Wayne Knight

The childhood friendship between four lifelong friends is unexpectedly rekindled after one of them kills a notorious drug dealer and the rest of the group conspires to cover up the crime. Beer-guzzling widower Bobby Stork was locked into a downward spiral of depression when he ran across his old pal Mark Van Houten -- an unemployed doctor who now pays the bills by cooking up crystal meth. Upon relaying Mark's dilemma to their mutual friends, uptight Laith Rukkab and expectant father Hutto, the three pals agree that they need to snap their old friend back to reality before it's too late. In order to do so, Bobby, Laith, and Hutto agree to present Mark with the throwing stars that the four friends used to play with back when they were kids. Mark's best customer is a notorious drug dealer and animal porn producer named Reed, and when Laith and Bobby pass Reed's car on the way to deliver the throwing stars, they can't resist the opportunity to free the unwilling "actors" that are locked inside. But somehow, in the midst of the confusion, Laith drops one of the throwing stars in Reed's car.

Enraged by the break-in and infuriated by the fact that Mark hasn't finished cooking up his latest batch of meth, Reed notices a throwing star on Mark's table and assumes that he's found the person responsible for the break-in. In a fit of rage, Reed tries to murder Mark. But Mark is armed with a throwing star, and somehow manages to kill his attacker with a well-aimed throw. With precious little time to loose before the authorities catch on, Bobby, Laith, and Hutto go to work in helping get rid of the evidence and cook up a foolproof alibi. But these kind of cover-ups rarely go off without a hitch, and over the course of this eventful night these four friends will be forced to contend with an especially mischievous monkey as they each come to some startling realizations about the unexpected directions that their lives have taken as of late. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

Marvel Comics' vigilante character The Punisher gets another big-screen chance in this third film incarnation of the character, this time from Hooligans director Lexi Alexander and Lionsgate Entertainment. Rome's Ray Stevenson dons the skull T-shirt in this outing, which sets the antihero in New York against the scarred villain Jigsaw (Dominic West). Wayne Knight heads up the supporting cast as Microchip, the Punisher's trusted weapons expert, with Doug Hutchison appearing as Looney Bin Jim, a second-tier villain out of the Marvel universe. ~ Jeremy Wheeler, All Movie Guide

A boy and a dinosaur join forces to bring peace to their village in this animated feature inspired by the popular television miniseries Dinotopia. Kex (voice of Alec Medlock) is a 12-year-old boy who, after the sinking of the ship he's boarded, is stranded on an uncharted island. To his surprise, Kex finds himself in a land called Dinotopia, where dinosaurs have not only survived and developed the ability to speak, they've learned to live in harmony with human beings. Kex is befriended by a young dinosaur named 26 (voice of Alyssa Milano), who teaches him about life on the island, but when the powerful Ruby Sunstone is stolen by Ogthar (voice of Malcolm McDowell), a notorious villain on the island, both the young boy and his reptilian pal find themselves in great danger. Dinotopia: Quest for the Ruby Sunstone also features the voice talents of Jamie Kennedy, Kathy Griffin, Michael Clarke Duncan, and Diedrich Bader. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Actor Rick Schroder makes his directorial debut with this inspiring drama set in the American Southwest. Black Cloud (Eddie Spears) is a young Native American who grew up in a violent household and is still struggling to come to terms with his family and his heritage. Black Cloud's life has forced him to be quick with his fists, and Bud (Russell Means), a longtime friend and mentor, has been coaching Black Cloud in boxing with the young man showing great promise in a Navajo Golden Gloves competition. Norm (Peter Greene), a scout for the United States Olympic boxing team, sees Black Cloud in the ring and is certain he has the potential to be a champion, but Black Cloud isn't certain if he wants to fight for anything besides his people. Meanwhile, Black Cloud has fallen in love with Sammi (Julia Jones), a pretty young Native American woman, but she has a child from a previous relationship with Eddie Young (Rick Schroder), a hot-tempered rodeo rider. When an argument between Eddie and Black Cloud escalates into a fistfight, Black Cloud viciously beats him, and soon Sheriff Powers (Tim McGraw) is on the lookout for the young man. Black Cloud also features Wayne Knight, Tim Sampson, and "Pooch" Marion Hall. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Originally presented in two parts by the CBS network, Master Spy is the true story of Robert Hanssen, a disgruntled FBI agent who, for 20 years, systematically sold out his country to the former Soviet Union. The film depicts Hanssen (played by William Hurt) as hyper-intelligent and hyper-sensitive, frustrated by what he perceives to be the mediocrity of his fellow federal agents (at one point in the story, Hanssen's boss advises him to "dumb down" if he hopes to survive in the agency). Hanssen's self-imposed lofty standards and values are somewhat at odds with his rather kinky sexual preferences, and with his habit of spending far more than he earns. In danger of losing everything he owns due to improvident financial transactions, Hanssen proves to be ripe for plucking by the Soviet KGB, which offers him wealth beyond his wildest dreams if he will simply transfer top secret information to the Russians. Throughout his career of duplicity and treachery, Hanssen enjoys the unswerving loyalty of his wife, Bonnie (Mary-Louise Parker), who remains blissfully ignorant of his double-agent activities until the day of his arrest. Scripted by the inimitable Norman Mailer, Master Spy: The Robert Hanssen Story aired over two consecutive weekends, on November 10 and 17, 2002. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

A very loose remake of the classic multi-star comedy It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad World (1963), this madcap comedy is directed by Jerry Zucker, one third of the Zucker-Abrahams-Zucker comedy team and director of Ghost (1990). John Cleese stars as an eccentric casino owner who devises a contest pitting six teams against each other in a race to claim two million dollars from a locker in New Mexico. The competitors are Owen (Cuba Gooding Jr., who ends up driving a bus full of Lucille Ball imitators, a foreigner (Rowan Atkinson) who hitches a ride in an organ donor vehicle, and a recently reunited mother and daughter (Whoopi Goldberg and Lanei Chapman) who anger a "squirrel lady" (Kathy Bates) -- much to their regret. There are also two con artist brothers (Seth Green and Vince Vieluf), the upright Nick (Breckin Meyer), who gets a lift from cute but psychotic pilot Tracy (Amy Smart), and the eccentric Pear family, headed up by Jon Lovitz. Rat Race also stars Dave Thomas, Kathy Najimy, Wayne Knight, Dean Cain, and Paul Rodriguez. ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide

Compared to the zany opening episodes of previous seasons, the sixth and final season of the fantasy sitcom 3rd Rock from the Sun boasts a rather innocuous opener, with alien-in-human-form Dick Solomon (John Lithgow) helping his human-in-human form fiancée Mary Albright (Jane Curtin) teach a lesson to Mary's imperious sister Renata (Megan Mullaly). In a subsequent episode, extraterrestrial scientist Tommy Solomon (Joseph Gordon-Levitt), trapped in the body of a gawky 18-year-old boy, tries to choose a college appropriate to his advanced intelligence--thus compelling Harry and his second-in-command Sally Solomon (Kristen Johnson) to interview a host of potential alien replacements for Tommy. Later still, the Solomons toy with the idea of becoming American citizens (after all, you can't get more "alien" than they already are!); a psychic threatens to reveal Dick's true identity; and the strained relationship between Mary and her overbearing mother (Elaine Stritch) becomes even more so when Dick becomes fond of the old lady. The series ends with a brace of two-part stories. In "Mary Loves Scootchie", John Cleese returns as Dick's otherworldly romantic rival Dr. Liam Neesam--only to be transformed into a monkey by the disgruntled Dick, whereupon Mary at long last figures out that her fiancée is from WAY out of town! And in the two-part series finale "The Thing That Wouldn't Die", Mary seriously considers accompanying Dick as he and the other Solomons return to their home planet, while Elvis Costello performs at the family's farewell party (Money, of course, is no object--how can Costello send a bill to a PO Box that's millions of light years away?) ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Woody the Cowboy, Buzz Lightyear, and the rest of their friends from the toy box return in this computer-animated sequel to the 1995 hit Toy Story. This time around, Andy, the young boy who is the proud owner of most of our cast of characters, is off at summer camp, giving the toys a few weeks off to do as they please. Woody (voice of Tom Hanks) is unaware that in the years since his model went out of production, he's become a rare and valuable collector's item. An avid toy collector (voice of Wayne Knight) decides that he wants Woody for his collection and swipes him, so Buzz Lightyear (voice of Tim Allen), Hamm (voice of John Ratzenberger), Rex (voice of Wallace Shawn), Slinky Dog (voice of Jim Varney), and Mr. Potato Head (voice of Don Rickles) venture forth to rescue their kidnapped friend before Andy returns. Along with most of the original voice cast, composer Randy Newman returns with a new score and new songs. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Resolving the cliffhanger ending of Season Three, Season Four of 3rd From the Sun finds the Solomon family--actually a team of aliens who've assumed human form while on a fact-finding mission on Planet Earth--desperately searching for their kidnapped colleague Harry Solomon (French Stewart), handicapped by the loss of their extraterrestrial powers at the behest of their disgruntled leader The Big Giant Head. Once this crisis is resolved, we have time enough to become acquainted with the newest member of the cast, Larisa Oleynik, cast as Alissa Strudwick, the new human girlfriend of alien scientist Tommy Solomon (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) (who is still confined to his teenaged body despite his advancing years). The off-and-on romance between group leader Dick Solomon (John Lithgow), who has taken a job as a teacher at Pendleton College, and Dick's colleague Dr. Mary Albright (Jane Curtin), undergoes more "offs" than "ons" this season. That's because Mary has been promoted to college dean, making her Dick's boss--and he doesn't like the situation one teeny tiny bit. Season Four's better episodes include "Collect Call for Dick", a broad spoof of the current Beanie Babies craze in which Dick becomes obsessed to the point of addiction over accumulating a huge collection of "Fuzzy Buddy" toys; "I Am Dick Pentameter", featuring Laurie Metcalf (Roseanne) as an airheaded eccentric who comes between Dick and Mary; "Indecent Dick", wherein Sally Solomon (Kristen Johnson) has become so comfortably in her earthly "female" form that she's willing to pose for a nudie magazine, much to the chagrin of her human beau Officer Don (Wayne Knight); and "Two Faced Dick", an all-stops-out laff riot in which Sally requests a "gender reassignment" and is allowed to exchange bodies with Dick. Also: The Solomons are threatened with being exposed as aliens when forced to file their first IRS form in "Dick and Taxes"; another near-exposure occurs in "Alien Hunter", with Kathy Bates playing the highly suspicious title character; and as the "family" comes to face to face with the Internet for the first time, Harry Solomon and his human sweetie Vicki discuss the possibility of having children, in "Y2dicK". The fourth season ends with the long-awaited arrival on earth of the Big Giant Head, who calls himself "Stone Philips" but whose human form very closely resembles that of William Shatner. Having shown up to rake the Solomons over the coals for failing to fulfill their mission, the Big Giant Head not only demotes Dick as high commander, but also manages to impregnate the hapless Vicki--who, in the process, becomes the first human on the series to tumble to the Solomons' alien status. 3rd Rock from the Sun wrapped up its fourth year on the air with two more Emmy Awards, as John Lithgow collected his third statuette and Kristen Johnson received her second. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Kramer (Michael Richards) and Newman (Wayne Knight) reverse the peepholes on their apartment doors, leading to the usual landlord troubles (usual for Seinfeld, that is). Jerry (Jerry Seinfeld) doesn't like carrying his girlfriend's stuff around, but that's nothing compared to his ill feelings toward so-called friend Joe Mayo (Pat Finn). Elaine (Julia Louis-Dreyfus) suffers mightily when Puddy (Patrick Warburton) wears a "man fur coat." And George (Jason Alexander) enjoys a new massage chair so much that he "forgets" the chair is a gift for someone else. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In the concluding half of Seinfeld's controversial series finale, Jerry (Jerry Seinfeld), George (Jason Alexander), Kramer (Michael Richards), and Elaine (Julia Louis-Dreyfus) find themselves stranded in Latham, MA -- and even worse, they are facing arrest for violating the town's new Good Samaritan law (it seems there was this mugging...). Hoping to beat the rap -- and make it to California in time for Jerry to sell his proposed sitcom "about nothing" -- the gang engages the services of flamboyant lawyer Jackie Chiles (Phil Morris). Alas, the prosecution has managed to round up a daunting array of witnesses to bolster their case against the foursome, including Sidra (Teri Hatcher) of "they're real and they're spectacular" fame, the Soup Nazi (Larry Thomas), Marla the Virgin (Jane Leeves), and the Bubble Boy (Jon Hayman) -- while the sour-faced judge (Stanley Anderson) with the familiar-sounding name fumes, and a vengeful Newman (Wayne Knight) chuckles from the sidelines. As for the now-legendary final scene...haven't we had this conversation before? ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The ninth and final season of Seinfeld begins with Jerry (Jerry Seinfeld) enthusing over NBC's interest in his concept for a situation comedy "about nothing." However, he's less than enthusiastic over the omnipresence of his eternal nemesis, second-rate comedian Kenny Bania (Steve Hytner). Meanwhile, Kramer (Michael Richards) discovers that butter makes a great after shave lotion -- but Newman (Wayne Knight) is spooked by the smell. George (Jason Alexander) lands a new job only because he's still using a cane long after his hospital stay. And Elaine (Julia Louis-Dreyfus) sets out on a month-long trip to Europe with the redoubtable Puddy (Patrick Warburton). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Purchasing the set of the old Merv Griffin Show, Kramer (Michael Richards) transforms his living room into a talk show -- but is it "Merv," or is it "Scandals and Animals?" (And yes, that's Wild Kingdom's Jim Fowler.) Meanwhile, Elaine (Julia Louis-Dreyfus) is plagued at work by a "sidler" who causes her to create a coffee stain in the shape of Fidel Castro. George (Jason Alexander) can't seem to drive anywhere without running over a cute little animal. And Jerry (Jerry Seinfeld) hopes to persuade his girlfriend to let him sample her rare toy collection. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide