D.J. Qualls

When a hard-luck blue-collar worker and his two best friends are mistaken for Army Reservists by a tough-talking Army sergeant, the plane set to fly them to the front lines of Iraq mistakenly drops them in the middle of Mexico to disastrous results in a freewheeling military comedy starring Larry the Cable Guy, Bill Engvall, and D.J. Qualls. Larry (the Cable Guy) has lost his job and his woman in the short span of 24 hours. Convinced that some suds and target shooting are just the right remedies for a broken, jobless heart, Larry sets out with his next-door neighbor Bill (Engvall) and their trigger-happy pal Everett (Qualls) in order to blast off some rounds and down some brews. Their relaxing weekend soon takes an unexpected turn, however, when hard-case Army sergeant Kilgrove (Keith David) mistakes the trio as slacking Army reservists and loads them in a plane bound for Fallujah. Subsequently air-dropped over Mexico due to pilot error, the clueless, wannabe war heroes become convinced that they're actually in the Middle East and set out to save a rural village from what they assume to be an insurgent uprising. Though the thankful locals champion the noble but dimwitted trio for their heroism, the celebration is short-lived as ruthless warlord Carlos Santana (Danny Trejo) pays a personal visit to the town with a plan to confront the fearless warriors who dared to challenge his iron-fist rule. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

Monk (Tony Shalhoub) sets about to locate the world-famous Alexander diamond, for which a million-dollar reward has been offered. Quickly absorbing the clues at hand, Monk deduces that the diamond was stolen by Danny Chasen (Daniel Browning Smith). Alas, Chasen has already been murdered, so Monk is forced to chase down several other leads, most of them leading nowhere. Meanwhile, the folks at police headquarters have their hands full with a persistent nutcase named Jennie Mandeville (Jamie Brown), who habitually confesses to crimes that haven't taken place--or have they? Much of the action is devoted to the exploits of retired Scotland Yard detective St. Claire (Derrick O'Connor), a techno-happy detective named Rufus (DJ Qualls), and an oafish bounty hunter named Dirk (Tyler Mane), suggesting that this episode may have been intended as the pilot for a spinoff series. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The Darwinian plight of a small Arizona town's youthful but aimless population leads to a series of strange confrontations in Lansdown director Tom Zuber's slacker-themed slice of life. While trim-and-tidy outward appearances give Little Athens the illusion of calm tranquility, a look at the life of the post-high school populace struggling to make ends meet betrays first impressions. Over the course of 24 hours, a revealing look at the population of Little Athens reveals a paranoid EMS worker named Heather (Erica Leerhsen), whose suspicions that her boyfriend is cheating drive her to drastic measures; a debt-ridden pizza delivery buy named Jimmy (John Patrick Amedori), who has turned to dealing drugs as a means of restoring his financial stability; an STD-infested teen whose boyfriend is itching for revenge; and a pair of pool-cleaning roommates (DJ Qualls and Jorge Garcia) whose fledgling business doesn't turn enough coin to cover the rent. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

An unlikely band of scientists and soldiers join forces to save the world from certain destruction in this action-drama. As the world is struck with a variety of inexplicable phenomena -- attacks by enormous swarms of birds in London, the explosion of the Colosseum in Rome, a potentially deadly malfunction which forces the Space Shuttle into a Los Angeles riverbed, and the simultaneous deaths of 32 people with pacemakers in Boston -- a team of top scientific minds from around the globe is assembled to determine what has thrown the world into such a frenzy. Dr. John Keyes (Aaron Eckhart) makes the startling discovery that the Earth's electromagnetic forces have begun to collapse, thanks to a sudden lack of movement of the molten ore at the center of the Earth. If the planet is to be saved, the core of the Earth needs a jump start, and Keyes assembles a team to burrow to the center of the planet and bomb the insides back into action. Joining Keyes on this dangerous, last-chance mission are the brilliant but arrogant Conrad Zimsky (Stanley Tucci), French arms expert Dr. Serge Levesque (Tchéky Karyo, maverick researcher "Brazz" Brazzleton (Delroy Lindo), geeky computer genius Rat (DJ Qualls), and two no-nonsense military types, Commander Richard Iverson (Bruce Greenwood) and Major Rebecca Childs (Hilary Swank). However, as the crew digs deeper into the Earth, the more they discover what they haven't been told about their mission and what's really been causing the worldwide chaos. The Core was originally scheduled for release in the fall of 2002, but the movie didn't reach theaters until the spring of 2003 as special-effects experts perfected the film's more spectacular scenes. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Former Prada model and Road Trip co-star D.J. Qualls makes a bid for leading man status in this nerd-makeover comedy. Qualls stars as Dizzy, a dorky but delinquent high school student who's determined to get expelled from his hellish high school -- but ends up landing in jail instead. There he meets the intimidating, street-smart Luther (Eddie Griffin), himself a former geek, who takes Dizzy under his wing to teach him the art of being cool. Soon Luther and his pals have broken Dizzy of his meek, maladroit ways, and Dizzy is ready to start a new life at a new high school under a new name: Gil Harris. When Gil arrives at East Highland High -- his former inmate reputation known to all -- he quickly ingratiates himself with the cool kids and lays to waste any jocks who stand in his way. He even manages to date the school's most coveted girl, Danielle (Eliza Dushku). But when a face from his past shows up, it seems that his facade as the big man on campus may be about to crumble. The New Guy also stars Zooey Deschanel and Lyle Lovett, and features cameos from rockers Henry Rollins, Gene Simmons, and Tommy Lee. ~ Michael Hastings, All Movie Guide

In a sleepy small town there are two vibrant comic books stores that are rival universes unto themselves. Events spiral absurdly, violently out of control when the owners of the two shops -- nerdy hipster Ray (Donal Logue) and the nebbishy husband and wife team of Norman and Judy (Michael Rapaport and Natasha Lyonne) -- compete for a priceless collection of books left by the dead son of elderly Mrs. Cresswell (Eileen Brennan). Ray's friend, Archie (D.J. Qualls), tries to stop Ray from hiring a sleazy thief (Cary Elwes), but to no avail. Things get very ugly indeed. ~ Buzz McClain, All Movie Guide

A serial killer with a difference is on the prowl in a small Virginia town in this darkly comic horror story. Brent Marken (Michael Biehn) is the sheriff of the city of Cherry Falls, a quiet community that suddenly has a big-city problem to contend with when Marken discovers a murderer is on the loose. The killer is targeting teenage girls who attend the local high school -- and his victims are all virgins. This causes no small amount of anxiety for Brent's teenage daughter Jody (Brittany Murphy), who is not as ready for intimacy as her boyfriend Kenny (Gabriel Mann). Brent has personal problems of his own to deal with; his relationship with his wife Marge (Candy Clark) has hit an impasse, and he shares a dark secret with Tom Sisler (Joe Inscoe), the principal of the high school. Cherry Falls marked the American directorial debut for Australian filmmaker Geoffrey Wright; the cast also includes Jay Mohr, Caroline Perreyclear, and Rick Forrester. Cherry Falls enjoyed its first theatrical engagements in the United Kingdom, several months after it was first slated to open in the United States, thanks in part to the difficulty the producers had with the MPAA in securing an R rating for the picture. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide