Sarah Drew Movies
Actress Sarah Drew projected an amiable, down-to-earth quality that served her perfectly in Middle American, girl-next-door roles. An East Coast native, Drew grew up in a conservative evangelical household as the daughter of a Connecticut-based Presbyterian minister. She actually commenced work in the entertainment industry before she finished high school by voicing the character of Stacy on MTV's popular animated sitcom Daria from 1998-2002, and in the meantime received her formal education at the University of Virginia, marrying almost immediately after graduation. Within the following two years Drew began signing for supporting roles in features and series. Some of the more memorable included a portrayal of Ed Harris' daughter in the disability-themed inspirational drama Radio (2003), a brief but funny one-scene turn as a girlfriend lovestruck by another man in the Michael Showalter comedy The Baxter (2004), and -- on a higher profile note -- a multiseason portrayal of Hannah, a shy Colorado high schooler with a terminally ill father, on the third and fourth seasons of the popular television series Everwood. In 2007, Drew signed for a supporting role in director Desmond Nakano's racially themed period sports drama American Pastime. ~ Nathan Southern, Rovi
Gary Cole, Aaron Yoo, John Gries, and Judy Ongg star in an inspirational small town drama exploring the lingering effects of World War II on Japanese-American citizens struggling to overcome lingering hostilities and be accepted in country they now call home. The Nomuras are a typical American family who just happen to be of Japanese heritage. When World War II breaks out and the Nomuras are ushered into the Topaz internment camp, teenage son Lyle (Yoo) becomes the target of harassment to camp guard and frustrated minor league catcher Billy Burrell. Lyle is a star pitcher who had been accepted into college on a baseball scholarship, but was subsequently forced to abandon his dreams when his family was interned. Billy's daughter is a musical instructor at the camp, and when she and Lyle strike up a tenuous romance, tensions quickly come to a head between the two families. Hoping that the two families will be able to find a common ground due to their mutual love of baseball, Lyle's father proposes a goodwill game between Burrell's team and the internees. As the two teams take to the diamond for a game organized to unite them all, the small town's tolerance will be put to the ultimate test in a match that reveals the true spirit of American culture. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi
- Starring:
- Gary Cole, Leonardo Nam, (more)
- 2002
This animated feature serves as the coda to the MTV series Daria, which spawned 65 half-hour episodes and one previous movie (Daria: Is It Fall Yet?) during its five-year run. It is wry teen misfit Daria Morgendorffer's senior year at Lawndale High -- time to figure out what university to attend. Her first choice is Bromwell, which is also the first choice of her blue-blooded boyfriend, Tom, whose illustrious ancestors are all alumni. When Daria, Tom, and Tom's mother head off for a campus visit, things don't go as planned. Daria almost bombs her interview; even worse, traffic, bad weather, and the need for Tom to suck up to the alumni keep Daria from getting more than a drive-by look at her second-choice school, Raft. Ironically, though, she gets into Raft and not Bromwell. Tom, of course, does, and the resulting friction leaves a question mark hanging over their relationship. College questions also plague Daria's friends: Jane frets over whether even to apply to art school in Boston, while Jodie must convince her status-obsessed father to let her attend a primarily African-American university where she can finally fit in. Big questions face even Lawndale's younger students as Daria's fashion-plate sister, Quinn, is forced to take a restaurant job to pay off the credit-card bills she's rung up on clothes; hanging out with college kids and helping a new friend through a drinking problem help give Quinn a new outlook on her previously shallow life; can the end of the Fashion Club be far behind? Daria: Is It College Yet? premiered on MTV on Monday, January 21, 2002; nearly commercial-free, the original presentation included the world premiere of the video for "Breaking Up the Girl" by pop band Garbage, alongside clips from all five seasons of the show. ~ Brian J. Dillard, Rovi
- 1997
During its initial 13-episode run on MTV, Beavis and Butthead spin-off Daria established the enormous cast of characters and the biting brand of satire that would carry it for four additional seasons. Relocating his heroine from Highland (Beavis and Butthead's hometown) to the similarly fictional suburb of Lawndale, executive producer Glenn Eichler surrounded Daria (voice of Tracy Grandstaff) with a high-strung family and a cool-chick best friend. Beyond these core characters, Daria's writing staff fleshed out the diverse social strata of Lawndale High, from an autocratic principal and several neurotic teachers to junior fashionistas and plain old dumb jocks. Early episodes almost invariably hinged on the attempts of Daria's parents and teachers to overcome her apathy and involve her in extracurricular activities that would expose her to the clueless masses she so despised. It wasn't until late in the season that Daria met Trent (voice of Alvaro J. Gonzalez), the alt-rock singer (and brother of best pal Jane [voice of Wendy Hoopes]) whose taciturn coolness would enchant her for most of the series. Later seasons would explore more grownup themes and relationships, but it's season one that set up the show's enduringly skewed world view. ~ Brian J. Dillard, Rovi
