray co-directed (along with Howard Franklin) this mixture of The Out-of-Towners and After Hours, concerning Grimm (Bill Murray), a frustrated city planner who is fed up with the corruption and venality of New York City. Getting together a couple of accomplices -- Phyllis (Geena Davis), who admires Grimm for his audacity, and Loomis (Randy Quaid), a follower to Grimm's leader since grade school -- Grimm decides to rob a bank, pocket the money, get out of town and take off to tropical splendor. Dressing in a clown suit, Grimm devises a unique way to rob a bank -- taking a group of hostages at the bank and inviting the police to surround the bank. Amazingly, although pursued by a police chief (Jason Robards), the trio manage to pull off the robbery. However, the problems really start when they try to get from the bank to the airport -- which proves to be more difficult than the robbery. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Bill Murray, Geena Davis, (more)
It's 1958, and the producers of the quiz show 21 have a problem. Their current champ, Herbert Stempel (John Turturro), has a phenomenal memory and a broad range of knowledge. He's also a pudgy loudmouth with a grating personality, so Herbert is encouraged to "take a dive" and allow Charles Van Doren (Ralph Fiennes), a handsome and charming college professor, to become the show's new champion. Audiences like Van Doren, and he's certainly not averse to the money he's winning, but the ethics of the situation begin to trouble him, especially when the show's producers begin to give him the questions in advance. Director Robert Redford and writer Paul Attanasio paint a telling portrait of how the network heads and advertising men who manipulated the quiz shows were also able to manipulate the responsibility for the scandal away from themselves. While on the surface a story about the scandal itself, Quiz Show is just as importantly about a turning point in the 1950s when TV and advertising began to change American character and culture. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- John Turturro, Rob Morrow, (more)
- 1995
- PG13
Reckless is a dark, dream-like comedy-fantasy adapted by Craig Lucas from his play that takes place in a strange, hallucinogenic otherworld. Mia Farrow stars as annoying, air-headed housewife Rachel, who discovers on Christmas Eve that her husband Tom (Tony Goldwyn) has arranged for a hit man to murder her. Barely escaping with her life into the snowy wastes of her neighborhood, Rachel crosses paths with a social worker, Lloyd (Scott Glenn), and Lloyd's paraplegic, deaf and mute wife, Pooty (Mary-Louise Parker). Rachel takes up house with the friendly couple, but Lloyd is not quite what he appears to be and the naïve Rachel is forced to flee. This time, her travels take her into contact with a variety of eccentric characters, including game show host Fast Tim Timko (Giancarlo Esposito), the staff of a non-profit group, and a troubled nun. As she crosses America, Rachel visits all 50 states, although she repeatedly ends up in towns called Springfield. Reckless (1995) was the third and final film of director Norman Rene, who passed away the following year. Rene had previously collaborated with Lucas on the films Longtime Companion (1990) and Prelude to a Kiss (1992). ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Mia Farrow, Scott Glenn, (more)
- 1987
- PG13
In this follow-up to Revenge of the Nerds the nerdy frat boys from Lambda Lambda Lambda go to Ft. Lauderdale to a national frat conference where they again must outwit the thick-tongued jock frat-boys who are also at the conference. This they can do. ~ All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Robert Carradine, Curtis Armstrong, (more)
This film is a darkly humorous, determinedly ambiguous adaptation of Alan Dershowitz's book about his successful legal appeal of Claus von Bulow's conviction for the attempted murder of his wife, Martha "Sunny" von Bulow. Sunny (Glenn Close) -- who remains in a "persistent vegetative state" resulting from a suspicious injection of insulin -- narrates the film, summarizing the first murder trial, which ended with Claus (Jeremy Irons) convicted and released on bail pending appeal. Claus approaches Harvard Law professor Dershowitz (Ron Silver) to handle the case. Working with a small group of law students recruited from his classes, Dershowitz presents sufficient new evidence to cast doubt as to Claus' guilt and the veracity of the star witness, her maid. Jeremy Irons' extraordinary, Oscar-winning performance dominates the film. He plays the role of Claus with a alternatively pompous, aloof snobbishness and an engagingly enigmatic, kinky, sly humor. Barbet Schroeder was also nominated for an Academy Award for his extraordinary, off-beat, direction of this sophisticated, exceptionally intelligent legal drama. Reversal of Fortune with its sharp, witty, Oscar-nominated screenplay by Nicholas Kazan is unusual in its understanding that legal guilt and moral culpability are not the same thing -- making for an unusually provocative tragicomedy of bad manners and bad behavior among the rich. ~ Linda Rasmussen, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Glenn Close, Jeremy Irons, (more)
Susan Seidelman directed this loose adaptation of Fay Weldon's novel The Life and Loves of a She-Devil concerning the extreme revenge exacted by a dumpy housewife on her philandering husband. Mary Fisher (Meryl Streep) is a best-selling romance novelist of the manner of Danielle Steel or Jackie Collins. One night at a glamorous dinner party, Ruth (Roseanne Barr), the frumpy housewife of Bob (Ed Begley Jr.), accidentally spills wine over Mary's pink evening gown. Bob rushes to Mary's assistance, they look into each other's eyes, and it is lust at first sight. After a few clandestine interludes, Bob abandons his wife and his two smart-aleck kids to live with Mary at her palace by the seaside. As a result, Ruth goes into high gear to seek vengeance. She deposits her kids with Bob and then, with the help of a collection of other abused women -- including Ruth's mother (Sylvia Miles), nursing home attendant Hopper (Linda Hunt), and dim-witted secretary Olivia Honey (Maria Pitillo) -- she systematically sets out to destroy Bob's life. Bob calls Ruth a she-devil, and Ruth plays the role to the hilt; first she destroys his home life, then his career, then his freedom. And when he has nothing left, she proceeds to haunt and stalk him, bringing Bob to his knees. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Meryl Streep, Roseanne, (more)
A wildly inventive and entertaining comic nightmare from former Roger Corman prodigy Jonathan Demme (The Silence of the Lambs), this screwball odyssey is a ride to remember. Jeff Daniels plays clean-cut New York bond trader Charlie Driggs, who accepts a ride home from a strange but attractive lower-class woman named Lulu (Melanie Griffith). The sexy Louise Brooks lookalike doesn't take him home, but shanghais him for a bizarre roadtrip to Virginia that includes kinky bondage sex, destruction of property, and robbery. Things get stranger when Lulu tells Charlie that her real name is Audrey and takes him home to meet her mother, asking him to pose as her husband. The charade continues until her high-school reunion, where the roadtrip (and the entire film) takes a sharp U-turn into psycho-thriller territory. Audrey's dangerously psychotic ex-con husband, Ray Sinclair (Ray Liotta), shows up. What had been a liberating fling for Charlie turns into a bloody and vicious battle for survival. ~ Robert Firsching, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jeff Daniels, Melanie Griffith, (more)
The eponymous team consists of four residents of a New Jersey psychiatric hospital: ex-postal worker Henry Sikorsky (Christopher Lloyd), who fancies himself a doctor; one-time ad agency exec Jack McDermott (Peter Boyle), suffering from a Messiah/martyr complex; writer Billy Caulfield (Michael Keaton), who cannot abide the "idiots" in the world (namely, everyone but himself); and TV-obsessed Albert Ianuzzi (Stephen Furst). Permitted a field trip to a baseball game, the four unfortunates wander off when psychiatrist Dr. Weitzman (Dennis Boutsikaris) is waylaid by two corrupt police officers after he witnesses them killing a third cop. The innocent inmates are accused of attacking Dr. Weitzman, but it is they who team up to bring the actual culprits to justice. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Michael Keaton, Christopher Lloyd, (more)
