Alex Borstein Movies

The Griffins and other denizens of Quahog continue their no-holds-barred animated satire in the seventh season, which boasts the two-part Star Wars spoof, Blue Harvest. Other highlights: Griffin patriarch Peter (voice of Seth MacFarlane) is accused of murdering wife Lois (Alex Borstein), becomes paralyzed after eating too much fast food, and decides to become a pirate. And not to be outdone, Brian shacks up with Jillian (Drew Barrymore), Joe (Patrick Warburton) has a leg transplant, and Meg (Mila Kunis) gets serious with a cute hospital intern. Notable Season 7 voice cameos include Paula Abdul, Simon Cowell, Randy Jackson, Chace Crawford, Amanda Bynes, James Woods, Barry Manilow, Harvey Fierstein, and Ricardo Montalban. ~ Kathy LeSage, Rovi

Although poor ratings had compelled the Fox network to cancel its iconoclastic, cutting-edge cartoon series Family Guy at the end of its third season in 2002, the series' astonishing popularity in rerun form on cable's Cartoon Network coupled with the spectacular sales posted by the property's initial DVD release in 2003, prompted Fox to revive the show, with brand new episodes beginning in the spring of 2005. The first of the 14 comeback adventures of the supremely dysfunctional Griffin family is "North By North Quahog," which, in addition to its expected Hitchcockian undertones, manages to find time to skewer Mel Gibson's controversial The Passion of the Christ. In later episodes, the Griffin's family dog, Brian, ends up as a substitute teacher for high-risk kids; dad Peter Griffin swallows a bunch of nickels, goes blind, and accidentally becomes a hero in a story that somehow also accommodates a guest voice appearance by Judd Hirsch; nebbishy neighbor Cleveland goes into "worm turns" mode when he is told that his wife, Loretta, has been fooling around with the libidinous Glen Quagmire; Peter takes an intelligence test and winds up losing custody of his kids (and his wife); Brian shows up as a contestant on "The Bachelorette," while son Chris Griffin is afflicted with a demonic talking pimple. Later, to pay his pharmacy bill, Peter sells daughter Meg to the druggist's son; mom Lois' kleptomania forces the family to take refuge in "Asian Town"; and Lois earns "real money" as a model in her spare time ("And so can you!"); after spending several months marooned on a desert island, Peter finds that he is even more expendable than Tom Hanks; and actor James Woods becomes Peter's very best friend -- and refuses to leave the house. Taking all this into consideration, the season finale, in which Peter and Lois go the Laverne & Shirley route at their local brewery, is as traditionalist as an episode of The Waltons. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Jess (Milo Ventimiglia) moves to Venice, CA, to bond with his long-estranged father Jimmy (Rob Estes) -- and to cope with Jimmy's eccentric neighbors. Back in Stars Hollow, Lorelai tries to tell Rory (Alexis Bledel) that Jess is gone and that her college financial aid has been rejected while the two ladies prepare for their European backpacking trip; and Lane (Keiko Agena) tearfully reconciles herself to being shipped off to a conservative college where the boys and girls aren't even allowed to spend free time in the same park. The episode ends with a surprise for Lorelei -- a good one, for a change! ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Worried over financial difficulties, Frasier (Kelsey Grammer) heads to his favorite hangout, the Café Nervosa, only to have his teeth set on edge by a bizarre folksinger named Ben (Elvis Costello!). Vowing never to return to the café until Ben is fired -- and dragging Niles (David Hyde Pierce) along with him -- Frasier seeks out another out-of-the-way spot he can call his own. In the process he spots his co-worker Julia (Felicity Huffman) in a passionate embrace with his accountant Avery McManus (John Hannah) -- who happens to be married. ~ Rovi

Twenty-one new, non sequitur-laden episodes are dished up by series creator Seth MacFarlane for the third and final Fox network season of the cartoon weekly Family Guy. Things start off with the series' first two-parter, in which the Griffins' pet dog, Brian, runs away from home and ends up in Hollywood directing porn movies. Later, a hurricane in Quahog brings a new British Invasion in its wake; Mr. Death, who'd been a special guest star the previous season, makes a return appearance with his mother in tow (not to mention Peter Frampton); and Meg gets a TV job forcing her to work with über-nerd Neil, but at least gets to rub caricatured shoulders with Hugh Downs and Abe Vigoda. In another story development, Peter loses his job when his boss dies in a freak accident (choking to death on a dinner roll), allowing our hero to pursue his life's ambition as a knight in a Renaissance fair -- and when that fails to pan out, he comes up with a new life's ambition and goes fishing. Elsewhere, malevolent infant Stewie tries to cook up yet another foolproof murder scheme when Peter and Lois decide to have another baby; a case of mistaken identity thrusts the Griffins into both the Witness Protection Program and a Civil War reenactment; a session with a local baseball team transforms Peter into a rara avis -- a black white man; paraplegic policeman Joe gets some unexpected assistance when he enters the Special Olympics; Stewie throws a tantrum and ends up winning a theater audition, just as sister Meg begins dating a nudist; and as another of the family's impulsive trips to Europe is sidetracked to Saudi Arabia, mom Lois reveals a long-ago liaison with KISS lead singer Gene Simmons. In the series finale, the Griffins respond to viewer mail by staging their own iconoclastic versions of The Little Rascals and a certain mutant-superhero movie blockbuster (An additional episode, "When You Wish Upon a Weinstein," was never telecast on Fox due to its "controversial" nature, and remained unseen until it was shown on cable's Cartoon Network two years after it was filmed). Despite the anguished moans of the series' millions of fans, Fox decided to pull the plug on Family Guy at the end of season three. However, the series was due for a spectacular rebirth that would put a phoenix to shame. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Although the first season of the doggedly irreverent animated half-hour Family Guy didn't exactly set the ratings on fire, the series' devoted fan following was sufficient for Fox to order 21 new episodes for a second season. The opener finds the dysfunctional Griffin family developing even worse financial sense than normal when they inherit a mansion. Later on, Peter Griffin is forced to kidnap Pope John Paul II to prove something to his hyper-judgmental dad (voiced by Charles Durning); New Years Day of 2000 proves to be an apocalyptic experience as the Griffins rummage through the ruins of a bombed-out Quahog, RI -- and end up crossing paths with Randy Newman and the cast of Dallas; a quickie European vacation awakens the carnal lust in Brian the dog; and Norm MacDonald provides the voice of Mr. Death, who proves to be a crabby house guest when he breaks his skeletal leg in the Griffin living room (this is the one where Peter develops a "fatty corpuscle"). Also: Lois Griffin directs a community production of The King and I which devolves into a garish "leg show" and an obscene example of egos run amok; Murphy Brown's Candice Bergen and Faith Ford provide voices for an episode in which Peter gets in touch with his feminine side; daughter Meg's slumber party morphs into the new 24-hour TV reality series "The Real Griffins" (even though the "real Griffins" are replaced by celebrity actors); Brian and malevolent infant Stewie Griffin go into Hope-Crosby mode on "Road to Rhode Island"; Peter poses as a high school student, basking in the popularity he'd never enjoyed during his actual teen years; the Mob makes the family an offer they can't refuse (or make sense of) in an episode featuring the voice of The Shield's Michael Chiklis; son Chris needs liposuction, but it's Peter who gets the treatment, much to the jealous Lois' dismay; and Luke Perry sues Peter for defamation of character and bad writing. Topping off the season, father-and-son day for Peter and Chris turns sour when Peter chooses someone else's son! ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

The Christmas season just got a lot less joyous in this very dark comedy. Willie T. Stokes (Billy Bob Thornton) is a con man and a thief who teams up with his friend Marcus (Tony Cox), a midget, for a very special scam each year during the holiday season. Willie gets a job as Santa Claus at a shopping mall, his pal tags along as an elf, and they use their employee status to crack mall security and rob stores blind just before Christmas. However, there's one flaw to this plan -- Willie is a bitter, foul-mouthed and perpetually grouchy alcoholic who doesn't care for kids, and it's all he can do to keep himself from getting fired while on the job. The mall's manager (John Ritter, in his last film appearance) is certain something's wrong with the Santa he's hired, so he asks the mall's chief of security (Bernie Mac) to do some research on Willie. Meanwhile, one of the kids Willie is forced to talk to becomes a regular customer; overweight, awkward, and the frequent target of bullies, the boy manages to arouse something like sympathy from Willie, who tries to give him some advice and develops something vaguely resembling Christmas sprit along the way. Bad Santa was directed by Terry Zwigoff, who enjoyed previous success with Crumb and Ghost World. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

Fate brings a childless couple a bundle of joy -- who happens to have a criminal record -- in this comedy directed by Keenen Ivory Wayans. Calvin Simms (Marlon Wayans) is a master criminal who with the help of his friend and sidekick, Percy (Tracy Morgan), plans a daring robbery of a museum where one of the world's largest diamonds is on display. One of reasons Calvin is able to get inside secure areas is his size -- Calvin is dwarf who stands less than two feet tall, and can slip in unnoticed where more conventionally sized people would not. While Calvin is able to get the diamond, he's nearly caught by the police while making his getaway, and stashes the jewel in a bag carried by a passerby. Eager to recover the diamond from the unwitting accomplice, Calvin and Percy figure out a way to get into his house -- they dress Calvin up as a baby, and leave him on the doorstep of the passerby's home. As it happens, the couple who live there (Shawn Wayans and Kerry Washington) have been wanting to have a baby, and they eagerly take the new arrival under their wing, embracing the joys of parenthood while ignoring some of the toddler's unusual behavior. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

Writer/director Chris Butler puts his experience working on Coraline and Tim Burton's The Corpse Bride to good use in this charmingly morbid tale of an eccentric young hero facing supernatural forces that would make most grown-ups cower in fear. Eleven-year-old Norman Babcock (voice of Kodi Smit-McPhee) is a young misfit with a remarkable gift: He sees dead people. Although Norman's clairvoyance allows him the unique opportunity to enjoy the company of his beloved grandmother (Elaine Stritch) long after she has ceased to be, it also drives his frustrated father Perry (Jeff Garlin) and popularity-obsessed sister Courtney (Anna Kendrick) up the wall at home and makes him the target of dim-witted bully Alvin (Christopher Mintz-Plasse) at school. His only friend is portly Neil (Tucker Albrizzi), who isn't exactly a beacon of coolness. When Norman's deceased uncle Prenderghast (John Goodman), a local pariah, warns the young boy that he must save their small town of Blithe Hollow from a witch's curse that has plagued the area for centuries, the young creature-feature addict isn't entirely sure how to respond -- that is, until the sky turns red, the clouds start to swirl, and the dead rise up from their graves. Now, as a terrified mob takes to the streets with torches in hand, it's up to Norman, Courtney, Alvin, Neil, and Neil's older brother Mitch (Casey Affleck) to put things right, even if it means confronting the 300-year-old curse that has haunted Blithe Hollow ever since the notorious witch hunts of the 18th century. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

Teen queen Lizzie McGuire grows up a bit and hits the big screen in this comedy drama, based on the popular Disney Network series. Lizzie McGuire (Hilary Duff) and her best friends Kate (Ashlie Brillault), Gordo (Adam Lamberg), and Ethan (Clayton Snyder) have just graduated from middle school, and to celebrate, they're taking part in a class trip to Rome, Italy. Eager to celebrate their new maturity as high school students, Lizzie and her pals hope to live it up in one of Europe's most fabled cities, but fate has something more spectacular in store for Lizzie. Lizzie discovers that she bears a striking resemblance to Isabella, an Italian teen-pop idol famous for her duets with heart-throb Paolo (Yani Gellman) -- so much so that when Paolo and Isabella have a falling out, he asks Lizzie to take Isabella's place for an upcoming concert. Lizzie, however, isn't sure she feels comfortable stepping into the spotlight, and is even less sure about the way she feels about Paolo, who makes no secret of his infatuation with her. Things don't get any simpler for Lizzie when her family gets wind of her newfound fame, and catch the next flight to Italy. The Lizzie McGuire Movie also features Robert Carradine and Hallie Todd as Lizzie's parents, and Jake Thomas as her younger brother Matt, all of whom reprise their roles from the television series. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi