Bebe Neuwirth Movies

Black-and-white Sven Nykvist cinematography highlights this Woody Allen comedy about fame and obscurity among Manhattan celebs. Journalist Lee Simon (Kenneth Branagh), makes a play for actress Nicole Oliver (Melanie Griffith), subject of his current story. Lee is separated from his wife Robin (Judy Davis), a schoolteacher who's totally lost and insecure -- until TV producer Tony Gardella (Joe Mantegna) becomes fascinated with her. Concerned about her possible sexual inadequacies, Robin recruits a prostitute (Bebe Neuwirth) to instruct her on oral sex techniques. On the town, Lee becomes transfixed by a blond supermodel (Charlize Theron), who teases him throughout the night, eventually dropping him before they get home. Lee's relationship with book editor Bonnie (Famke Janssen) is solid, and she's due to move into his place. However, he suddenly becomes romantically involved with waitress-actress Nola (Winona Ryder), complicating his agreement with Bonnie. Lee's efforts to sell his screenplay take him to the Stanhope Hotel, where he arrives just as spoiled young movie star Brandon Darrow (Leonardo DiCaprio) is fighting with his girlfriend (Gretchen Mol), trashing his hotel room, and insulting hotel staffers. When Darrow and his entourage head off to Atlantic City, Lee tags along, but as life swirls about him, a dismal dawn awaits. In addition to the Stanhope, locations included Barbetta's Restaurant, Ziegfeld Theatre, Soho's Serge Soroko Gallery, Flamingo Club, Jean-Georges Restaurant, and the Trump Marina Hotel and Casino (donated by Donald Trump, who portrays himself in a cameo at the Jean-Georges). Shown at the 1998 Venice Film Festival, this was the opening night selection of the 1998 New York Film Festival. ~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide

Miramax Films darlings Robert Rodriguez and screenwriter Kevin Williamson teamed up for a high-school alien-horror film that they described as The Breakfast Club meets Invasion of the Body Snatchers. Dilapidated Herrington High is the location for a story about a school faculty taken over by outer-space creatures, forcing the students to take charge and kick some alien butt. School faculty members (Robert Patrick, Bebe Neuwirth, Salma Hayek, and Jon Stewart) are infested with rapidly reproducing space worms that take over their minds and bodies. But never fear, because at this school, between hazing the student body and having sex in the locker room, a Scooby-Doo-ish group of high school students is ready to fight back. The up-and-coming acting talent includes R&B singer Usher Raymond, Elijah Wood, Clea DuVall, Josh Hartnett, Shawn Hatosy, Laura Harris, and Jordanna Brewster. The story is nearly irrelevant, as the real stars are the action and lots of special effects. ~ Arthur Borman, All Movie Guide

Unlike the more familiar animated Pinocchio by Disney, there are no song interludes here, and characters added to the story by Disney (such as Jiminy Cricket) are not included. Producer Francis Ford Coppola and director Steve Barron, (known for the first Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles film) closely adhere to Carlo Collodi's 1883 novel and use the visually timeless setting of a Czechoslovakian village. Jim Henson's puppet studio skillfully brings this Pinocchio to life. Long ago, in his youth, Gepetto (Martin Landau) loved but did not court Leona (Genvieve Bujold), who married Gepetto's brother instead. In that earlier time, he carved her initials with his onto a tree. Now his brother is dead, and though he still feels for Leona, he is still too shy to woo her. Instead, the old puppet-maker goes into the forest and cuts down a tree in order to make a puppet just for himself. The tree is the same one he carved his initials into when he was younger, and it has the magic of his love in it. Soon after the puppet Pinocchio is made, he comes to life. Aside from being made of wood, he begins to live the life of a perfectly normal little boy. He even goes to school. Lorenzini, an evil magician who runs a children's puppet show, hears of Pinocchio and wants to use him in his show. Lorenzini lures children to his show, only to later turn them into donkeys. Donkeys are useful creatures, and Lorenzini makes a lot of money selling them. Through many trials and tribulations, the puppet-boy earns the right to become the human boy Pinocchio (Jonathan Taylor Thomas). ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

In this comedy, a woman discovers that it's impossible to get ahead in business without a man to guide her -- so she invents one. Laurel (Whoopi Goldberg) is an expert financial analyst with a top Wall Street brokerage; however, she keeps getting passed over for raises and promotions, and she's convinced that no one at her firm takes her seriously because she's a black woman. Frustrated, Laurel and her loyal assistant Sally (Dianne Wiest) open a new firm, but Laurel discovers that her fears were based firmly in reality: male clients don't want to take financial advice from women, especially women of color. So Laurel invents a white man, Robert S. Cutty, to be the firm's top adviser. Speaking on Cutty's behalf, Laurel passes along the fictional man's advice, which her new clients find to be quite sound, and when they stop by to see him, he always manages to be out of the office (and why wouldn't a man so successful be busy?). The ruse seems to work, and soon Laurel's business is going great guns, but an increasingly large number of her clients want to see Cutty face to face, which won't be easy to pull off. However, with the help of a drag queen, Laurel tries to remake herself into Cutty for a night in order to keep her firm afloat. The Associate was based on a novel by author Jenaro Prieto. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Jumanji is a visually elaborate fantasy about an enchanted board game that opens a magical portal to a jungle universe. Two young children, Judy (Kirsten Dunst) and Peter (Bradley Pierce), discover the game in an abandoned home and suddenly are greeted by Alan (Robin Williams), an adult who has spent his life trapped inside the game since playing it at age 12. Alan's only hope for freedom involves finishing the game, but this proves rather dangerous, as Judy, Peter, and Alan find themselves running for their lives from huge rhinoceroses, evil monkeys, vicious lions, and other terrifying jungle beasts. Director Joe Johnston, whose special-effects background previously came to good use in Honey, I Shrunk the Kids, used groundbreaking computer imagery to simulate the thrills. ~ Judd Blaise, All Movie Guide

In the conclusion of a two-part story, Frasier's dreams of a romantic rendezvous in Bora Bora are dashed when he runs smack-dab into his ex-wife, Lilith (Bebe Neuwirth), who is vacationing with her new beau, a seismologist named Brian (James Morrison). In his efforts to one-up his former spouse, Frasier (Kelsey Grammer) succeeds only in convincing everyone on the island -- including his girlfriend Madeleine (JoBeth Williams) -- that he's a few bricks shy of a full load. Upon returning to Seattle, Frasier is desperate to patch things up with Madeleine, but the omnipresent Lilith botches this up as well. It is giving nothing away this late in the game to note that there is a BIG surprise at episode's end -- but it was one of TV's best-kept secrets of 1994. (And listen for the voice of Roz's latest "bad date.") ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Just after the turn of the 21st century in L.A., Harry (Belushi) works for a television station that uses a revolutionary technology, virtual reality projected for at-home viewers with 3-D holographic programs. A sinister group known as the Fathers, headed by Senator Kreutzer (Loggia), has a scheme to use it for mind-control. ~ All Movie Guide

Alec Baldwin stars in this thriller as Dr. Jed Hill, a brilliant young trauma specialist who begins to believe he can do no wrong after he saves the life of a patient given up for dead by another doctor. Jed runs into an old classmate, Andy Safian (Bill Pullman), who is now a college dean. Andy invites Jed to stay with him in the attic bedroom of a house he is renovating with his wife Tracy (Nicole Kidman). Tracy takes a dislike to Jed, whom she thinks is a psychotic egomaniac. In the mean time, Andy has to deal with a serial killer on the loose among the campus dorms. While Andy is helping belligerent law enforcement officials with the murder investigation and Jed is drinking straight shots at the local saloon, Tracy begins to have abdominal pains and is rushed to the emergency room. Jed comes directly from the bar and slices her open, removing more from her body cavity than he should. The allegations fly fast and furious between Tracy, Andy, and Jed. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide

Although Cheers had dropped from first to eighth place in the ratings from 1990 to 1992, its 11th and final season still enjoyed a very healthy viewership; in fact, its closing episode ranks as the fourth highest-rated series finale in TV history. Highlighting the show's climactic season was the new design for Cheers (necessitated by a fire precipitated by a chain-smoking Rebecca [Kirstie Alley]); the breakup of the marriage of Frasier and Lilith Crane (Kelsey Grammer and Bebe Neuwirth); the election of newly-married Woody Boyd (Woody Harrelson) to Boston's city council; and the very last scene of the very last show, in which the garrulous Cliff Clavin (John Ratzenberger) finally revealed the meaning of life: "Shoes." The biggest event of season eleven was, of course, the long-awaited return of former series regular Shelley Long as Diane Chambers, which occurred during the aforementioned two-hour finale (actually 90 minutes if one discounts the series retrospective that ran just before the episode, itself). Now a successful TV writer, Diane was invited back to Boston by Sam Ted Danson, whereupon they both spun tall tales about their nonexistent happy marriages before coming to the realization that they were still very much in love. Once again, Sam proposed; once again, Diane accepted; and once again, the marriage never came off, prompting Sam to close Cheers permanently. While the bar's customers and crew pondered over their futures, the audience was assured that least one of the regulars, Frasier, would be headlining his own sitcom come September. Going out in a blaze of glory, Cheers won the last of its multitude of Emmy awards. On this occasion, the statuettes went to Danson (for the second time) and film editor Robert Bramwell, who had assembled the valedictory episode "One for the Road." ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Picking up where season nine left off, the tenth season of Cheers began with Rebecca Howe (Kirstie Alley) reluctantly agreeing to be the mother of Sam Malone's (Ted Danson) child. Romance did not enter into the picture: Both Rebecca and Sam were responding to the incessant ticking of their respective biological clocks. Ultimately, the consummation never came off, and the two agreed to stay friends, and friends only. Having spent several seasons as a recurring character, Lilith Sternin-Crane (played by Emmy-winner Bebe Neuwirth) was elevated to "also starring" status, although she still did not appear in every episode. Meanwhile, Lilith's husband, Frasier Crane (Kelsey Grammer), finally grew the beard that would remain his trademark until the series finally breathed its last. Season ten concluded with the series' first hour-long episode, in which Woody Boyd (Woody Harrelson) and Kelly Gaines (Jackie Swanson) were married. The event was deemed worthy of a TV Guide cover -- and it certainly did not disappoint, filled as it was with such last-minute complications as a dead minister and a gun-wielding jealous husband. Having attained the number one slot during its previous season, Cheers dropped back to fourth place, tied with ABC's Home Improvement. For the first time since the series debuted in 1982, Cheers was not honored with an Emmy, although it earned eight nominations. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Season nine of Cheers picked up where the eighth had left off, with Sam Malone (Ted Danson) and Rebecca Howe (Kirstie Alley) poised to consummate their newfound romance on the couch in Sam's office. "Interruptus" came in the form of Rebecca's billionaire boyfriend Robin Colcord (Roger Rees), now on the lam from the law for illegal stock trading. Gradually, Sam came to realize that his relationship with Rebecca was not to be -- although upon agreeing to marry the newly-released Robin, Rebecca developed an acute case of cold feet at the very last minute, leaving her technically free for a unique "business arrangement" dreamed up by Sam. Elsewhere, Woody Boyd (Woody Harrelson) continued juggling careers as a bartender and actor, and also persisted in his romantic relationship with wealthy Kelly Gaines (Jackie Swanson), despite the interference of Kelly's amorous French acquaintance Henri (Anthony Cistaro). Sam Malone likewise had a new nemesis in the form of the imperious John Hill (Keene Curtis), landlord of the building housing Cheers and the owner of the posh restaurant Melville's, which occupied the building's second floor. After babysitting for new parents Frasier and Lilith Crane (Kelsey Grammer and Bebe Neuwirth), a profoundly affected Sam decided that he, too, would like to be a father. It so happened that he had also selected the perfect mother for his child: Rebecca. And on this discordant note, season nine came to a close. This was the year that Cheers finally graduated to number one in the ratings, enjoying a 21.3 share. It also earned four more Emmys -- Outstanding Comedy Series, Outstanding Direction (James Burrows), Outstanding Lead Actress (Kirstie Alley), and Outstanding Supporting Actress (the second such honor for Bebe Neuwirth) -- not to mention nominations in nine other categories. And finally, this was the year that former series regular Shelley Long returned -- albeit briefly, and at a considerable distance from her former co-stars -- during an NBC special celebrating Cheers' 200th episode. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Without Her Consent is a better than average "issue of the week" TV movie. This week's issue is rape--specifically, acquaintance rape. Melissa Gilbert plays a young woman who is sexually assaulted by a man (Scott Valentine) whom she has known for quite some time. She files charges, but he claims in court that she invited the attack. Barry Tubb costars as Gilbert's boy friend, who seeks other avenues of redress when the courts fail him. Based on a true story, Without Her Consent debuted on January 14, 1990. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

As Cheers entered its eighth season, viewers began to wonder if the long-awaited romance between Sam Malone (Ted Danson) and Rebecca Howe (Kirstie Alley) would ever blossom. Certainly Rebecca had not backed down from her determination to marry into wealth, as witnessed by her torrid relationship with Trump-like billionaire corporate raider Robin Colcord (Roger Rees). Perhaps hoping to prove his value in Rebecca's eyes, Sam spent most of season eight trying to buy back Cheers -- only to realize this goal in a most surprising fashion. In other developments, psychiatrists Frasier Crane (Kelsey Grammer) and Lilith (Bebe Neuwirth) became parents with the birth of baby Frederick. Not long afterward, the much-married Carla (Rhea Perlman) became a widow when her hockey-star husband Eddie LeBec died in a freak accident; Carla's grief quickly turned to rage when she discovered that, not only had Eddie been unfaithful to her, but he'd had another wife in another town all along. Meanwhile, the romance between guileless bartender Woody Boyd (Woody Harrelson) and wealthy Kelly Gaines (Jackie Swanson) continued along its bumpy but generally satisfying path. The season came to a riotous conclusion when Rebecca's boyfriend Robin was arrested for illegal insider training -- with Sam turning Colcord in out of fear that Rebecca would be implicated. Out of gratitude, the corporation that owned Cheers gave the bar to Sam as a present, leading Rebecca to conclude that Sam had blown the whistle on Robin out of greed. But before Rebecca could renounce Sam once and for all, the couple found themselves locked in a very amorous embrace on the couch in Sam's office -- at which point the seventh season reached its cliffhanger ending. Cheers returned to third place in the ratings during the 1989-90 season, beaten out only by The Cosby Show and the sophomore season of Roseanne. Three Emmys were bestowed upon the series: Ted Danson finally copped a statuette as Outstanding Lead Actor in a comedy; Bebe Neuwirth (not yet a an "official" regular) won as Outstanding Supporting Actress; and the series' sound-mixing team (Robert Crosby, Thomas J. Huth, Sam Black, and Robert Douglass) walked away with its fourth award. Finally, although Cheers spawned no spin-offs this season, it can be said to have godfathered a similar ensemble sitcom assembled by two former Cheersstaffers: Wings, which began a long and healthy run in April 1990, and in the Thursday-night time slot following its "parent" series. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide