Joe Mantegna Movies

A notoriously gullible detective becomes the number one suspect in the murder of a tabloid reporter after accepting the task of protecting a once-famous celebrity who faked his death to escape the public eye in director Peter Ettinger's quirky adaptation of Steve Brewer's popular series of novels. The grandson of the only known fatality brought on by the 1939 radio broadcast of War of the Worlds, Bubba Mabry (Jay Mohr) comes from a lone line of painfully gullible descendents - and he's determined not to live down to the family reputation. Operating from the seedy confines of a criminal-infested Route 66 Motor Inn, Bubba finds that few of Albuquerque's skeptical locals are willing to enlist the aid of a detective of such credulous origins. When a man named J.G. (Mike Star) shows up covered in gold jewelry and approaches Bubba about protecting a recently-arrived celebrity from an overzealous fan, the struggling detective sees his latest mission is an easy way to make a quick buck. Upon discovering that his latest client is none other than the Elvis Presley, and that the "fan" is actually a tabloid reporter looking to break the story that The King is still around, however, the once-simple case begins to grow increasingly complex. As if things weren't strange enough already, the body of the reporter has been discovered dead in a motel room and Elvis and J.G. have skipped town, leaving Bubba the prime suspect in the strange murder. Now, in order to crack the case and stay out of prison, Bubba is going to have to stay one-step ahead of tireless female reporters Felicia Quattlebaum (Lindsay Price) and Bambi Gamble (Nikki Cox) as he seeks out a suspicious local concert promoter and get to the source of a lucrative blackmail scheme aimed at blowing the lid off of The King's long-running ruse. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

When a small-town sheriff (Larry the Cable Guy) witnesses what he believes to be an attempted kidnapping, his effort to save the beautiful damsel in distress sets him down a wild path of comic mishap. Eric Roberts, Yaphet Kotto, Peter Stormare, and Joe Mantegna co-star in a comedy from Red Water and Christmas Rush director Charles Robert Carner. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

Tim Allen and Chiwetel Ejiofor co-star in writer/director David Mamet's martial arts drama Redbelt. Ejiofor plays Mike Terry, a jujitsu master who co-runs a very modest martial arts studio in Los Angeles with his bossy wife, Sondra (Alice Braga). Mike demonstrates an unwavering commitment to his craft and draws a cadre of defiantly loyal pupils including Joe (Max Martini), an LAPD cop. All told, it appears that he has chosen a peaceful and conflict-free path in life. The dedicated martial artist's fate takes an unanticipated turn, however, one evening when a young woman named Laura (Emily Mortimer) bursts into the academy in a state of near hysteria, and reaches for a policeman's gun when he tries to restrain her. One thing leads to another, and before long, Laura is regularly receiving martial arts lessons from Mike. As master begins to teach pupil and his martial arts philosophies emerge, his path also crisscrosses with that of a Hollywood movie star, Chet Frank (Tim Allen), when he saves the fellow from a beating at a local club and gets invited (along with Sondra) to Chet's house for dinner. Chet extends gestures of friendship, and Mike's guard breaks down; he speaks openly and candidly of a special martial arts method he employs that requires one of the participants to "assume a handicap." In time, the association with Chet leads to involvement in the motion-picture industry, and relations with a bevy of characters who aren't exactly what they seem -- including a pay-per-view fight mogul (Ricky Jay) and Chet's slimy and manipulative manager (Joe Mantegna). ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

Based on the 2005 bestselling novel by Gigi Levangie Grazer, the six-part miniseries The Starter Wife starred former Will & Grace leading lady Debra Messing as Molly Kagan, an archetypal "Hollywood wife" who for ten years had enjoyed the perks and privileges of being married to powerful studio executive Kenny Kagan (Peter Jacobson). All of this changed drastically when Kenny dumped his spouse for a much-younger pop singer named Shoshanna (Trilby Glover), adding insult to injury by informing Molly that their marriage was through via cell-phone. Having carefully timed the breakup to coincide with the expiration of the couple's pre-nuptual agreement, Kenny was able to escape without providing Molly with a huge monetary settlement, leaving our benumbed heroine high and dry. Also, Molly was now "persona non grata" in her Brentwood community, with many old doors (especially those on stores and restaurants) being literally closed in her face, and such fair-weather friends as Cricket Stewart (Miranda Otto) and Joan McAllister (wonderfully played as a self-hating lush by Judy Lewis) conspicuously unavailable. Vowing to start life anew for the sake of herself and her teenaged daughter, Molly relocated to Malibu, where she found a new best friend in the form of airheaded Malibu gate guard Lavender Caraway (Arika Noni Rose). She also entered into a brace of tempestuous relationships with aging, moody movie producer Lou Manahan (Joe Mantegna) and handsome but untrustworthy beachcomber Sam Knight (Stephen Moyer). All of the episodes were scripted by Josann McGibbon and Sara Parriott and directed by Jon Avnet--and curiously, all were filmed in Australia rather than "La-la Land". Making its USA Network debut on May 31, 2007 with a two-hour episode, The Starter Wife ran on a weekly, hourly basis until June 28 of that year. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Two recent college graduates hatch an ingenuous scheme to increase their income while having a bit of naughty fun on the side in this sexy comedy that proves just how wild lonely housewives can be when left unattended. For Spence and Hogan, the carefree days of college come crashing to an end when they are forced to go to work for a group of heartless divorce lawyers who seem to take great joy in tormenting the dejected young slackers. Subsequently presented the opportunity to start a club in which older women can discreetly experience the joys of being with a younger man, these two put-upon legal workers set about rounding up a group of their most libidinous young men to launch a successful start-up business that thrives on pleasure. Faye Dunaway, Carrie Fisher, Izabella Scorupco, and Joanie Lauer star in a scorching age-disparity comedy from cinematographer and special effects artist-turned-director Christopher Duddy. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

Joe Montegna and Danielle De Luca headline Ratz director Thom Erberhardt's thriller about a frightened stripper forced into a deadly game of human survival. Diana (De Luca) was attempting to start a new life in Santa Paula, New Mexico when she made a disturbing discovery: the strippers in this small southwestern town have been disappearing in droves, the victims of an elusive kidnapper. Before Diana can make sense of the crimes, she becomes the latest stripper to vanish from Santa Paula without a trace. Dropped off in the middle of the desert naked and defenseless, Diana finds herself the human target of a depraved hunter. If she can only find a means to turning the tables on her pursuer and somehow gaining the upper hand, perhaps Diana can give him a deadly dose of his own sadistic medicine. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

A small-town beauty queen and an unlicensed mortician set out across the Texas plains on a journey of self-discovery in director Will Geiger's meditative road movie. Annabelle has never known what life is like outside the fiercely competitive world of beauty pageants; her mother's constant demands of physical perfection a never-ending stream of acute, soul-crushing criticism. Elvis doesn't have his mortician's license, but that doesn't stop his eccentric father from putting him to work in the family mortuary. When the sting of her mother's words becomes too painful to endure, Annabelle flees to the town mortuary knowing that is the last place her mother would come looking for her. When Elvis discovers the beautiful Annabelle cowering among the corpses, he sweeps her away on an impromptu road trip so that the pair may free themselves from their daily drudgery long enough to discover their own identities and realize what they really want out of life. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

A washed-up actor finds an unlikely path back to the big screen in this offbeat family comedy. Bill Williams (Tom Arnold) is an actor whose career has gone into a severe tailspin ever since his brief fling with fame -- a supporting role in the Arnold Schwarzenegger vehicle True Lies. Sinking into a well of alcohol and depression, Williams unsuccessfully attempts suicide before his agent (Henry Winkler) tells him he's finally found a project for him. Aaron Roman (Eric Gores) is a teenager with cerebral palsy who loves action movies, especially True Lies. Aaron's father, Davis Roman (Joe Mantegna), is a very wealthy man -- so wealthy that, as a present for his son's 18th birthday, he's going to bankroll a professionally shot action movie which will star Aaron. Would Williams be willing to write and co-star in Aaron's birthday movie? Williams isn't so sure this is a great idea, even with a million-dollar payday, until he meets Aaron. Charmed by the kid's pluck and determination, Williams signs on for the world's most expensive home movie. Williams and producer Susan Mandeville (Linda Hamilton) hire Wayne's World director Penelope Spheeris to helm the project, and persuade bikini model Arielle Kebbel to appear as Aaron's love interest, but what started out as strictly a job-for-hire becomes something more as Williams and his fellow cast and crew members get to know their challenged young star. The Kid & I actually was written by co-star Tom Arnold, and Penelope Spheeris directed the film as well as playing herself. Arnold Schwarzenegger, Jamie Lee Curtis, and Shaquille O'Neal also appear in cameo roles. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Filmmaker Rodrigo García takes an unusual look into the lives of nine different women in this episodic drama. Each of the film's nine sequences has been staged as a single shot, using the Steadicam system to allow the camera to follow the action fluidly and without cuts. In these short episodes (lasting between ten and 14 minutes), Holly (Lisa Gay Hamilton) has a brief moment of reverie while confronting the specters of her past in her old neighborhood. Maggie (Glenn Close) escorts her young daughter Maria (Dakota Fanning) to a cemetery as they visit the graves of their family members. Ruth (Sissy Spacek) is a married woman contemplating an affair while visiting Henry (Aidan Quinn) in his hotel room. Diana (Robin Wright Penn) unexpectedly runs into an old boyfriend, Damian (Jason Isaacs), while shopping for groceries. Camilla (Kathy Baker) is a hospital patient awaiting surgery for cancer. Samantha (Amanda Seyfried) is a teenage girl who helps look after her handicapped father Larry (Ian McShane). Sandra (Elpidia Carrillo) is a female prison inmate who is expecting a visit from her children. Sonia (Holly Hunter) lashes out at her boyfriend Martin (Stephen Dillane) when she finds out he's been cheating on her. And Lorna (Amy Brenneman) has an unexpectedly moving encounter with her ex-husband Andrew (William Fichtner) as she pays her respects to his second wife, who has just passed away. Nine Lives premiered at the 2005 Sundance Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

An average 16-year-old, Joan is going through the growing pains typical of any teenager. But after she and her family (Joe Mantegna, Mary Steenburgen, Jason Ritter, Michael Welch) relocate to Arcadia, her life gets especially interesting when God starts paying her visits.