Jon Lovitz Movies

In this comic send-up of dramas set in urban schools (such as Lean on Me and Dangerous Minds), Jon Lovitz plays Richard Clark, a teacher who is persuaded to give up his position at Wellington Academy, an upscale private school (where the receptionist cheerfully answers calls with the question "Are you white?"), to take over a class at Marion Barry High School in Inner City, U.S.A. Marion Barry High is a far cry from the ivory-tower atmosphere of Wellington; the statue in the courtyard holds a crack pipe, the Michigan Militia sets up a booth for career day, and there's so much violence on campus that the school has its own graveyard; however, Clark is determined to reach his thick-headed charges, and he hopes to also make an impression on Victoria Chappell (Tia Carrere), a beautiful woman also on the teaching staff. Clark does battle with Evelyn Doyle (Louise Fletcher), the school's militaristic principal, in an effort to raise standards for the school's star straight-C students, and he finds that he's getting through to one of the school's toughest students, Grig (Mekhi Phifer). Screenwriters Pat Proft and David Zucker helped create The Naked Gun and its follow-ups. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Boxing is more than just a sport -- it's also a business and a con game in this satirical comedy. Rev. Fred Sultan (Samuel L. Jackson) is a shrewd boxing promoter and manager whose meal ticket is heavyweight champion James "The Grim Reaper" Roper (Damon Wayans), a fighter whose skill and confidence significantly outstrips his intelligence. While the top-ranked contender for Roper's title is Marvin Shabazz (Michael Jace), Sultan isn't too keen on the idea of Shabazz fighting Roper -- it seems that both fighters are black, and Sultan's figures show that mixed race matches stir up a lot more media attention and pay-per-view customers. Eager to find a white challenger for Roper, Sultan digs up Terry Conklin (Peter Berg), who won a Golden Gloves fight against Roper many years ago but is now out of the game and fronting a rock band called Massive Head Wound. Thanks to a few bribes and a couple of fixed fights, Sultan is able to arrange for Conklin to be next in line to battle "The Grim Reaper." However, Conklin is taking his renewed career as a boxer quite seriously, while Roper, convinced that Conklin doesn't stand a chance, has let himself go and gained a lot of weight. Suddenly Sultan realizes that Roper might just lose the piece-of-cake fight he's so carefully arranged, while journalist Mitchell Kane (Jeff Goldblum) smells a rat in Conklin's sudden rise to ranking status. Jon Lovitz, Cheech Marin, and Corbin Bernsen highlight the supporting cast, while members of the well-regarded alternative rock band Local H appear as Massive Head Wound. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Three brothers who are inept criminals butcher one last attempt to pull off a big heist in this caper comedy. Bill Firpo (Nicolas Cage) is sick of thievery and has retired from crime to run an upscale restaurant in New York. But when his two brothers, Alvin (Dana Carvey) and Dave (Jon Lovitz), get out of prison, Bill is sucked back into their world of crime. The three end up on the run and hide out in the small town of Paradise, PA. The friendly townspeople include a bank president (Clifford Moffat) whose trust in people has left his bank an easy target. The brothers can't resist lifting $275,000 from the vault. Unfortunately, Alvin drives their getaway car in circles and they end up back in town and get in an accident. ~ Michael Betzold, All Movie Guide

A boy divorces his parents in this comic fantasy for the family. North (Elijah Wood) is the sort of kid most parents dream of -- he's bright, well-behaved, a good student, and a great baseball player. But North's Mom and Dad (Julia Louis-Dreyfus and Jason Alexander) are so busy with their lives and careers that they barely have time for him. A man dressed as the Easter Bunny (Bruce Willis) who serves as North's conscience and advisor suggests to him that if he's not happy with his parents, maybe he could do better elsewhere. North hires a lawyer, Arthur Belt (Jon Lovitz), who presents his case to Judge Buckle (Alan Arkin); the judge declares North a free agent, and he gives North two months to find new parents, otherwise he'll be sent to the orphans' home. North finds himself travelling the globe auditioning prospective parents, while a boy named Winchell (Matthew McCurley) thinks that North's legal victory could be the first step in kids taking over the world. North's would-be parents include Kathy Bates, Dan Aykroyd, Reba McIntire, and Kelly McGillis. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

"The Coneheads" were a sketch on the Saturday Night Live television show of the late '70s which were expanded to feature-length proportions with this film. The story concerns Beldar (Dan Aykroyd) and Prymaat (Jane Curtin), who leave the planet Remulak to prepare for an invasion of Planet Earth. But due to a malfunction, they find themselves plunged into the Hudson River and forced to take up residence in Paramus, New Jersey where Beldar gets work as an appliance salesman and makes a deal for a phony social security card. Before long, all thoughts of invading Earth are left behind as Beldar and Prymaat quickly adapt to suburban life -- except for their coneheads and metallic-sounding voices, they become a typical middle-class suburban family. The Coneheads have a child, Connie (Michelle Burke) and Beldar becomes a New York cab driver and starts up his own driving school. Connie grows into a teenager and a neighborhood boy, Ronnie (Chris Farley), develops a crush on her because he likes to rub her conehead. But a nefarious INS agent, Gorman Seedling (Michael McKean), and his toady assistant, Turnbull (David Spade), are hot on The Coneheads' trail because of Beldar's false social security card. Not only that, but the Remulakian Highmaster (Dave Thomas) is beginning to wonder what ever happened to Beldar's invasion of the third rock from the sun. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide

Arachnophobia rears its ugly head in the third episode of HBO's popular late-night talk show satire The Larry Sanders Show. With a spider-wrangler scheduled to appear on the upcoming show, Larry's (Garry Shandling) reluctance to gracefully accommodate his eight-legged guests finds him attempting to avoid the arachnids by arranging a skit with guest Carol Burnett. In addition to Burnett, this episode also features a guest appearance by popular comedic actor Jon Lovitz. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

Looking for something to break the monotony of her life as a housewife, Marge Simpson (voice of Julie Kavner) auditions for the Springfield Community Center's upcoming production of Streetcar! -- a musical adaptation of A Streetcar Named Desire. The director, melodramatic Llewllyn Sinclair (voice of Jon Lovitz), isn't impressed at first by Marge's audition, but after hearing her talk to Homer (voice of Dan Castellaneta), he's convinced she's just the woman to play Blanche DuBois opposite Ned Flanders (voice of Harry Shearer), who was cast because he looks better with his shirt off than anyone else who tried out. Homer doesn't think much of Marge's new interest in theater, and her anger at her husband gives her performance a keen emotional edge, but will this rift in their marriage prove irreparable? Meanwhile, since Marge is busy with rehearsals, she sends baby Maggie to a daycare center, the Ayn Rand School for Tots, where the staff is determined to keep the children away from their pacifiers; Maggie, however, isn't about to give it up without a fight. A Streetcar Named Marge first aired on October 1, 1992. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Just after the evil Emperor Spengo (Jon Lovitz) imprisons King Raff (Eric Idle), he spots a California housewife (Teri Garr) through his telescope. He decides to beam her up along with her husband (Jeffrey Jones), but isn't prepared to deal with the results when both become interplanetary freedom fighters. ~ John Bush, All Movie Guide

In this animated sequel to An American Tale, Fievel Mousekewitz strikes out from not-so-enthralling New York City in a wagon train headed West. Helping propel the departure is a crafty cat named Cat R. Waul who tells our Fievel that out West the cats and mice get along just fine. Once on the trail, Fievel finds that the cat's real plan is mice meat pie out of the little rodents, and Fievel tries his darndest to warn everyone, but to no avail. On his side, however, are a couple of friendly cats, including one named Tiger (voice: Dom Deluise) whose scattered one-liners will keep most audiences chuckling. Another wonderful character is the has-been sheriff Wylie Burp (voice: James Stewart). Although this film may be rightfully criticized as being a little too tame, even for toddlers, the endearing and humorous character side-play will likely appeal to most little ones, and very possibly some big people, too. ~ All Movie Guide

In the conclusion of a two-part episode, the Bundy family--minus Peg (Katey Sagal), who along with Ted McGinley (Jefferson D'Arcy), does not appear in this episode--heads to Hollywood, where Kelly (Christina Applegate) is to launch a major network version of her public-access TV show "Vital Social Issues 'N' Stuff with KELLY". Alas, the project all but dies aborning thanks to the well-meaning but ill-advised interference of network executives and censors (this is one of the few episodes in which Kelly's cleavage is NOT on display). Not surprisingly, inside jokes abound in this episode, ranging from the posters for various faux TV series adorning the walls of the network offices, to the name of the character played by Jon Lovitz (a delightfully nasty swipe at the then-head of NBC's entertainment division). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Businessman Larry Burrows (James Belushi) has a wife who ignores him, a screwball friend who won't leave him alone, and a car that continually breaks down. All that and more is enough to give him a mid-life crisis. After his car stalls once more, he enters a bar looking for help and encounters a bartender (Michael Caine) who shows him what his life would have been like, if he hadn't struck out in a baseball game back in high school. ~ John Bush, All Movie Guide

An astrophysicist falls in love with a beautiful woman who is actually a disguised extraterrestrial in this high-concept comedy. Dan Aykroyd plays Steven Mills, a dedicated and harmlessly odd scientist researching ways to send radio signals to deep space. Unbeknownst to him, one of his experiments works better than expected, attracting the attention of an alien in need of help. She travels to Earth and poses as a human, assuming the name Celeste and the body of Kim Basinger. Celeste's lack of knowledge about humanity causes her to act bizarrely at times, but her odd behavior unexpectedly causes Mills to fall in love with her. The confused Celeste decides to play along for her planet's sake, but she finds her plan threatened by Mills' teenage daughter Jessie (Alyson Hannigan), who has become suspicious of Celeste after witnessing some odd behavior. The culture clash between Celeste's planet and Earth serves as an excuse for broad slapstick and sitcom-style humor, such as Celeste's fumbling efforts to enact the human ritual of "kissing." ~ Judd Blaise, All Movie Guide