Belita Moreno Movies

Most people have trouble deciding what to say when they're asked what they've been doing with their lives at a High School reunion, but Martin Blank (as played by John Cusack) has a different problem than most -- he has to make his career sound less interesting than it actually is. Martin is a former CIA operative who is now a freelance hit man, making good money for killing people he doesn't know. However, Martin's game has been a bit off lately; he's no longer happy in his work, and both his secretary Marcella (Joan Cusack) and his psychiatrist, Dr. Oatman (Alan Arkin), who is more than a bit nervous about having a hired assassin as a patient, think that Martin should accept an offered assignment in Grosse Pointe, Michigan, his old home town, which would conveniently coincide with his ten year high school reunion. While in Grosse Pointe, Martin discovers that his high school sweetheart, Debi Newberry (Minnie Driver), is still living in town, and still holds a grudge against him for standing her up on prom night. While Martin tries to sort out his past and tie up loose ends with Debi (whom he still loves), he discovers someone in Grosse Pointe is out to kill him; he's also confronted by the highly unstable Mr. Grocer (Dan Aykroyd), a fellow hit man who wants Martin to join forces with him and form a union and isn't keen on taking no for an answer. Grosse Pointe Blank was a pet project for star John Cusack, who co-wrote the screenplay and also served as co-producer. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

Although she knew from the outset that she'd never be a "traditional" mother, Murphy (Candice Bergen) nonetheless is willing to shed her unorthodox approach to parenthood when she concludes that she hasn't spent enough quality time with baby Avery. This explains how Murphy came to join a group of new mothers who are dedicated to such old-school customs as singing nursery songs and playing games with their offspring. Of course, it doesn't take long for Murphy and the other moms to get on each other's nerves in a spectacular fashion. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Nancy (Sandra Bernhard) tells Roseanne and Jackie that she is gay. (Morgan Fairchild) guest stars as Nancy's lover Marla. Meanwhile, Bev (Estelle Parsons) moves into a retirement home, making Roseanne feel old. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, Rovi

The seventh season of Perfect Strangers gets under way with the marriage of "Chicago Chronicle" reporter Larry (Mark Linn-Baker) and sexy stewardess Jennifer (Melanie Wilson), whereupon the couple moves out of their apartment building an into a huge suburban house with enormous mortgage payments and a minimum of utilties. This same season, Larry's roommate-cousin, Myposian immigrant Balki (Bronson Pinchot), finally becomes a US citizen, prompting a surprise visit from his mother (also played by Bronson Pinchot!) Back on the job, Larry and Balki begin collaborating on a comic strip about a foreign sheepherder living in Chicago and his favorite sheep Dmitri. In the interests of authenticity, Balki purchase a live sheep, while Larry obsesses upon coming up with dialogue that correctly reflects "a sheep's sensibility." Elsewhere, the boys briefly become door-to-door salesmen, attempt to "exorcise" a ghost from Larry's new house, emulate Laurel & Hardy (for the millionth time!) when they try to build a gazebo, and find themselves stuck in a car trunk while trying to trap a gang of thieves. On his own, Larry is reluctantly appointing temporary king of Mypos, and goes into panic mode when he thinks that Jennifer is pregnant. As for Balki, he takes a trip to Vegas to meet his idol Wayne Newton, and enters into a most confusing ménage-a-quartre when he and his girlfriend Mary Anne (Rebecca Arthur) fall in love with their respective exact lookalikes. With Larry and Jennifer marriage, Mary Ann hopes that Balki will likewise pop the question, but he doesn't seem inclined to do so. Just when this situation is on the verge of being resolved, Season Seven of Perfect Strangers comes to an abrupt end! ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Weighed down by her late husband's debts, widow Beth Macauley (Jessica Lange) is compelled to sell her home and move to a less costly locale. She relocates in Baltimore with her resentful sons Chris (Chris O'Donnell) and Matt (Charlie Korsmo) and takes a job at a ramshackle gourmet food store managed by Lisa Coleman (Kathy Bates). Men Don't Leave offers in Beth an extremely vulnerable, easily discouraged person who can't seem to get a grip on her reduced circumstances. Even so, she and her sons eventually pull themselves together, despite many side trips with Wrong Lovers and False Friends. Some of the film's best moments involve Joan Cusack, playing a mixed-up nurse with whom Chris falls in love. Representing the comeback of director Paul Brickman after a seven-year gap, Men Don't Leave is a slightly more upbeat American version of the French film La Vie Continue. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

The fourth season of Perfect Strangers finds aspiring photographer Larry (Mark-Linn Baker) and his Myposian-born cousin Balki (Bronson Pinchot) still working in entry-level jobs at the "Chicago Chronicle." Likewise carried over from the previous season is Larry and Balki's tendency to enmesh themselves in situations reminiscent of Laurel & Hardy, never more so than when the boys agree to move a piano up ten flights of stairs at the behest of the "Chronicle"'s neurotic advice columnist Lydia (Belita Moreno). More zany slapstick ensues in the two-part episode which finds Larry and Balki, their stewardess neighbors Mary Anne (Rebecca Arthur) and Jennifer (Melanie Wilson), and the "Chronicle"'s acid-tongue elevator operator Harriette (Jo Marie Payton-France) embark upon a disastrous camping trip. Later escapades include Balki's first airplane flight, and a hectic Q&A session when Larry and Balki compete on a TV game show. Plus, there's the obligatory Christmas episode, in which Balki generously arranges a party for his curmudgeonly mail-room supervisor Mr. Gorpley (Sam Anderson). And in a more original development, Balki is hypnotized into thinking that he's Elvis, thereby setting up a "tour de force" for series regular Bronson Pinchot. Also: Balki prepares for a college entrance exam with the aid of memories from past episodes (the standard Season Four "clip show"); Doris Roberts (Everybody Loves Raymond guests as a maid whose efficiency drives everyone crazier than usual; and John Matuszak shows up as the head of a motorcycle club for which Balki must undergo a riotous initiation ceremony. Perhaps the season's most significant episode is "Crimebusters", in which Larry and Balki go undercover to research a newspaper story and run afoul of gangsters--one of whom turns out to be an undercover cop named Carl (Reginald VelJohnson), who happens to be the husband of the boys' coworker Harriette. Within the next year, both Harriette and Carl would be spun off into their own long-running sitcom, Family Matters. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Season Three of Perfect Strangers finds aspiring young photographer Larry (Mark Linn-Baker) and his cousin-roomate Balki (Bronson Pinchot) landing new jobs at the "Chicago Chronicle", with organization-freak Larry working as a cub reporter and zany Myposian immigrant Balki ending up in the mail room, where he takes orders from the misanthropic Mr. Gorpley (Sam Anderson). New to the series this season are Eugene Roche as "Chronicle" editor Harry Burns, F.J. O'Neill as publisher R.T. Wainwright, and Jo Marie Payton-France as the newspaper building's eternally sarcastic elevator operator Harriette Winslow. Also, Belita Moreno, seen during the first two seasons as the wife of Larry and Balki's obnoxious employer "Twinkie", resurfaces in Season Three in a brand-new role, as the "Chronicle"'s hypersensitive advice columnist Lydia Markham. The new journalistic setting opens up a whole new slew of story possibilities, including the time-honored routine in which Larry and Balki break into the publisher's office late at night to retrieve an embarrassing missive, another wherein the boys "star" in a commercial for the "Chronicle", and still another which finds our heroes handcuffed together on the very evening that Larry must make a good impression on the publisher. Back in their apartment, Larry and Balki continue to recycle old two-reel comedy bits, notably in the episode in which they offered to install the plumbing for their stewardess neighbors Mary Anne (Rebecca Arthur) and Jennifer (Melanie Wilson). Guest stars this season include such familiar faces as Jeff Corey in the role of the "Chronicle"'s chief stockholder, Holland Taylor as the paper's sexually predatory Sunday magazine, Kimmy Robertson as a clerk in a store where Balki goes on a riotous shopping spree, and the inescapable Ted McGinley as Larry's insufferable brother Billy. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Season One of Perfect Strangers begins not long after aspiring photographer Larry Appleton (Mark Linn-Baker) has moved out of his family's house (bidding his eight siblings goodbye in the process) and into his own apartment in Chicago. Any hopes of enjoying the life of a carefree bachelor are dashed when Larry's distant cousin Balki Bartokomous (Bronson Pinchot), a sheepherder from the faraway island of Mypos, shows up at Larry's doorstep and promptly moves in with him. The wide-eyed, effusive, easily impressed Balki provides hilarious contrast to the uptight, well-organized Larry, especially when both men dip into the dating pool, and when Balki insists upon honoring one of the many, invariably bizarre Myposian customs. During this season, Larry works at the Ritz Discount Shop, taking orders from his nasty, avaricious boss "Twinkie" (Ernie Sabella) and occasionally from Twinkie's equally abrasive wife Edwina (Belita Moreno). Balki doesn't hold down a regular job, but instead attends night school in hopes of becoming an American citizen. Occasionally, Larry goes out with his upstairs neighbor, nurse Susan Campbell (Lise Cutter). Episode highlights include Balki's first date, a benighted effort by Larry to give Balki driving lessons, and the Myposian immigrant's innocent abuse of his checking-account privileges. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Given the credibility of the story and the sincerity of the players, it is surprising to learn that the made-for-TV Do You Remember Love? is not based on a true story. Joanne Woodward stars as a brilliant college professor and poet, struck down in her prime by Alzheimer's disease. Her husband Richard Kiley tries to cope, but is ultimately disheartened by Woodward's degenerating condition. Even sadder is the fact that Woodward, in her cogent moments, is fully aware that she is losing her ability to function. Written by Vickie Patek, this potentially depressing drama has a logically conceived uplifting finale. Do You Remember Love? was first telecast May 21, 1985. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi