Ron Livingston Movies
Ron Livingston first came to the attention of film audiences in 1996, when he portrayed one of Jon Favreau's Rat Pack-obsessed cronies in Swingers. Over the next few years, the actor began taking more and more leading roles, earning recognition and making a name for himself in the process. A graduate of Yale, where he received a B.A. in Theatre Studies and English Literature, Livingston began acting at the Williamstown Theatre Festival while in college. After graduation, he headed to Chicago, where he performed at the Goodman Theatre. Livingston made his film debut in the 1992 Dolly Parton comedy Straight Talk, and the following year he had a supporting role in the independent film Some Folks Call It a Sling Blade.After catching the eyes of audiences in the cult-hit Swingers, Livingston began to take on increasingly more prominent film roles. In 1999 he could be seen in no less than three films, beginning with the comedy Office Space, in which he had the starring role. While the film performed theatrically, it slowly gained an audience on home-video and was later regarded as a modern comedy classic.
In 2001, Livingston turned to the small screen, first in the Stephen Spielberg-produced miniseries Band of Brothers, then with a short-lived starring role on ABC's The Practice. He could be seen in theaters again in 2002, stealing scenes as a smarmy agent in the critically-acclaimed Adaptation and returned to television the following year, with a recurring role as one of Carrie's boyfriends on Sex and the City.
Livingston's next starring film role would come in 2004, when he played opposite Brittany Murphy in the romantic-comedy Little Black Book. ~ Rebecca Flint Marx, All Movie Guide
Dolly Parton and James Woods as the screen's hottest new romantic team? That's only one of several casting surprises in this romantic comedy. Shirlee Kenyon (Dolly Parton) has had enough of life in her small Arkansas town, not to mention her small-minded Arkansas boyfriend Steve (Michael Madsen). So she decides to head for the big city of Chicago, where she applies for a job as a receptionist at a talk radio station. However, she arrives at the studios just as the staff are frantically searching for the psychiatrist hired to host a call-in show for people seeking advice with their personal problems. Shirlee is put on the air by mistake, and, while she lacks a degree in psychology, she has common sense to spare, and her no-nonsense advice makes the show a hit. Soon "Doctor Shirlee" is the talk of the town, but reporter Jack Russell (James Woods) senses that she might not be all she's supposed to be. Jack does some investigating and finds out the truth about Shirlee, but by this time the two have met and he's fallen in love with her. Will Jack obey his responsibilities as a journalist, or follow his heart? Straight Talk's supporting cast includes filmmaker John Sayles, monologist Spalding Gray, actor and producer Griffin Dunne, and future Lois Lane Teri Hatcher. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Dolly Parton, James Woods, (more)
In this drama set in Los Angeles, a group of Yale graduates spend their days as mindless workers at a mundane job and their nights as mooching barflies who enjoy cutting down other patrons with their smart-mouth comments. The main character John loses his roommate and must move into the filthy apartment of Andy, a strange sort who collects and paints Nazi soldier figurines. John later gets a temporary job with a conniving slum lord. Following a failed romance, John suffers a "controlled mental breakdown." ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Rory Cochrane, Kyra Sedgwick, (more)
A knowing examination of the psyche of the modern American male, Doug Liman's debut comedy Swingers stars screenwriter Jon Favreau as the sensitive Mike, a struggling actor and stand-up comic looking for romance in the wake of the dissolution of a six-year relationship. Against his better judgment, he hits the town with his pal Trent (Vince Vaughn, in a star-making performance), a retro-hip smooth-talker who calls women "babies" and feels compelled to illustrate to Mike the error of his gentlemanly ways. First in Las Vegas and later in a series of hip L.A. nightspots, the duo and their other pals, including a guy named Sue (Patrick Van Horn), prowl for women, looking for kicks and cheap thrills. The difference is that while Trent wants sex, Mike wants love and romance. Only when he learns to simply be himself does he find what he's looking for. ~ Jason Ankeny, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jon Favreau, Vince Vaughn, (more)
A group of teenagers telling ghost stories while stranded in the middle of nowhere sets the scene for this collection of horror tales. A girl is terrorized by a psycho she "met" on the internet, a biker makes the mistake of visiting a haunted farmhouse, and some folks in an RV finds monsters along the highway. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- 1998
In Queens, obnoxious and bombastic blue-collar slob Mike (stand-up comic Gerry Red Wilson) gets his kicks from football, cold beers, and spousal abuse with his cute wife Patty (Kellie Overbey). In the premiere episode of this sitcom, Mike is elated by a promotion at the supermarket to "head of the meat department." The fun is short-lived as household tensions erupt when Patty's snobbish sis Catherine (Nadia Dajani) is ditched by her husband and needs a place to stay. Mike already hates her, but this interferes with his plans for the spare room. Variety reviewed this as "an uncomfortably crude...oddly politically incorrect sick-com" from former Roseanne producer Eric Gilliland. It premiered March 10, 1998 on ABC. ~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Gerry Red Wilson, Kellie Overbey, (more)
After a long lonely period of involuntary celibacy, Marty Sachs decides that he has had enough of New York and wants to pack up and run the family business in Maine. Yet before he leaves, he meets two available, attractive women, both named Nina. Nina Cohen shares many of the same eccentric interests as Marty, but she has grow gun-shy from one too many bad relationships. Blonde bombshell Nina Harris literally knocks Marty off his feet in an ill-fated attempt at snagging a cab. Two Ninas was screened at the 1999 Boston Film Festival. ~ Jonathan Crow, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Cara Buono, Amanda Peet, (more)
An unproduced screenplay written by the late Orson Welles (penned in collaboration with actress Oja Kodar, Welles' significant other in his later years) forms the basis of this drama of political gamesmanship and blackmail. Blake Pellarin (William Hurt) is running for governor of Missouri in a close race going into its final week when a figure from his past reappears. Kim Mennaker (Nigel Hawthorne) was Pellarin's one-time mentor and father figure (after Blake's dad died in the Korean war) who left the United States when public disclosure of his homosexuality ended his political career. This visit from an old friend soon proves less then welcome; when Pellarin was a teenager, he participated in a photo session organized by Mennaker in which he was snapped in sexually compromising positions with both a woman and a man. These photos could put a stake through the heart of Pellarin's life in politics, and Mennaker soon makes clear this is hardly the only dirt he has on Blake. Mennaker also has a ready audience for his stories -- Cela Brandini (Irene Jacob), a European reporter looking for scandal, even though she's having an affair with Pellarin. When Pellarin's wife (Miranda Richardson) and bodyguard (Ewan Stewart) get wind of Blake's indiscretions, his candidacy becomes a disaster waiting to happen. Director George Hickenlooper adapted Welles and Kodar's screenplay with critic F.X. Feeney; among his previous credits, Hickenlooper directed the short film Some Folks Call It A Sling Blade, a short film later expanded by Billy Bob Thornton into his award-winning feature Sling Blade. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- William Hurt, Nigel Hawthorne, (more)
Peter Gibbons (Ron Livingston) is a computer programmer working for Initech in Houston. Every day, he and his friends Samir (Ajay Naidu) and Michael Bolton (David Herman as not THAT Michael Bolton), suffer endless indignities and humiliations in their soulless workspace from their soulless boss, Bill Lumbergh (Gary Cole). For Peter, stuck in his cookie-cutter apartment with paper-thin walls and IKEA furniture, every day is worse than the one before it -- so every day is the worst of his life. To cap it off, Initech has hired a pair of "efficiency experts" to downsize the company. One Friday night, Peter's soon to be ex-girlfriend Anne (Alexandra Wentworth) forces him to go to an occupational hypnotherapist to relieve work stress. While Peter is under hypnosis, the therapist keels over and dies. As he never snaps out of his hypnotic state, Peter has a new outlook on life. If something annoys him, he just ignores it or walks away from it. He is completely relaxed and enjoying life for the first time in a long time. On Monday, Peter skips work and sleeps in. He gets up for lunch and drives down to a restaurant next to his office and asks the waitress he's had a crush on, Joanna (Jennifer Aniston), on a date. When Peter stops into the office to pick up his organizer, he's called in to talk to the efficiency experts. Relaxed and friendly, Peter charms them as he describes everything wrong with the office, including his boss. Even as Peter now appears at work only as the mood strikes him, the experts decide he's management material and give him a promotion even as they lay off the hardworking Samir and Michael. Peter then convinces his friends to exact revenge on Initech based upon an idea from Superman III. Not everything works out quite as planned. Office Space originated from writer/director Mike Judge's first animated short of the same name, created in 1991. The short was about Milton (reproduced in the film by Stephen Root), a damaged office drone whose complaints and threats about his sufferings go unheeded. ~ Ron Wells, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ron Livingston, Jennifer Aniston, (more)
After making his directorial debut with the acclaimed made-for-cable movie Gia, writer Michael Cristofer helmed his first big-screen offering with this drama. When eight men and women in their early-to-mid-20s head out for a night on the town, hopping from one Los Angeles club to the next, not everything goes as planned as they discover the joys and perils of dating at the end of the 20th Century. Body Shots shifts among the perspectives of its eight characters, played by Sean Patrick Flanery, Ron Livingston, Jerry O'Connell, Amanda Peet, Emily Procter, Tara Reid, Brad Rowe, and Sybil Temchen. The film had a number of titles during production, including The Night Before and Jello Shots, the latter of which was reportedly axed to avoid legal problems with the company that makes the gelatin dessert product. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Sean Patrick Flanery, Jerry O'Connell, (more)
William S. Burroughs' ill-fated performance of his "William Tell act" -- resulting in his wife Joan Vollmer getting a bullet in the brain with a shot glass atop her head -- soon became the stuff of Beat legend. This film, directed by Gary Walkow, traces this doomed romance from its inception to its bloody end. The movie opens in 1944 New York, where Columbia journalism student Vollmer is already living a bohemian life filled with pharmaceuticals and a host of future beatniks, including hunky Jack Kerouac (Daniel Martinez), a young Allen Ginsberg (Ron Livingston), and of course, Burroughs (Kiefer Sutherland). Also frequenting Vollmer's pad is Lucien Carr (Norman Reedus) whom everyone is enamored with, especially Dave Kammerer (Kyle Secor), who winds up dead after trying to jump the object of his affection. Seven years later, Joan and William have married in spite of Burroughs' obvious homosexual predilections. Their domestic bliss is strained when the two have to flee to Mexico City after they get slapped with a drug rap. Ginsberg and Carr, now correspondents for the UPI, visit the couple only to discover that Burroughs split town with his lover-for-hire. Vollmer and the boys decide to go on a road trip that is brimming with heterosexual tension. William eventually returns from his sex-binge suspecting that Joan had a fling with Carr. During that fateful night, Burroughs pulls out a gun that he was going to sell for drug money and performs one of the most spectacularly botched party-tricks in literary history. This film was screened at the 2000 Sundance Film Festival. ~ Jonathan Crow, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Courtney Love, Norman Reedus, (more)
Twelve-year-old James (Trevor Morgan) is haunted by the car crash that claimed his mother's life two years earlier. Estranged from his father (Ray Liotta) and nurturing a deep hatred of his stepmother (Catherine McCormack), James is none too pleased about the prospect of spending his summer vacation at their Maine beach house. With no one his own age for company, he spends his time exploring the surrounding beaches. One day, while playing in the dunes, James accidentally breaks a fence belonging to Maddy Bennett (Vanessa Redgrave), a cranky old woman with a reputation for loony behavior. James embarks on a mission to fix the fence, and as he works, he and Maddy form a deep friendship. But when the boy's family learns of the friendship, they wrongfully blame Maddy for their own problems, prompting Maddy to react in a manner that profoundly affects the entire family. ~ Rebecca Flint Marx, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Vanessa Redgrave, Ray Liotta, (more)
- 2001
In the tenth and final episode of HBO's critically acclaimed WWII miniseries Band of Brothers, Easy Company enters the Bavarian town of Berchtesgaden, once home to Hitler's top officers. They find the town deserted and rush on to capture Hitler's famed "Eagle's Nest" before the French can get there. Here they learn of the German army's surrender. Amid the celebrations, Winters (Damian Lewis) brings his alcoholic friend Nixon (Ron Livingston) to Herman Goring's house, where he presents a "gift" of Goring's impressive liquor collection. The company moves on to Austria, where they learn that those without enough "points," awarded for combat experience, will be sent to fight in the Pacific. Despite all that they've been through, few of the men are eligible to go home. Winters and Nixon request an immediate transfer to a unit that is going to the Pacific, but they are denied. "I think your men have earned the right to keep you around," the commander tells Winters. Winters continues to work to keep the men of his company out of harm's way. Meanwhile, the troops are restless. Liebgott (Ross McCall) takes Webster (Eion Bailey) to the home of a man he believes was a labor camp commandant. Despite Webster's concern about Liebgott's lack of proof, when the man tries to escape, he is killed. As the occupation of Zell Am See, Austria continues, one member of the company is killed in a car accident and another is shot in the head by a drunken soldier from another company. As Winters explains in his narration, "They didn't have the points. What they did have were weapons, alcohol, and too much time on their hands." But the series ends with the happy news that the Japanese have surrendered, and the surviving men of Easy Company can return home. ~ Josh Ralske, All Movie Guide
Executive produced by Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks for HBO, Band of Brothers is a ten-part miniseries based on the book Band of Brothers: E Company, 506th Regiment, 101st Airborne From Normandy to Hitler's Eagle's Nest by Stephen E. Ambrose. The series dramatically re-creates the path of Easy Company, an elite paratrooper unit, from their basic training at Camp Toccoa in Georgia in 1942, to D-Day, to their critical involvement in the Battle of the Bulge, through their triumph at the close of the war. The unit was one of the best trained and most productive in American military history, but it also suffered immense casualties. The series is an ensemble piece, involving dozens of characters, and cast with relative unknowns. To the extent that there is a central character, it is Dick Winters (Damian Lewis), who went to Toccoa as a lieutenant and was promoted, over the course of the war, to battalion commander. Each episode includes brief excerpts from present-day interviews with some of the surviving members of the company. While the series is not a hagiography, Winters is depicted as a brave, resourceful, and humane leader. It's clear that the men revered him, and that he genuinely respected and cared about them. There are a few other members of the unit that make a strong impression. Sobel (David Schwimmer of Friends), their C.O. at Toccoa, is depicted as a petty tyrant whose men bond together in their hatred of him. Nixon (Ron Livingston of Office Space) is Winters' fellow officer and best friend, and an alcoholic. Carwood Lipton (Donnie Wahlberg) is a decent, hard-working man, and a tremendous soldier who earns a battlefield commission for his exemplary leadership. Bill Guarnere (Frank John Hughes) fears nothing, and is known for his wise-guy attitude and hot temper. The series dramatizes the courage and fortitude of many others, but it's clear that Winters sets the tone for his men, and plays a pivotal role in the unit's success. The project involved several screenwriters, including Graham Yost (Speed) and E. Max Frye (Something Wild). Eight different directors were called upon for the ten installments, including Hanks, David Frankel (Miami Rhapsody), Mikael Salomon (Hard Rain), and Phil Alden Robinson (Field of Dreams). Still, the tone and style of the series remains fairly consistent. While the story of Easy Company has been condensed and altered in some minor ways for dramatic purposes, and much of the dialogue was, by necessity, invented, the producers placed a strong emphasis on accurately depicting the conditions under which these men lived, fought, and died. Several survivors from the company consulted on the project, and an enormous amount of money was spent on sets, costumes, and special effects in order to re-create their experience. ~ Josh Ralske, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Damian Lewis, Donnie Wahlberg, (more)
After five years of dating, David (Jerry O'Connell) gets what he feels is an ultimatum from his girlfriend, Sarah (Bridgette Wilson). She thinks they should get married. When his old buddy, Tyler (Ron Livingston of Swingers), a legendary womanizer, calls to announce his wedding plans, it only increases the pressure on David. When Sarah leaves town on a business trip, David has a chance to explore his options. He turns to his friends, Jonesey (Bill Bellamy), and the unrepentant lothario Michael (Ryan Reynolds, who also starred in director Walt Becker's National Lampoon's Van Wilder) for advice. Jonesey half-heartedly encourages David to marry Sarah. Michael, who treats women shabbily, tries to talk David out of it. David tells his friends about an epiphany that he had many years earlier, when he saw beautiful blond Julie (Erinn Bartlett) in an airport, and was instantly smitten. He knew she was the one. He courageously handed the strange girl his phone number, and a brief romantic correspondence ensued, but it ended disastrously. Uncertain about his destiny with Sarah, David spots another woman at a Mexican restaurant, and has the same feeling he had with Julie. He spends a lot of time and effort trying to track this mystery woman down, while Sarah, frustrated by their lack of progress, considers ending their relationship. Michael, meanwhile, has a real identity crisis, when he wakes up in a strange bed after a night of drinking, drugs, and debauchery, only to find a gay man in the bedroom with him. Buying the Cow also stars Alyssa Milano, Annabeth Gish, and Jon Tenney. The film was co-written by director Becker and Peter W. Nelson. ~ Josh Ralske, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jerry O'Connell, Bridgette Wilson, (more)
The creative team behind Being John Malkovich -- director Spike Jonze and screenwriter Charlie Kaufman -- return with this equally offbeat comedy, in which Kaufman himself becomes the leading character. Charlie Kaufman (Nicolas Cage) is a gifted but profoundly neurotic screenwriter who, after the success of Being John Malkovich, has been hired to write a script adapted from the nonfiction book The Orchid Thief by Susan Orlean. But while Charlie is obsessive about his work, he's also intensely paranoid, given to deep depression, socially inept, and terrified of talking to women, qualities which are making it difficult to get on with his work or hold on to his tenuous relationship with girlfriend Amelia (Cara Seymour). Meanwhile, Charlie's identical twin brother, Donald Kaufman (also played by Cage), has shown up to move in with his brother. Emotionally, Donald is Charlie's polar opposite -- a loudmouthed, over-confident, superficial party animal who has an easy way with the ladies. Donald has decided to follow his brother's footsteps and take up screenwriting as well, but embracing the dictates of screenwriting tutor Robert McKee (Brian Cox), he's cranking out a cliché-ridden serial-killer thriller when not busy making time with new girlfriend Caroline (Maggie Gyllenhaal). As Donald blazes through his screenplay, Charlie slowly picks away at his story, in which author Susan Orlean (Meryl Streep) chronicles John Laroche (Chris Cooper), a scruffy but devoted plant enthusiast who tries to save rare species of orchids by stealing them from their natural home in the swamps of Florida. As John and Susan become better acquainted, they find themselves attracted to one another; similarly, Charlie finds himself increasingly fascinated with Susan, and finds himself falling in love with her, even though he's only seen her photo on the dust jacket of her book. Charlie arranges to meet Susan, but is too nervous to confront her face to face, so he sends Donald (who has just scored a seven-figure deal for his script) in his place, while he attends a screenwriting seminar held by McKee. Adaptation also features Tilda Swinton, Judy Greer, and Stephen Tobolowsky. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Nicolas Cage, Meryl Streep, (more)
Writer/director Wayne Kramer offers a glimpse into the aging Las Vegas casino world with the romantic drama The Cooler. Bernie Lootz (William H. Macy) is extremely unlucky at gambling, and he owes the Shangri-La casino over 100,000 dollars. He is so unlucky that he is hired as a "cooler," someone to gamble next to high rollers and give them some of his bad luck to stop them from winning. This arrangement works out for awhile, until Bernie has almost paid off his debt and meets cocktail waitress Natalie Belisario (Maria Bello). The two start to fall in love and Bernie's luck begins to change. However, the old-fashioned mob boss Shelly Kaplow (Alec Baldwin) isn't going to let Bernie go so easily. Meanwhile, Larry Sokolov (Ron Livingston) arrives on the scene to help update the business management of the old mobster-run casino. Also starring Joey Fatone and Paul Sorvino as lounge singers. The Cooler was nominated for the Grand Jury Prize in the dramatic competition at the 2003 Sundance Film Festival. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- William H. Macy, Maria Bello, (more)
Touted as something of a return-to-form for Re-Animator director Stuart Gordon, King of the Ants offers the brutal tale of a man discovering his previously untapped potential for violence. Despite the fact that his future seems relatively undefined, young drifter Sean Crawley (Chris McKenna) is an easygoing guy who makes a meager living by painting houses. When electrician Duke Wayne (George Wendt) suggests that the naïve young painter could make more money if he could expand his horizons, an eager Sean takes him up on the offer and Duke introduces Sean to local construction magnate Ray Mathews (Daniel Baldwin). Ray quickly enlists Sean's assistance in trailing a local city accountant whose number crunching is beginning to make the crooked construction heavy uncomfortable, and it's not long before Ray asks Sean to carry out a hit on the overzealous accountant. Although Ray and Duke subsequently attempt to distance themselves from the crime, Sean's attempt to collect on the hit results in a brutal attempt on the amateur hit man's life. Though he is beaten to within inches of death, Sean makes an unexpectedly speedy recovery fueled by an unquenchable thirst for revenge. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Chris L. McKenna, Kari Wuhrer, (more)
- 2003
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On February 28, 1997, a pair of heavily armed and heavily armored outlaws named Larry Eugene Phillips Jr. and Emil Matasarenu, who had previously cut a crooked swath throughout the Los Angeles area as "The High Incident Bandits," botched the robbery of a bank in North Hollywood. The confrontation that followed has been described as the "most intense shootout in LAPD history," with the police and several SWAT teams trading gunfire with Phillips and Matareanu for three quarters of an hour. The made-for-cable 44 Minutes: The North Hollywood Shootout is an intense reenactment of this bloody incident, with Andrew Bryniarski and Oleg Taktarov as the bandits, and Michael Madsen, Ron Livingston, and Mario Van Peebles representing the forces of law and order. The final moments of the film includes on-the-spot video coverage of the actual incident. 44 Minutes: The North Hollywood Shootout originally aired over the FX network on June 1, 2003. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Michael Madsen, Ron Livingston, (more)
Directed by Nick Hurran, Little Black Book follows Stacy (Brittany Murphy), an associate producer of a popular daytime talk show starring Kippie Kann (Kathy Bates), as she tries to figure out the root of her boyfriend's (Ron Livingston) commitment-phobic nature. Rather than continue to fruitlessly question Derek (Livingston) regarding his slew of failed relationships, Stacy sneaks into his Palm Pilot and begins interviewing his ex-girlfriends under the pretense of gathering information for a future show. Though she justifies the deception with her need to find out whether or not Derek can be trusted for a long-term relationship, complications arise when Stacy becomes good friends with one of Derek's former flames. Holly Hunter makes an appearance as Stacy's boss (the show's senior associate producer), while Josie Maran, Julianne Nicholson, Rashida Jones, Sharon Lawrence, and Bush frontman Gavin Rossdale are featured in supporting roles. ~ Tracie Cooper, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Brittany Murphy, Holly Hunter, (more)
A family struggles to come to terms with changes after a death in the family in this independent drama. Jim Winters (Anthony LaPaglia) is a widower living in suburban New Jersey with his two teenage sons, Gabe (Aaron Stanford) and Pete (Mark Webber). Pete, the younger of the siblings, has a hearing problem that has made school difficult for him; consequently, he has lost interest in his education and spends most of his time goofing off. Gabe is smarter and more ambitious, and has a stable relationship with his girlfriend, Stacey (Michelle Monaghan), but is beginning to chafe at the limitations of small-town life. And five years after his wife's death, Jim still hasn't been able to pick up and start his life over again. When Gabe announces he's decided to move to Florida, it has differing effects on those around him -- Stacey, hurt and confused, begins to withdraw; Pete strikes up a friendship with one of his teachers (Ron Livingston); and Jim struggles to work up the nerve to talk to his new neighbor, Molly Ripkin (Allison Janney. Winter Solstice was the first feature film from writer and director Josh Sternfeld; it won enthusiastic notices following its screenings at the 2004 Tribeca Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Anthony LaPaglia, Aaron Stanford, (more)
- 2005
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This feature-length story from the cult-hit animated series The Family Guy follows the pint-sized evil genius Stewie as he searches his true family. Along the way, the diaper-clad mental giant encounters a series of adventures and discovers much about his family heritage. Featuring voice performances by Drew Barrymore and Ron Livingston, Family Guy Presents Stewie Griffin: The Untold Story screened at the 2005 Just For Laughs Festival in Montreal before being released straight to DVD. ~ Matthew Tobey, All Movie Guide
One of the "popular girls" decides to put her mean streak to work in this black comedy. Kimberly Joyce (Evan Rachel Wood) is an outwardly friendly but inwardly cold and manipulative teenager who attends an exclusive private school in Beverly Hills when she's not making fun of her twentysomething stepmother (Jaime King) or listening to her business mogul father (James Woods) rant about the many people he hates. Kimberly's best friend is Brittany (Elisabeth Harnois), who doesn't seem to notice that Kimberly holds a bit of a grudge over the fact Brittany is now dating Troy (Stark Sands), Kimberly's former boyfriend. When Randa (Adi Schnall), an exchange student from the Middle East, arrives at school, Kimberly is asked to show her around, and soon she's giving her the inside scoop on the school's social hierarchy. Kimberly, Brittany, and Randa, like most of the girls at school, don't much care for Mr. Anderson (Ron Livingston), a teacher who doesn't make much of a secret of his lust for the female student body, though he doesn't do much besides look. Kimberly decides to do something about Mr. Anderson by fabricating a story that he has had inappropriate contact with her, Brittany, and Randa, and it doesn't take long for the matter to become a local scandal, though it does end up backfiring on Kimberly in time. Pretty Persuasion also features supporting performances from Selma Blair, Jane Krakowski, and Michael Hitchcock. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Evan Rachel Wood, Ron Livingston, (more)
- 2005
House (Hugh Laurie) has a hard time hiding his disdain for humanitarian doctor Sebastian Charles (Ron Livingston) as he treats the man for a possible case of TB. Already a worldwide celebrity, Charles wins even more admirers when he refuses to take medicine as an act of protest against the appalling medical conditions in the Third World--a noble gesture that makes House despise Charles all the more! Somehow or other, this situation spills over into the relationship between House and Cameron (Jennifer Morriason). Meanwhile, Foreman (Omar Epps) manages to insult patient Cecilia Carter (Andrea Bendewald)--but Cuddy (Lisa Edelstein) holds House responsible. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
