Julia Louis-Dreyfus Movies
Like other Saturday Night Live alumni, Julia Louis-Dreyfus made the move to feature films, but she achieved true stardom on TV as Seinfeld's inimitable Elaine Benes. Born to an affluent family and raised in Washington, D.C., Louis-Dreyfus studied theater at Northwestern University. Along with working as a member of The Practical Theater Company, Louis-Dreyfus cut her sharp comic teeth as part of Chicago's Second City troupe. She soon followed in the footsteps of prior Second City-ers John Belushi and Bill Murray, joining the cast of NBC's Saturday Night Live from 1982 to 1985 (along with Northwestern classmate and eventual husband Brad Hall). Louis-Dreyfus bounced to films with appearances in Soul Man (1986), Woody Allen's Hannah and Her Sisters (1986) and National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation (1989), before returning to TV on the second episode of a low-rated NBC primetime sitcom starring comedian Jerry Seinfeld in 1990.As Jerry's ex-girlfriend-turned-pal Elaine, Louis-Dreyfus proved that she could hold her own as the sole female member of Seinfeld's do-nothing quartet of neurotic New Yorkers. With her "big wall of hair," signature shoes and penchant for over-enthusiastic exclamations, Louis-Dreyfus' Elaine was no mere foil, but rather a full participant in the show's increasingly popular, irony-laden comic shenanigans. Along with winning an Emmy for Best Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series in 1996, Louis-Dreyfus won the Golden Globe in 1994 and the Screen Actor's Guild award in 1997 and 1998. During Seinfeld's phenomenally successful nine-year run, Louis-Dreyfus also played supporting roles in North (1994), Father's Day (1997), and as a libidinous sister in Woody Allen's Deconstructing Harry (1997). After Seinfeld went off the air in 1998, Dreyfus took some time off from appearing in front of the camera to spend time with her husband and two sons, but she did the voice of Princess Atta in the Pixar animated blockbuster A Bug's Life (1998).
Louis-Dreyfus subsequently returned to TV as the Blue Fairy in the TV movie musical Gepetto (2000) before attempting another sitcom. After two of her Seinfeld co-stars failed to make their own series fly in 2000 and 2001, Louis-Dreyfus opted for a non-traditional approach, playing a struggling lounge singer in the real time, laugh track free Watching Ellie in 2002. ~ Lucia Bozzola, All Movie Guide
After two "mini-seasons" of six and 12 episodes each, Seinfeld finally gets off the ground in season three, toting up a whole 23 episodes -- and are they beauties! Things get off to a rousing start with "The Note," in which Jerry (Jerry Seinfeld) prevails upon his dentist to commit insurance fraud on behalf of George (Jason Alexander) and Elaine (Julia Louis-Dreyfus). Next up is "The Truth," which poses the question: how much trouble can an ex-girlfriend who works for the IRS really be? A choice Seinfeld running gag is inaugurated in "The Pen" (the one that writes upside down, remember?). Other classic episodes include "The Parking Garage" (or "Four People in Search of Whatever"); "The Tape," which demonstrates how to talk dirty and influence people; "The Nose Job," which largely consists of a chess match with sexual undertones between Jerry's brain and his -- er -- other brain; "The Alternate Side," the one in which Kramer (Michael Richards) utters the immortal line, "These pretzels are making me thirsty"; "The Subway," the one with the fat naked man, the 600-dollar traffic fine, and the best man en route to the lesbian wedding; "The Pez Dispenser," which is all that and more; and the hour-long "The Boyfriend," which details Jerry's fateful encounter with ballplayer Keith Hernandez. And as a bonus, Murphy Brown (Candice Bergen) makes one of her rare non-Murphy Brown appearances (it makes sense in context). ~ All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jerry Seinfeld, Jason Alexander, (more)
- 1991
Quite a lot happens in the "show about nothing" during season two of Seinfeld -- even though only 12 episodes were produced. For starters, there's the opening episode, "The Ex-Girlfriend," the one in which Jerry (Jerry Seinfeld) doesn't want to get mixed up with the former girlfriend of George (Jason Alexander) -- except that she seems to have this "psychosexual" hold on him. Next up is the Emmy-nominated "The Pony Remark," said remark getting Jerry in a lot of trouble when the woman is most offended by it drops dead soon afterward. Veteran movie tough guy Lawrence Tierney makes his first (and only) appearance as the father of Elaine (Julia Louis-Dreyfus) in "The Jacket," with the title "character" causing Jerry a lot of grief when he turns it inside out on a snowy night. In other episodes, George tests the "man with the wedding band" theory while looking for girls in "The Apartment," which also offers the spectacle of Kramer (Michael Richards) with mousse in his hair; "The Revenge" consists of a potent drink slipped to George's ex-boss, not to mention Kramer's sabotage of a washing machine with a bag of cement; Elaine falls for a doctor who only has eyes for her tongue in "The Heart Attack" (a classic episode, complete with "Flaming Globes!"); George has "unequivocally the worst date" of his life in "The Baby Shower"; and in the season's finale episode, "The Busboy," the hero of the piece loses his cat and nearly his life thanks to "helpful" George. ~ All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jerry Seinfeld, Jason Alexander, (more)
- 1990
Before taking off and becoming one of the most popular and critically acclaimed sitcoms in the history of television, Seinfeld was just a little show about nothing, still struggling to find an audience. In its first season, viewers were introduced to the principal quartet of Jerry (Jerry Seinfeld), George (Jason Alexander), Elaine (Julia Louis-Dreyfus), and Kramer (Michael Richards), though the pilot episode had no Elaine character and Kramer was known as Kessler. Only five episodes long, the season was still able to establish such recurring gags as George's pseudonym, Art Vandelay, and Kramer's idea for a make-your-own pizza restaurant. ~ Matthew Tobey, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jerry Seinfeld, Jason Alexander, (more)
- 1989
- PG13
- Add National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation to QueueAdd National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation to top of Queue
Chevy Chase, star of National Lampoon's Vacation and its sequel, is back as the paterfamilias of the Griswold family (including Beverly D'Angelo as his missus) to skewer the Yuletide season. Chevy mugs, trips, falls, mashes his fingers and stubs his toes as he prepares to invite numerous dysfunctional relatives to his household to celebrate Christmas. Amidst the more outrageous sight gags (including the electrocution of a cat as the Christmas tree is lit) the film betrays a sentimental streak, with old wounds healing and long-estranged relatives reuniting in the Griswold living room. National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation was still capable of attracting an audience five years after its release: It was one of the top-rated seasonal TV specials of 1994, outrating even the first network telecast of It's a Wonderful Life. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Chevy Chase, Beverly D'Angelo, (more)
A Woody Allen Manhattan mosaic, Hannah and Her Sisters concerns the lives, loves, and infidelities among a tightly-knit artistic clan. Hannah (Mia Farrow) regularly meets with her sisters Holly (Dianne Wiest) and Lee (Barbara Hershey) to discuss the week's events. It's what they don't always tell each other that forms the film's various subplots. Hannah is married to accountant and financial planner Elliot (Michael Caine), who carries a torch for Lee, who in turn lives with pompous Soho artist Frederick (Max Von Sydow). Meanwhile, Holly, a neurotic actress and eternal loser in love, dates TV producer Mickey (Allen), who used to be married to Hannah and spends most of the film convinced that he's about to die. Appearing in supporting parts are Lloyd Nolan and Maureen O'Sullivan (Farrow's real mom), as the eternally bickering husband-and-wife acting team who are the parents of Hannah and her sisters. The film begins and ends during the family's traditional Thanksgiving dinner, filmed in Farrow's actual New York apartment. Unbilled cameos are contributed by Sam Waterston as one of Wiest's brief amours and Tony Roberts as one of Allen's friends. Hannah and Her Sisters collected Oscars for Michael Caine, Dianne Wiest, and Woody Allen's screenplay. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Woody Allen, Mia Farrow, (more)
An ambitious-but -spoiled rich white kid wins a scholarship to Harvard Law School by pretending to be African-American in this broadly-played comedy. After his father cuts him off financially, Mark Watson (C. Thomas Howell) wins a full tuition scholarship to Harvard by claiming to be African-American on the application form. With the help of his best friend Gordon (Arye Gross), Mark acquires some bronzing pills, a new hairdo, and a lowered voice. Disguised as a black student, Mark thinks that he's going to breeze through the program. The reality of being a minority at a mostly white institution quickly catches up to him, however, when he encounters some tacit racism and falls for Sarah Walker (Rae Dawn Chong), a fellow student whose affection makes him feel guilty about his ruse. Then there's the imperious Professor Banks (James Earl Jones), an African-American instructor who expects him to perform at a higher level than the other students. Soul Man was written by Carol Black and directed by Steve Miner, who would collaborate again for the popular television series The Wonder Years (1988-93). ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- C. Thomas Howell, Arye Gross, (more)
- 1985
- PG13
When a family moves into a San Francisco apartment, an opportunistic troll decides to make his move and take possession of little Wendy (Jenny Beck), thereby paving the way for new troll recruits, the first in his army that will take eventual control of the planet. As luck would have it, the building conveniently rests on a crease in the time-space continuum, so it isn't hard to open the door to trollworld, or whatever the troll would call it. But even the path to world domination begins with a single step, so the troll begins by disposing of each tenant with his pointy magical ring; each victim then turns into a fern (this may be the only existing film in which the late U.S. Representative Sonny Bono becomes a houseplant). Fortunately for the human race, the next door neighbor is a kindly old witch who has just the game plan to win back Wendy (now under the troll's influence as evidenced by her poor social skills and equally bad eating habits), vanquish the paranormal pest, and save the human race from imminent troll tyranny. The stage is then set for inevitable battle between the good witch and the evil troll for control of the world, but first she and the brave family must combat a twenty-foot tall ubertroll who looks akin to a Furby doll left in the sandbox over a long, hard Minnesota winter. ~ Jeremy Beday, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Noah Hathaway, Michael Moriarty, (more)
