Nicky Katt Movies
A kohl-eyed actor who has oozed a steady stream of low-key testosterone through a series of films that include Dazed and Confused (1993), A Time to Kill (1996), and The Limey (1999), Nicky Katt has brought life to a stable of idiosyncratic, often dysfunctional characters that have established him as one of the more adventurous young performers in Hollywood.A former child actor who first worked on shows ranging from V to Father Murphy, Katt got his adult breakthrough in Richard Linklater's Dazed and Confused, a film that also helped to launch the careers of such castmates as Parker Posey, Matthew McConaughey, and Joey Lauren Adams. He went on to do prolific supporting work, showing up to particularly memorable effect as a one-armed convenience store clerk in Gregg Araki's The Doom Generation (1995), as a belligerent redneck in Joel Schumacher's A Time to Kill (1996), and as Renee Zellweger's ambitious attorney boyfriend in One True Thing (1998). One of his most memorable roles came courtesy of Steven Soderbergh's The Limey, which featured Katt as a dreadlocked, sociopathic hitman whose running (and largely improvised) commentaries on various passersby provided some of the film's most unnerving comic moments.
Although he has been seen mainly in a supporting capacity, Katt has also done notable lead work, particularly in Linklater's SubUrbia (1997), in which he managed to stand out from a talented ensemble cast with his portrayal of an alcoholic and xenophobic ex-Air Force recruit. The actor also starred in and executive produced Adam Goldberg's Scotch and Milk (1998), an acclaimed post-noir drama that featured him as one of a group of aimless friends skulking and posing their way around Los Angeles. With a growing list of credits and further roles in such well-received films as Boiler Room (2000), which cast him as a money-grubbing broker, Katt began the 21st century on a very promising note. With roles in such high-profile releases as Insomnia and director Steven Soderbergh's Full Frontal (both 2002), Katt continued to hold that note, all the while maintaining a growing fan base with his role as geology teacher Harry Senate on the popular evening drama Boston Public. ~ Rebecca Flint Marx, All Movie Guide
- 1980
- PG
Ever wonder what happens to your car when you give it to a parking lot attendant? Find out in this zany slapstick comedy set in an exclusive Beverly Hills Hotel. There the attendants gleefully smash and bash the expensive cars of patrons while trying to get them parked. The story really perks up when an enamored and fabulously wealthy sheik joins the attendants in hopes of attracting a certain beautiful woman. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
"Don't expose him to bright light. Don't ever get him wet. And don't ever, ever feed him after midnight." This sage advice is ignored midway through Gremlins, with devastating results. This comic Joe Dante effort is set in a Norman Rockwell-esque small town at Christmastime. Seeking a unique gift for his son an erstwhile inventor (Hoyt Axton) purchases a cute, fuzzy little "Mogwai" from a Chinatown shopkeeper's (Keye Luke) grandson (John Louie), who dispenses the above-mentioned warning before closing the deal. Meanwhile, young bank clerk Billy Peltzer (Zach Galligan) must suffer such antagonists as rich-bitch Mrs. Deagle (Polly Holliday) and priggish Gerald (Judge Reinhold) while pursuing his romance with Kate (Phoebe Cates). These and a variety of other plot strands are tied together when the lovable mogwai (named Gizmo) is exposed to bright light and gotten wet. In short order, the town is invaded by nasty, predatory Gremlins, who lay waste to everything in sight as Billy and Kate try to contain the destruction. Like most of Joe Dante's works, Gremlins is chock-full of significant cameo appearances: in this instance, such pop-culture icons as Dick Miller, Jackie Joseph, Chuck Jones, Scott Brady, Harry Carey Jr., Steven Spielberg (the film's executive producer) and even Robby the Robot all show up briefly on screen. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Zach Galligan, Hoyt Axton, (more)
Ward and June Cleaver have nothing on suburban couple Tom Hanks and Carrie Fisher. Together with their perfect son, Hanks and Fisher are so clean that they squeak. Thus, when new neighbors Henry Gibson, Brother Theodore and Courtney Gains begin evincing bizarre behavior, Hanks is slightly put out. Fisher thinks that Hanks is getting all worked up over nothing. Hanks and his fellow suburbanites endure all sorts of slapstick misadventures in the vain hope of getting "the goods" on the newcomers. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Tom Hanks, Bruce Dern, (more)
- 1990
- PG13
In the film adapted from a book by Frederic Brown, a music composer (Randy Quaid) receives an invitation to score an upcoming science-fiction film. When the piece is accidentally broadcast on the radio, it encourages a rather pedestrian invasion force from Mars. The legion of green men instead cause havoc around the globe just by having fun, and it is the composer's duty to send them packing. ~ John Bush, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Randy Quaid, Margaret Colin, (more)
A sleeper hit that received a lukewarm reception from critics but was a success with audiences, Sister Act (1992) was star Whoopi Golberg's first bona fide smash after her Oscar victory for Ghost (1990). Goldberg stars as Deloris Van Cartier, a Reno lounge singer who accidentally witnesses a brutal murder carried out by her gangster boyfriend Vince (Harvey Keitel). Under the protection of a detective (Bill Nunn) who's trying to bring down Vince's criminal operation, Deloris is placed in protective custody at a San Francisco convent. Masquerading as a nun renamed Sister Mary Clarence, Deloris shakes up the established order of the sisters' lives, particularly enlivening their choral efforts. Although running constantly afoul of the Mother Superior (Maggie Smith), the new, jazzed-up musical act becomes a huge hit in the community, even drawing the attention of the Pope, but also alerting Vince to Deloris' whereabouts. Although credited to the pseudonymous Joseph Howard, Sister Act was actually written by Paul Rudnick and Carrie Fisher. The film was followed by a sequel, Sister Act 2: Back in the Habit (1993). ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Whoopi Goldberg, Maggie Smith, (more)
Like George Lucas' American Graffiti, Richard Linklater's Dazed and Confused is an affectionate look at the youth culture of a bygone era. While Lucas took aim at the conservative 1950's, Linklater jumps ahead a generation to the bicentennial year of 1976 to celebrate the joys of beer blasts, pot smoking and Frampton Comes Alive. Set on the last day of the academic year, the film follows the random activities of a sprawling group of Texas high schoolers as they celebrate the arrival of summer, their paths variously intersecting at a freshmen hazing, a local pool parlor and finally at a keg party. ~ Jason Ankeny, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jason London, Wiley Wiggins, (more)
An American FBI agent infiltrates the notorious Japanese yakuza and is forced to choose between old loyalties and his new bond of blood in this lurid crime thriller starring Viggo Mortensen. The first American ever to be accepted into Japan's treacherous criminal underworld, FBI Agent Nick Davis (Mortensen) successfully infiltrates the American arm of the yakuza and quickly rises through the ranks due to his reputation as a skilled assassin. But when Agent Davis is subsequently adopted into the powerful Tendo crime family, his mission is complicated by Italian mob boss Dino Campanela (Michael Nouri) and unpredictable enforcer Vic (Nicky Katt). When crooked and uncompromising FBI task force head Agent Littleman (Robert Forster) sets his sights on Agent Davis, the stage is set for a showdown that will set the criminal underworld ablaze. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
A nubile young babysitter (Alicia Silverstone) has no idea that she is the center of a maelstrom of male sexual fantasies. Based on a disturbing short story by Robert Coover, the drama presents a non-linear account of a perfectly mundane event. Having a social engagement, a couple calls for their babysitter. She arrives, they go out, her boyfriend comes over, and the weirdness begins -- for director Guy Ferland makes little distinction between the character fantasies and what is really occurring. Something will happen, and then it will happen again; only the outcome is different. What makes this dark film so disturbingly creepy is that none of the males involved, neither the frustrated boyfriend, the horny husband who hired her, or even her little charge has nice fantasies about her. The film contains several sexual scenes and some scenes of violence. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Alicia Silverstone, Jeremy London, (more)
Set in Los Angeles two days before the end of 1999, Strange Days introduces us to Lenny Nero (Ralph Fiennes), an ex-cop turned sleazy hustler who hawks the newest underground thrill on the black market: a "squid," a headpiece that allows one to transmit digital recordings of other people's thoughts, feelings, and memories into their brain; as Lenny describes it, "this is real life, pure and uncut, straight from the cerebral cortex." Lenny deals "clips" (the software) as well as "squids" (the hardware) for this new and illegal entertainment system, and while sex and violence are the most popular themes, Lenny refuses to deal in "blackjack" -- slang for snuff clips. Lenny is nursing a broken heart after his girlfriend, punk singer Faith Justin (Juliette Lewis), left him, and he spends a lot of time with clips he recorded when they were together. Faith is now involved with Philo Grant (Michael Wincott), a music business tycoon who once managed Jeriko One (Glenn Plummer), a hip-hop musician and political activist whose murder has sent L.A. into a state of chaos. When a clip emerges that shows that Jeriko was killed by L.A. police officers, Lenny finds his life in danger, and he tries to escape possible death on both sides of the law with the help of his friend Mace Mason (Angela Bassett). Strange Days was written by James Cameron in collaboration with former film critic Jay Cocks; Kathryn Bigelow directed. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ralph Fiennes, Angela Bassett, (more)
Erik (Brad Renfro) is a 13-year-old boy whose single mother, Gail (Diana Scarwid), has just moved to a new home in Minnesota. Erik feels like a fish out of water with his Southern accent, and he has trouble making friends until he meets Dexter (Joseph Mazzello), a kid a year or two younger who lives next door. Erik and Dexter get along fine, but Gail tells Erik not to go near Dexter when she learns that he contracted AIDS from a blood transfusion a few years ago. Erik ignores his mother's instructions and stands up for the frail Dexter at school, while Dexter's mom Linda (Annabella Sciorra) gives Erik the warmth, affection, and home cooking that Gail is too busy to provide. However, both boys are painfully aware of Dexter's illness, and when one of them spots a headline in a supermarket tabloid that a doctor in New Orleans has discovered a cure for AIDS, they run away together, determined to find the doctor and bring Dexter back as good as new. The Cure was the theatrical feature debut for actor-turned-director Peter Horton, who cut his directorial teeth on the TV series The Wonder Years and thirtysomething. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Joseph Mazzello, Brad Renfro, (more)
Billed as "a heterosexual movie by Gregg Araki," The Doom Generation is the director's self-styled bad-taste teen film. Amy Blue (Rose McGowan) is an obnoxious teenage speed freak and her boyfriend Jordan White (James Duval) is a passive, slow-witted poseur who won't have sex with her because he's terrified of AIDS (even though they both claim to be virgins). One day, they run across Xavier Red (Johnathon Schaech), a charming but enigmatic drifter who has a bad habit of killing people. Joining the young couple on a seemingly endless road trip, Xavier (or "X,"as the verbally challenged Jordan insists on calling him), proves a threatening and repulsive yet strangely alluring companion whose very presence raises issues of loyalty and sexual identity. The Doom Generation is dotted with a variety of eccentric cameo appearances, including comic Margaret Cho, actress Parker Posey, musician Perry Farrell, "Hollywood Madame" Heidi Fleiss, and onetime Brady Bunch star Christopher Knight. This is the middle installment in Araki's "teen apocalypse trilogy," which also includes 1993's Totally F***ed Up and 1997's Nowhere. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- James Duval, Rose McGowan, (more)
Carl Lee Hailey (Samuel L. Jackson) takes the law into his own hands after the legal system fails to adequately punish the men who brutally raped and beat his daughter, leaving her for dead. Normally, a distraught father could count on some judicial sympathy in those circumstances. Unfortunately, Carl and his daughter are black, and the assailants are white, and all the events take place in the South. Indeed, so inflammatory is the situation, that the local KKK (led by Kiefer Sutherland) becomes popular again. When Hailey chooses novice lawyer Jake Brigance (Matthew McConaughey) to handle his defense, it begins to look like a certainty that Carl will hang, and Jake's career (and perhaps his life) will come to a premature end. Despite the efforts of the NAACP and local black leaders to persuade Carl to choose some of their high-powered legal help, he remains loyal to Jake, who had helped his brother with a legal problem before the story begins. Jake eventually takes this case seriously enough to seek help from his old law-school professor (Donald Sutherland). When death threats force his family to leave town, Jake even accepts the help of pushy young know-it-all lawyer Ellen Roark (Sandra Bullock). ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Matthew McConaughey, Samuel L. Jackson, (more)
- 1996
Chandler (Matthew Perry) and Ross (David Schwimmer) have a run-in with a pair of bullies at Central Perk -- only to join forces with their tormentors when another bully horns in. Monica's (Courteney Cox) eccentric methods of stock investment (based upon her initials) come a cropper, forcing her to take a humiliating job at a "1950s" diner. And Phoebe's (Lisa Kudrow) efforts to meet her birth father yield unexpected results. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Two male hustlers with different ideals and goals struggle through a tough night in this gritty drama. It's Christmas Eve on Santa Monica Boulevard in Los Angeles, and John (David Arquette), a male prostitute who works the streets, is desperate. John's birthday is Dec. 25, and he had hoped to spend the day at a fine hotel, ordering room service and feeling like a big shot for a change. To this end, John had lifted $300 from Jimmy The Warlock (Terrence DaShon Howard), a drug dealer, but the night before, John's lucky sneakers were stolen, with his bankroll inside. Now John is back working the streets in hopes that he can raise enough money for a hotel room and to pay back Jimmy. Also working that night is Donner (Lukas Haas), a young hustler who is infatuated with John. While Donner acknowledges his homosexuality, John stubbornly contends that despite his occupation, he's really straight, and he has a girlfriend Mikki (Alanna Ubach), though they spend most of their time arguing. While John can only look to his immediate needs, Donner thinks that they should leave Los Angeles and head to Branson, Missouri, where he's convinced that they can get jobs as lifeguards at Camelot, a theme park. As the night wears on, John and Donner meet several fellow street people, including Crazy Eli (Christopher Gartin) and Homeless John (Keith David), and scare up a few customers, ranging from a harmless closeted businessman (Elliott Gould) to others looking for violent, dangerous sex. Johns was the first feature film for former TV documentary director Scott Silver. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Lukas Haas, David Arquette, (more)
This was the third follow-up to Tim Burton's Batman (1989), the original revisionist look at the Gotham City legend, as well as the second in the Batman series directed by Joel Schumacher and the first featuring George Clooney as the Caped Crusader; it features not one but two super-villains, and a new heroine to fight crime alongside Bruce Wayne (aka Batman) and Dick Grayson (aka Robin) (Chris O'Donnell). The experiments of Dr. Victor Fries (Arnold Schwarzenegger) to preserve his late wife cryogenically have gone horribly wrong, turning him into the evil genius Mr. Freeze, who must keep his body at sub-zero temperature in order to say alive -- and he wants to put Gotham City on ice. Shy horticulturist Pamela Isley (Uma Thurman) goes a bit wild with a Venus Fly Trap-like creation she's been working on and mutates into Poison Ivy, who wants to kill all the people on Earth so plants can take over. Can Batman and Robin stop these fiends before their plans go too far? Meanwhile, Bruce and Dick's faithful butler Alfred (Michael Gough) isn't feeling well, so his niece Barbara (Alicia Silverstone) comes to pay a visit. When Barbara finds out what her uncle's employers do in their spare time, she decides she wants in on the action, and she joins the crime fighting twosome as Batgirl. Batman & Robin also features Jesse Ventura in a small role as a prison guard; it would be his last film role before becoming Governor of Minnesota in 1998. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Arnold Schwarzenegger, George Clooney, (more)
Director Richard Linklater and writer/actor Eric Bogosian collaborated on this adaptation of Bogosian's play about a handful of people edging into their 20's who seem like the poor relations of the genial eccentrics in Linklater's Slacker. While the Texas bohemians in Slacker has their myriad obsessions to keep them occupied (even if they didn't do much about them), SubUrbia's protagonists have few if any clear goals and hang out not as a means of killing time, but as a way of life. Jeff (Giovanni Ribisi) talks about going back to college some day while he lives in a tent in his parents' garage. His girlfriend Sooze (Amie Carey) imagines herself a performance artist; most of her "work" is displayed in he parking lot of a convenience store, though she often talks about moving to New York. Tim (Nicky Katt) was bounced from the Air Force and spends his evenings soaking up alcohol and bitterness. Buff (Steve Zahn) is obsessed with pizza and is content with his reputation as the wacky guy who will do anything. And Bee-Bee (Dina Spybey) is Sooze's best friend, just out of rehab, with her willpower hanging by a thread. It's a big night in front of the convenience store; Pony (Jayce Bartok), who used to play guitar at school dances, has become a rock star, and promises to stop by after his show at the local hockey arena (none of his friends have the money to see him play). Meanwhile, the American work ethic is represented by Nazeer (Ajay Naidu), an immigrant from Pakistan who runs the store where the kids hang out; he's sick to death of them, and lives for the day when he gets his engineering degree and never has to see their faces again. Bogosian has said this play (and in particular the character of Jeff) was freely drawn from his own post-teenage years. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jayce Bartok, Amie Carey, (more)
- 1998
Taking a stylistic cue from the French New Wave and Cassavetes, Adam Goldberg wrote and directed and stars in this black-and-white neo-noir -- with "additional dialogue by the cast." Writer wannabe Jim (Goldberg) lives in a seedy L.A. apartment building where he tries to write and broods over his lost love Ilsa, portrayed by Clea Lewis (who actually is Goldberg's former girlfriend). Jim's drinking buddies make a retro bid for the lifestyles of '50s hipsters. The gang gathers at the Catalina Bar and Grill to catch jazz singer Jimmy Scott perform "Sometimes I Feel Like a Motherless Child". A friend cruises into town with a car, enabling the group to go to the beach. Otherwise, they visit hookers, gamble after hours, walk empty streets, and hang around noir-style pre-1957 locations such as the colonnaded Venice, California -- buildings seen in Orson Welles' Touch of Evil. Familiar jazz classics punctuate the soundtrack. Shown at the 1998 L.A. Independent Film Festival. ~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Adam Goldberg, Nicky Katt, (more)
Guy Ferland directed this comedy-thriller about aspiring cartoonist and pizza-delivery guy Will Sherman (David Strickland). College dropout Will delivers a pizza to murderer Reed (Ron Eldard), who later realizes Will can connect him to the crime scene. This prompts Reed to steal Will's tape-recorded diary and gather info on Will's friends. Will remains unaware that a psycho has taken an interest in his life -- but soon various people Will knows begin to die. Shown at the 1998 Seattle Film Festival and the 1998 Cannes Film Festival. ~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- David Strickland, Ron Eldard, (more)
Carl Franklin directed this family drama adapted from the 1995 novel by former New York Times columnist Anna Quindlen about a young woman who goes back home to take care of her dying mother. In 1987-88, independent Ellen Gulden (Renee Zellweger), a Harvard grad, is working on a New York Magazine investigative article when she hears from her father, George (William Hurt), a literary critic and university professor. He tells Ellen she's needed at home to care for her mother, Kate (Meryl Streep), who's due for surgery. Ellen needs to get away from the problems of her relationship with her boyfriend Jordan (Nicky Katt), but she plans to continue work on the magazine article from home. In truth, Ellen is uncomfortable with her mother's various ladies club lunches, and holiday preparations, and she finds communication with her mother awkward. Once Ellen arrives back home, she's dismayed to find herself caught in the web of her mother's Middle America activities. Ellen's attitude changes when it becomes apparent this probably will be the final Thanksgiving and Christmas with all family members present. But tensions erupt as long-buried family secrets emerge. Locations in New Jersey were used to create the film's Eastern coastal college town. Shown at the 1998 Montreal Film Festival. ~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Meryl Streep, Renée Zellweger, (more)
Dean Koontz scripted this adaptation of his fantasy novel. The tale begins when two sisters, Lisa (Rose McGowan) and Jenny (Joanna Going) arrive for a ski vacation in the mountain resort town of Snowfield, Colorado, where they discover their landlady is dead and the town is deserted except for a single dead police officer. Lisa and Jenny are soon joined by Sheriff Bryce Hammond (Ben Affleck) and his deputies Stu Wargle (Liev Schreiber) and Steve Shanning (Nicky Katt). The five conclude that the entire town is missing or dead, but after they head for a local hotel, they hear a Patsy Cline tune emanating from the second floor -- where a scribbled message mentions "Timothy Flyte" and the "Ancient Enemy." After Wargle is attacked by a bizarre creature that sucks out his brain, Hammond radios for help. The Feds find Flyte (Peter O'Toole), a British professor who explains his theory of an Ancient Enemy, periodically emerging from inside the Earth to decimate civilizations. Human extinction looms, but Flyte and an Army commando unit arrive in Colorado with a plan of action. Directed by Joe Chappelle, who made Thieves Quartet (1994). ~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Peter O'Toole, Rose McGowan, (more)
- 1999
- NR
A group of big-city twentysomethings are either looking for love or trying to get love to stick around in the romantic comedy Say You'll Be Mine. Ben (Nicky Katt) is an aspiring writer who for years has had a ferocious crush on his friend Julia (Libby Langdon). But Julia is more interested in his best friend Josh (Daniel Lapaine) -- in fact, they're getting married. Julia, meanwhile, is trying to fix Ben up with Melanie (Megan Ward), who's studying acting; Ben likes Melanie well enough, but is still trying to adjust himself to the fact she just isn't Julia. Ben is looking for advice, but has trouble finding a sympathetic ear -- his sister Chelsea (Justine Bateman) is a divorce lawyer who mistakenly shot her husband and went in to work the next morning. Meanwhile, Melanie has to deal with her roommates, Mason and Catherine (Gil Bellows and Rya Kihlstedt), a married couple who have furiously loud arguments when they're not having furiously louder sex. Say You'll Be Mine was the debut feature for writer/director Brad Kane; he originally wrote the script when he was only 21. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Nicky Katt, Libby Langdon, (more)
Two actors best known for their work in the late 1960s, Terence Stamp and Peter Fonda, star in The Limey, a drama in which a recently released felon contemplates the gulf between aging criminals like himself and their modern counterparts. Wilson (Stamp) is a British career criminal who has been released after nine years in prison. He has learned that his daughter Jenny died under suspicious circumstances in Los Angeles, so he travels to America for the first time to find out what happened and who's responsible. With the help of an ex-con named Ed (Luis Guzman), Wilson discovers Jenny was romantically involved with Valentine (Fonda), a middle-aged record producer with a shady past and a fondness for young women. In hopes of getting the truth -- and getting to Valentine -- Wilson finds himself doing battle with some of the worst criminals to crawl from the underbelly of Los Angeles; along the way, he also meets Elaine (Lesley Ann Warren), an older actress who knew Jenny and reminds Wilson of how little he really did for his daughter while she was alive. Steven Soderbergh's first film after his commercial comeback with 1998's Out Of Sight, The Limey features, along with Stamp and Fonda, two other notable 60's actors in supporting roles, Barry Newman and Joe Dallesandro. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Terence Stamp, Peter Fonda, (more)
In this suspense thriller, two small-time crooks make a bid for the big time with disastrous results. Robin (Juliette Lewis) is carrying a child as a surrogate mother for a wealthy couple, Hale and Francesca Chidduck (Scott Wilson and Kristin Lehman) when she's kidnapped by Parker (Ryan Phillippe) and Longbaugh (Benicio Del Toro), who believe that the adoptive parents will pay a large ransom to ensure the safety of both mother and baby. The kidnappers soon discover that they're out of their league when they're confronted by Mafia-connected lawyer Joe Sarno (James Caan) and a pair of hired killers, Jeffers (Taye Diggs) and Obecks (Nicky Katt); at the same time, Parker finds himself increasingly attached to Robin. The Way of the Gun marked the directorial debut of screenwriter Christopher McQuarrie, whose script credits include The Usual Suspects and Public Access. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ryan Phillippe, Benicio Del Toro, (more)
- 2000
Produced by the prolific David E. Kelly, the Fox network comedy-drama series Boston Public is as quirky, volatile and overpopulated with colorful and eccentric characters as any other Kelly effort. Set within the walls of Boston Public High School, the series is told from the viewpoint of the dedicated but harried principal Steven Harper (Chi McBride). The challenges facing Harper include aging teacher Harvey Lipshultz (Fyvush Finkel), whose often nonsensical rambling indicates that senility is quickly settling in; ongoing clashes between faculty and the students' parents, who are convinced that not enough/too much is being done for/to their youngsters; various student cliques, ranging from a girls' group that rates the potential sexual prowess of the teachers to a bunch of bullying punks; and such one-day-at-a-time crises as the teacher who decides to counter potential student violence by bringing a gun to class and firing it over his charges' heads. In addition to McBride and Finkel, the huge ensemble cast includes Loretta Devine as Marla Hendricks, Jessalyn Gilsig as Lauren Davis, Anthony Heald as Scott Guber, Rashida Jones as Louisa, Nicky Katt as Harry Senate, Sharon Leal as Marilyn, Thomas McCarthy as Kevin Riley, Joey Slotnick as Milton Buttle, and Sarah Thompson as Dana Poole. Boston Public first aired on October 23, 2000. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jessalyn Gilsig, Chi McBride, (more)