- Starring:
- Tracy Grandstaff, Wendy Hoopes, (more)
- 1998
If the first season of MTV's animated comedy Daria set up the show's enduring themes and characters, then the 1998 second season provided the first glimpses of the more grownup issues that would come to dominate as the series progressed. The most obvious examples include dating angst and college-admissions anxiety, but a different kind of fear emerges as a subtle constant that will later pick up steam. With Daria (voice of Tracy Grandstaff) already established as the world's most cynical teen, season two begins to map out the flipside of willful alienation -- that is, the alluring danger of letting one's guard down and fully engaging with life. From the poster contest of the season opener "Arts 'n' Crass" to the short-story competition in the finale "Write Where It Hurts," school activities provide the reluctant Daria with an audience for her creativity and dare her to connect with people beyond best friend Jane (voice of Wendy Hoopes). Of course, this being Daria, these scenarios almost always end poorly. But each time, the disaffected teen returns to her apathy with a little less resolve. Meanwhile, the show's writers have a ball expanding their supporting cast and extending the back stories of their existing characters. Kid sister Quinn (also voice of Wendy Hoopes) shows the first signs of the stubborn, Daria-esque individuality that will eventually cause a rift with her Fashion Club compatriots, while both Jane and Daria find friends and foes within their extended families. The politics of stupid high schoolers remain the focus of the plotlines, but the equally clueless antics of parents and teachers also generate laughs. As for the show's style, its ensemble-sitcom approach broadens to include movie parodies and elaborate set pieces (including an over-the-top Renaissance fair). By season's end, even TV critics had begun to notice Daria's sharp writing and thematic resonance. ~ Brian J. Dillard, Rovi
- Starring:
- Tracy Grandstaff, Wendy Hoopes, (more)
- 1999
Two seasons -- 26 episodes -- into its run, animated MTV comedy Daria had its modus operandi in place. Its writers then decided to explore uncharted terrain with 1999's third season: new settings, fantastical elements, and even a musical episode. The parodies from season two continued, most notably with a sly X-Files send-up. But reaction was mixed to the jokey show tunes, mythical characters, and ghost-story send-ups that also appeared. Some fans thought the show jumped the shark with "Depth Takes a Holiday," in which the human incarnations of various holidays invaded Lawndale. But sprinkled among such experimental asides, faithful audience members found plenty of old-school Daria episodes to love, including a scathing parody of Sassy and Jane magazine personality Jane Pratt. Also mixed in with the jokey one-offs were episodes that expanded upon the heavier themes that had begun to crop up as early as the first-season finale. Death, sexual maturity, and anxiety for the post-high school future all solidified their places in the show's thematic lineup. Speaking of lineups, the voice cast experienced turnover (as in previous seasons) but ended the season with an ensemble that wouldn't change much during the show's twilight years. After this year of transition, the Daria series itself would also settle into a groove -- a rapidly maturing, sometimes nostalgic groove that reflected the inner lives of its young-adult characters. ~ Brian J. Dillard, Rovi
- Starring:
- Tracy Grandstaff, Wendy Hoopes, (more)
- 2000
For its 2002 fourth season, Daria revisited the themes and comic approaches it had employed on MTV the previous three years. High-school politics, family warfare, and the occasional movie parody kept the titular angsty teen (voice of Tracy Grandstaff) -- and her audience -- in stitches. But even as it wandered around familiar territory, the show found time to explore one new milieu: that of the soap opera. Daria's friendship with Jane (voice of Wendy Hoopes) and her love/hate relationship with Jane's boyfriend, Tom (voice of Russell Hankin), provided Daria with its first-ever season-long through-line. From its opener to its cliffhanger finale and beyond, Daria's penultimate season wove a dense continuing plot out of the title character's sexual awakening and the resulting stress on her friendship with Jane. Really, the final two seasons and the two movie-length specials that punctuate them can be viewed as one long storyline. Of course, not all episodes focused on Daria's love triangle. Supporting characters sometimes took center stage. Quinn (voice of Wendy Hoopes) continued her metamorphosis into an actual person. And college loomed larger than ever on the horizon. By the time the first special Is It Fall Yet? appeared between the fourth and fifth seasons, a senior-year framework similar to that of Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Season 3 and not one but two seasons of Beverly Hills 90210 had been established. In short, Daria had become an honest to God continuing serial. ~ Brian J. Dillard, Rovi
- Starring:
- Tracy Grandstaff, Wendy Hoopes, (more)
Picking up on the plots and mature subject matter of the previous season (and of the movie-style special Is It Fall Yet?), Daria's final 13 episodes chronicle the snarky teen's first real romance and the college pressures of her senior year. Amidst the extended plotlines, the fifth season also finds time to continue the show's long-running commentary on consumerism and pop-culture vapidity. Supporting characters Jane (voice of Wendy Hoopes), Quinn (also the voice of Wendy Hoopes), Jodie (voice of Jessica Cydnee Jackson), and Tom (voice of Russell Hankin) all experience conflicts and character development of their own. And the psychodramas of Daria's nuclear and extended families find some sort of resolution, even if they're only temporary. Movie parodies and other elaborate comic scenarios are jettisoned in favor of dense plots and recurring themes. Arguably the show's most consistent and definitely its most grownup outing, season five would leave a number of threads dangling to be sewn up with the series' swan song, Is It College Yet? ~ Brian J. Dillard, Rovi
- Starring:
- Tracy Grandstaff, Wendy Hoopes, (more)
Hollywood filmmaker Michael Tollin directs the sports drama Radio, based on a true story and adapted for the screen by Mike Rich (The Rookie). Set in a small South Carolina town during the '60s, the film stars Ed Harris as Harold Jones, a high school football coach who barely has time to spend with his daughter, Mary Helen (Sarah Drew), or his wife, Linda (Debra Winger). When Coach Jones meets the mentally challenged student who goes by the name of Radio (Cuba Gooding Jr.), he allows him to help out with his football team. While the townsfolk just aren't sure about Radio hanging around the team, the star player Johnny Clay (Riley Smith) is downright mean about it. Nevertheless, Radio continues to support the team for the next three decades. Also starring Alfre Woodard as the principal. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, Rovi
- Starring:
- Cuba Gooding, Jr., Ed Harris, (more)
A man with a "doormat" personality tries standing up for himself for a change in this comedy. Mild mannered tax accountant Elliot Sherman (Michael Showalter) is what he calls a "Baxter": the kind of calm, unexciting fellow who "wears sock garters" and "enjoys raking leaves." Loved by bosses and parents, Elliot is a perfectly nice guy. And that's his problem -- he's safe and pleasant, but not very interesting, so as a consequence he hasn't had much luck with long-term relationships, and more than one woman has abandoned him for someone more exciting. Elliot believes his luck has finally changed for the better when he becomes engaged to Caroline Swann (Elizabeth Banks), a smart and attractive editor at a successful magazine. However, a few weeks before the wedding, who should come back into Caroline's life but Bradley Lake (Justin Theroux), her high school sweetheart and, according to many, the great love of her life. Bradley quickly makes it clear that he wants to win Caroline back, and generally in such circumstances Elliot would politely step aside, but just this once Elliot decides to fight for the woman he loves. Elliot gains an unexpected champion in Cecil Mills (Michelle Williams), a frumpy but adorable temp employee at his office who encourages Elliot to develop a take-charge attitude, though the results aren't quite what he expects. The Baxter was written and directed by Michael Showalter, who also plays Elliot; Showalter was a member of the sketch comedy troupe the State, and also works with the comedy performance trio Stella, whose other members, Michael Ian Black and David Wain, also appear in the movie. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
- Starring:
- Michael Showalter, Elizabeth Banks, (more)
Keenan Thompson, Fran Kranz, and Zachary Levi star in this comedy about three teens to embark on a cross-country road trip to seek vengeance against the hypocritical television "doctor" who humiliated them in front of the entire country. Joel (Kranz) has wandered into the crosshairs of national television sensation Dr. Dwayne (Darrell Hammond), and when the hot-winded talk-show host humiliates him on live TV, he sinks into a serious depression. Hoping to lift their best pal out of his current funk, Joel's best friends Wyatt (Thompson) and Ben (Levi) gas up Wyatt's homemade wiener-mobile and set their sights on Dr. Wayne's studio. Along the way, the trio hands out complimentary hot dogs to everyone they meet, all the while encountering an impressive array of misfits, weirdoes, and rejects. Perhaps if they can dodge the spit of some unusually angry hippies and stop staring at the hottest sixth grade teacher they've ever encountered (Jenny McCarthy), these three friends can finally give Dr. Dwane a taste of his own bitter medicine. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi
- Starring:
- Kenan Thompson, Darrell Hammond, (more)
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