Laurie Metcalf Movies

An unemployed, alcoholic thirtysomething who still lives with his mother and can't seem to muster the motivation to turn his life around finds that all's fair in love and softball when his team is threatened with ejection from the league in a raunchy sports comedy starring Howard Stern Show regular Artie Lange. For the sluggers from Ed's Bar and Swill, the weekly trip to the local diamond is more about drinking and roughhousing than it is about such technicalities as hitting home runs and striking out the opposing team. When their favorite pastime is threatened by the ultra-competitive athleticism of the league's villainous perennial champions -- led by local gym owner and current mayoral candidate Manganelli (Anthony de Sando) -- this motley group of hard-drinking sportsmen must make one final push for the pennant and end their unprecedented losing streak if they hold out any hope of making it to another season. Ralph Macchio, Seymour Cassel, and Laurie Metcalf co-star, and longtime Saturday Night Live contributor Frank Sebastiano makes his directorial debut. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

After a blow on the head, Monk (Tony Shalhoub) awakens in the tiny backwater town of Purnell, Wyoming, with both his memory and all traces of his identification gone. As Monk tries to figure out what's happened, a local woman named Cora (Laurie Metcalf) appears, declaring that he is her husband--and with no proof to the contrary, Monk takes Cora at her word, returning to her house and acting the role of dutiful helpmate! By and by, however, Monk's inherent detective skills begin to resurface, and soon he is investigating the mysterious disappearance of a waitress named Debbie (Bre Blair)--which may or may not be linked with the fate that has recently befallen local big shot Roger Zisk (Jim Parrack), whose body is covered with painful bee stings! ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

In his second bid for sitcom stardom (the first was the late, unlamented Encore! Encore!), Broadway favorite Nathan Lane starred as Charlie Lawrence, a gay TV actor who forsook his popular weekly series "Guppy Sherman" to enter politics. Appointed to fill out the term of a recently deceased New Mexico congressman, Charlie did his best to use his showbiz savvy to cut through the deeply ingrained B.S. of Washington, D.C., and sometimes actually succeeded. The cookie-cutter supporting characters included Sarah (Laurie Metcalf), Charlie's uptight, no-nonsense chief of staff; Charlie's neighbor and friend Graydon Cord (Ted McGinley), a politician who happened to be a member of the loyal opposition; ditzy office manager Suzette Michaels (Stephanie Faracy), who couldn't see past Charlie's carefully cultivated TV image; and klutzy office intern Ryan Lemming (T.R. Knight), the son of a millionaire campaign contributor. Charlie Lawrence made its CBS bow on June 15, 2003. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Director Mike Figgis helmed this ground-breaking experimental feature, filmed with four synchronized digital video cameras in four separate locations. The story, outlined in advance but otherwise improvised, was enacted in a single continuous take, like a stage play, with the unedited images from all four locations presented on the screen at once. Figgis and his crew chose the best single run-through, and the result is the film's final release version. The story focuses on four main characters around the casting sessions for a film called Bitch of Louisiana to be directed by Lester Moore (Richard Edson): Alex Green (Stellan Skarsgard), the studio executive overseeing Moore's project; his wife Emma (Saffron Burrows); gangster Lauren Hathaway (Jeanne Tripplehorn); and her unfaithful lover Rose (Salma Hayek). These characters' paths cross as murder, infidelity, and dirty dealings are interrupted by an earthquake and its aftershocks. Time Code 2000 also features Kyle MacLachlan, Holly Hunter, Julian Sands, Steven Weber, Danny Huston, Viveka Davis, and Laurie Metcalf. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

This animated NBC show's humor is centered around the eternal battle between God and Satan. In this incarnation, God is depicted as a laid-back aging hippie type (voice of James Garner) while Satan (voice of Alan Cumming) is slick, effete, and British. ~ Jonathan Crow, Rovi

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, Rovi

Warren Beatty directed, co-produced (with Pieter Jan Brugge), co-scripted (with Jeremy Pikser), and stars in this political satire, a comedy drama about a U.S. senator who decides to start speaking the truth. Despondent California senator Jay Bulworth (Beatty), up for re-election, is disillusioned by the usual campaign banalities; his marriage to Constance (Christine Baranski) seems equally hollow. In the midst of a nervous breakdown, Bulworth goes without sleep or food for three days and takes out a ten-million-dollar insurance policy on himself while arranging his own assassination. Drinking during a return to Los Angeles, Bulworth is scheduled to speak at an African-American church in South Central L.A. Once there, he tosses aside his prepared speech, startling both the audience and his campaign manager, Murphy (Oliver Platt), by improvising truthful remarks instead of the familiar rhetoric. These loose-cannon salvos gain the attention of an attractive young woman, Nina (Halle Berry). Bulworth finds an exhilaration with this new freestyle approach, and after shocking a gathering in Beverly Hills with further fulminations, Bulworth invites Nina and her girlfriends into his limo. During a spaced-out sojourn at one of South Central's more frenzied after-hours clubs, Bulworth gains respect for hip-hop culture.

Still reeling from insights gained by this nightlife, he arrives the next day for a fundraising function at the Beverly Wilshire, startling everyone with a diatribe delivered in the intonations of a rap artist. His interest in Nina and his new optimistic outlook on life give Bulworth a sense of elation and a will to live. He phones to call off the hit, but the gears have been set in motion. After an assumed hitman turns up during a church appearance, Bulworth flees, and Nina offers him a safe-house hideout at the home of her family, veterans of the civil rights movement. Here Bulworth goes through the final steps in his transformation -- making a Kennedy-styled connection with the disenfranchised as he tunes in to forgotten memories of the '60s. Outfitted in homeboy clothing, the born-again Bulworth heads for a TV station to unleash even more caustic comments on the American political scene. ~ Bhob Stewart, Rovi

Barbra Streisand and Cis Corman are the executive producers of this TV movie, filmed in Toronto by director Joseph Sargent (The Taking of Pelham One Two Three). The fact-based film recounts the aftermath of the night of December 7, 1993 when gunman Colin Ferguson (Tyrone Benskin) opened fire on a packed Long Island Rail Road commuter train, killing six and wounding 19. However, instead of re-creating that attack and focusing on Ferguson, this drama follows the life of suburban housewife Carolyn McCarthy (Laurie Metcalf), who entered politics on a gun-control platform after her husband of 30 years was killed and her 26-year-old son was wounded during the incident. McCarthy is depicted here as a crusading media personality appealing for assault weapon control, then a political candidate, and finally as the congressional representative from the fourth district of New York. Premiere April 19, 1998 on NBC. ~ Bhob Stewart, Rovi

A year after the monstrous success of 1996's neo-slasher flick Scream, director Wes Craven and screenwriter Kevin Williamson reunited for this follow-up. Since viewers last saw the characters, nosy newswoman Gale Weathers has written a sleazy best-selling book based on the events of the first film, a book that has been adapted into a Hollywood film called Stab, starring Tori Spelling as Sydney Prescott. The real Sydney (Neve Campbell) has since gone away to college in Cincinnati in hopes of leaving the horrific events of her past behind her. Unfortunately, at a showing of Stab, two college students are murdered in a fashion that is reminiscent of the slayings that took place back in Woodsboro. Suddenly, Sydney, her pal Randy (Jamie Kennedy), and dopy deputy Dewey (David Arquette) find themselves once again pursued by a ruthless masked killer. Among the other potential killers and victims are Sarah Michelle Gellar, Laurie Metcalf, and Liev Schreiber. ~ Matthew Tobey, Rovi

A man proves that hope can grow in the flintiest of soil in this made-for-TV drama for the family. A farming community is struggling to survive a severe drought when a mysterious stranger named Harvey Potter (Rip Torn) arrives in town. Potter rents a farm, a move which is believed to be the height of foolishness by his new neighbors, but one day a local child, Willow (Mara Wilson), passes by Potter's field to discover that it's full of colorful balloons. Willow is convinced that Potter has found a way to grow balloons, and while her mother Casey (Laurie Metcalf) knows better, she sees that Potter has brought an excitement and joy back into the lives of the town's children that had been all but snuffed out by the recent dry spell. Willow thinks that Potter knows some sort of magic, and Casey considers him to be a well-meaning eccentric, but a few of the locals are convinced that he has something dangerous up his sleeve. Disney's Balloon Farm was based on the book Harvey Potter's Balloon Farm by Jerdine Nolen; it premiered on the television anthology series The Wonderful World of Disney. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi