Jane Morris Movies

Mockumentary mastermind Christopher Guest turns his satirical eye away from dog shows, small-town theater, and folk music to offer a hilarious take on Hollywood award season in this comedy focusing on trio of actors whose lives are turned upside down when they discover that their performances in an independent film are generating a sizable buzz in the entertainment industry. Jay Berman (Guest) is in the process of directing his first feature film -- an intimate family drama set in the 1940s and detailing the tempestuous reunion of an estranged Jewish family that is reluctantly drawn together to celebrate Purim at the behest of their dying matriarch. The cast soon comes down with an infectious case of award fever when rumors on the Internet claim that "Purim" stars Marilyn Hack (Catherine O' Hara), Victor Allan Miller (Harry Shearer), and Callie Webb (Parker Posey) may be delivering Oscar-caliber performances. When "Hollywood Now" co-anchors Chuck Porter (Fred Willard) and Cindy Martin (Jane Lynch) perpetuate the buzz on national television, the entire film crew starts to see stars in their eyes. Subsequently convinced that they have a sleeper hit on their hands, unit publicist Corey Taft (John Michael Higgins), talent agent Morley Orfkin (Eugene Levy), and producer Whitney Taylor Brown (Jennifer Coolidge) immediately cave to requests from Sunfish Classics president Martin Gibb (Ricky Gervais) to alter the film so that it may appeal to a larger audience. Now, while "Purim" screenwriters Lane Iverson (Michael McKean) and Philip Koontz (Bob Balaban) are forced to watch helplessly as their original screenplay is plundered in order to cash in on the positive buzz, awards season draws near and the production takes a most unexpected turn. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

It's just another one of those days when a bald eagle swoops into Drew's house and trashes the place. Unfortunately, the bird is an endangered species, meaning not only that it cannot be removed, but Drew (Drew Carey) must also protect and coddle the eagle at all costs! The situation worsens when the eagle "captures" and flies off with a dog belonging to Drew's new girlfriend Kathy (Kathy Griffin). Meanwhile, Oswald (Diedrich Bader) and Lewis (Ryan Stiles) are blackmailed by a youngster (Scotty Leavenworth) who threatens to tell the authorities about their house in the park. Amazingly, this episode was virtually unscripted, with the actors ad-libbing their dialogue based on a storyline provided by Julie Ann Larson). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Wanda Sykes makes her first apperance as Christine Watson, the store's new, no-nonsense efficiency expert. Though she runs everyone else ragged, Christine treats Drew (Drew Carey) with kid gloves, inasmuch as she has a crush on him. Taking advantage of this, the employees offer Drew $500 to date Christine and persuade her to lighten up. It turns out that Christine is being so tough because she doesn't want to fire anyone--but when she suspects that Drew has been bribed to take her out, it's a different story! Elsewhere, a circus troupe helps Lewis (Ryan Stiles) and Oswald (Diedrich Bader) build their dream house in the park. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Exiled from the Winfred-Louder softball team, Drew (Drew Carey) goes "Bad News Bears", organizing his own band of misfits and losers and challenging the store team to game of "beer ball", in which the players are required to guzzle down a brew-ski at every base. Upping the ante is the fact that Winfred-Louder's star player is Drew's own brother Steve (John Carroll Lynch). Using the game as an excuse to settle their lifelong sibling rivalry, the brothers place a bet: If Drew wins, Steve will have to eat bugs--and if Steve wins, Drew will be obliged to wear a diaper in public! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Absolutely nobody is who he or she seems in this stylish thriller about a guy who wants to get out of his fly-speck hometown, the girlfriend who wants to help him, and the successful friend who just might make it possible. When Bryce (Josh Brolin) returns to his tiny hometown of Tropico, NV, he finds pal Nick (Alessandro Nivola) still living there unhappily. One night the pair meets a beautiful blonde at the bar and eventually Bryce takes her back to the house where he's staying. When the girl, Lissa (Reese Witherspoon), reveals that she's under age and threatens to turn Bryce in for statutory rape, he panics, ties her up in the basement, and puts in an anguished call to Nick. Little does Bryce realize, however, that Lissa is actually Nick's very grown-up girlfriend, and that the two lovers have decided Bryce and the ritzy house where he's staying will play a major role in their bid to leave behind dead-end Tropico forever. ~ Brian J. Dillard, All Movie Guide

Drew's dog Speedy needs an operation, but Drew (Drew Carey) lacks the necessary $2700. On the advice of coworker Nora (Jane Morris), Drew takes advantage of the store's "same-sex" health benefits by telling the insurance reps that he needs the money for an operation on his gay partner "Aaron." Ultimately, he must prove the existence of the non-existent Aaron--and that's where Oswald (Diedrich Bader) comes in. As this situation snowballs into disaster, Kate (Christa Miller) has her own problems with her pet ferret. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Robert Torti makes his first appearance as Jay Clemens, an old junior-high-school buddy of Drew (Drew Carey), Oswald (Diedrich Bader) and Lewis (Ryan Stiles). Having been preoccupied with her love life for several weeks, Katy (Christa Miller) shows up at Drew's house only to find that her place in "the gang" has apparently been usurped by Jay in her absence. The ensuing friction threatens to wreak havoc at Drew's upcoming birthday party--and if that weren't enough plot development, we're also confronted with a surprise guest appearance by pro basketball star Dave Winfield (he just came for the food, folks!) ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In the first episode of a three-part story arc, Drew (Drew Carey's thinks it's a laugh and a half when he concludes a memo limiting personal phone calls at the store with a xeroxed cartoon, showing a confused caterpillar having carnal relations with a crinkle-cut french fry. Everybody else thinks the cartoon is funny too--everyone, that is, except uptight would-be feminist Nora O'Dougherty (Jane Morris), who threatens to sue Drew for creating a "hostile workplace." Meanwhile, Kate's (Christa Miller) obsessive ex-boyfriend Barry (John Schafer) is forgotten but not gone. Kelly Perine makes his first series appearance as Chuck the security guard. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

An ordinary woman is driven to the point of violent revenge in this tense thriller. Karen McCann (Sally Field) is a suburban wife and working mother with two daughters. Karen's life is turned upside down when her 17-year-old daughter is raped and murdered, a crime she overhears on her cellular phone. Sgt. Denillo (Joe Mantegna), a bright and resourceful police detective, soon tracks down the culprit, an especially sleazy criminal named Robert Doob (Kiefer Sutherland). However, due to a minor technicality, Doob escapes conviction, even though he's clearly guilty. Karen's husband Mack (Ed Harris) suppresses his grief and tries to go on with his life, but Karen doesn't find this quite so easy; she joins a support group for parents of murdered children, and she discovers that within the group is an underground society that seeks vigilante justice against killers who've slipped through the net of the judicial system. Karen buys a gun, learns how to use it, and begins training in martial arts. She starts keeping tabs on Doob, and learns that he not only intends to kill again, he's targeting her younger daughter. Beverly D'Angelo co-stars as Karen's best friend Dolly, and Philip Baker Hall plays Sidney Hughes. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

When the store employees go on strike just before the Christmas rush, Drew (Drew Carey) is saddled with the responsibility of hiring scabs--er, temporary workers. Laboring away as a waitress during the strike, Kate (Christa Miller) is outraged to discover that Mimi (Kathy Kinney) and Oswald (Diedrich Bader) have taken over her job in Cosmetics, nor is she thrilled to learn that Drew and Nora (Jane Morris) are working together in Women's Lingerie (uh, maybe we should rephrase that). Ultimately concluding that the workers are right and management is wrong, Drew takes a dramatic stand...sort of. Ian Gomez makes his first series appearance as the irksome Larry Almada. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Borrowing liberally from the French film La Totale, this is an action picture, domestic comedy, and political thriller rolled into a crowd-pleasing ball of entertainment. Producer James Cameron wrote and directed the film. Henry Tasker (Arnold Schwarzenegger) is a workaholic computer salesman neglecting his mousy wife Helen (Jamie Lee Curtis), a legal secretary. Simon (Bill Paxton) seduces Helen with the lie that he is a secret agent; he's really a used car salesman. Harry suspects that Helen is cheating on him, and he sends a few colleagues to kidnap them. Helen then discovers that Harry is a secret agent by night, working for a shadowy group called the Omega Sector. Harry and his partner Gib (Tom Arnold) are trying to find four nuclear warheads that have disappeared from a former Soviet republic. ~ Michael Betzold, All Movie Guide

Terrence McNally's stage play Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune was a two-character piece, which starred Kathy Bates and F. Murray Abraham on Broadway. Garry Marshall's film version of the McNally play streamlines the title to Frankie and Johnny, expands the dramatis personae to include at least a dozen fascinating characters, and "glamorizes" the decidedly unglamorous Frankie and Johnny in the forms of Michelle Pfeiffer and Al Pacino (their first co-starring stint since Scarface). Purists carped at the changes, but overall the film is likeable enough to transcend these carps. While serving an 18-month sentence on a forgery charge, Johnny (Al Pacino) discovers the joys of cooking and classical literature. Upon his release, he is hired by gruff but good-hearted New York diner owner Nick (played by Garry Marshall "regular" Hector Elizondo). Also working for Nick is a waitress named Frankie (Michelle Pfeiffer). When Johnny expresses interest in Frankie, she keeps him at arm's length, her mistrust of men stemming from an unmentioned but obviously traumatic experience in her past. Eventually, however, Frankie and Johnny do get together, their curious relationship setting the stage for a dramatic denouement wherein both lovers bare their souls. The bulk of the original McNally play is concentrated in the film's final 20 minutes; the rest of the picture is a kaleidoscope of comic and poignant vignettes and quick-sketch character studies. Of the newly minted characters, the standout is Nathan Lane in the traditional "gay best friend/severest critic" role: he plays the character so effectively that one forgets he's essentially a cliché. As for the stars, Al Pacino is ideally cast as Johnny, but Michelle Pfeiffer, superb though she is, seems a bit ill at ease as the emotionally tattered Frankie; she totally wins the audience's hearts, however, in the film's memorable bowling-alley sequence. Smoothing over the rough spots in Frankie and Johnny is the evocative musical score by Marvin Hamlisch. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Garry Marshall directed this film which starts as a light comedy but moves into heavy-duty drama later on. David Basner (Tom Hanks in a good performance) works in an ad agency, where he enjoys bantering with his co-workers and meets a lot of women. He hasn't been especially close to his father (Jackie Gleason) and never thought about him much until his Dad is left devastated when his wife of 36 years walks out on him. He is soon faced with serious health problems as well. This propels the elder Basner on a downward slide that affects David and their relationship. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide