Richard Riehle Movies
A Windy City native, distinguished character actor Richard Riehle earned his undergraduate degree from Notre Dame and his master's from the University of Minnesota, then took his first cinematic bow with a bit part in 1975's Western Rooster Cogburn -- opposite John Wayne and Katharine Hepburn. After Rooster, Riehle abandoned screen work for over a decade to hit the East Coast and focus almost exclusively on Broadway and regional theater. Ed Zwick's acclaimed Civil War opus Glory (1989) marked Riehle's Hollywood comeback; he subsequently increased his screen time dramatically, and chalked up a resumé playing everymen -- usually heavyset and unpolished working stiffs such as policemen, detectives, judges, and bartenders -- in literally dozens of films. Riehle's credits include Ghosts of Mississippi (1996), Mercury Rising (1998), Office Space (1999), Deuce Bigalow: Male Gigolo (1999), and National Lampoon's Dorm Daze 2 (2006). The actor is also known for his regular presence on two television series: the 1990 Ferris Bueller (as Principal Ed Rooney) and the 2001-2005 Grounded for Life (as Walt Finnerty). Riehle subsequently returned to National Lampoon work with the 2007 frat-boy comedy National Lampoon Presents The Beach Party at the Threshold of Hell. ~ Nathan Southern, All Movie Guide- 2003
The ABC sitcom Married to the Kellys was reportedly based on the life experiences of its producer, Tom Hertz. An only child who had lived a blissful solitary existence most of his life, Manhattanite Tom Wagner (Breckin Meyer) was swept off his feet by Susan Kelly (Kiele Sanchez), an attractive Midwesterner. Upon relocating to his new bride's Kansas home town, Tom soon learned that he had not only married Susan, but also her large and boisterous family. Our hero immediately found a kindred spirit in Susan's dad Bill (Sam Anderson), who was likewise an only child. But Tom had a more difficult time adjusting to Susan's control-freak mother Sandy (Nancy Lenehan), her highly competitive sister Mary (Emily Rutherfurd), her nerdish, bug-collecting kid brother Lewis (Derek Waters), and Mary's envious husband Chris (Josh Braaten). Though life with the Kellys could be quite a trial at times, Tom was consoled by the advice given him by his father-in-law Bill: "Family is like quicksand. The more you struggle, the deeper you sink." Married to the Kellys debuted October 3, 2003. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Breckin Meyer, Kiele Sanchez, (more)
He's hip, he's fly, and he never mixes meat with dairy -- he's the world's first Jewish private eye, and he's out to save the world in this satiric comedy. Mordechai Jefferson Carver (Adam Goldberg) is a super-cool Jewish detective who takes no mess and is always ready to do the right thing for his Torah-reading brothers. But Carver is a lone wolf, and he isn't so sure he's interested in taking an assignment from Chief Bloomenbergansteinthal (Peter Coyote) of the Jewish Justice League -- or at least not until he meets the Chief's gorgeous daughter, Esther (Judy Greer). It seems a mysterious stranger named Damien (Andy Dick) has made it his business to persuade Jewish children to abandon their faith in favor of celebrating Christmas, and it's Carver's job to put an end to Damien's campaign while urging kids to be proud of their Semitic heritage. The Hebrew Hammer also features Nora Dunn as Carver's kvetching mother, and a cameo appearance by Melvin Van Peebles as outlaw blaxploitation icon Sweetback. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Adam Goldberg, Judy Greer, (more)
- 2002
The media's tendency to favor youth and cosmetic perfection over experience and intelligence is the gist of this mildly trenchant TV movie. Mel Harris stars as Diana, a top TV news anchor who is summarily dumped from her lofty perch in favor of a younger and prettier journalist named Amber (Julianne Morris). Partly to get even, but mostly to prove something to herself, Diana undergoes plastic surgery, changes her name, and takes an entry-level job in a small TV market, intent upon building her stellar career all over again. Diana's saga is complemented by the story of her middle-aged newsperson colleague Michael (Perry King), who likewise faces competition from an up-and-coming pretty boy. It is somewhat ironic that one of the supporting characters in this film is played by Corey Donaldson, whose chief claim to fame was his participation in Survivor: Australia, one of many TV reality series in which the race is more often won by the good-looking than by the swift. Another Pretty Face debuted November 8, 2002, over the PAX network. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 2002
Don Cheadle makes his first series appearance as Paul Nathan, an overaged med student who chose to enter school only after being diagnosed with Parkinson's disease. During his first shift, Nathan plunges in to help the other staffers treat the victims of a Halloween party fire -- whereupon his colleagues notice that he doesn't react all that well to intense pressure. In other developments, Corday (Alex Kingston) and Romano (Paul McCrane) battle over a patient who may be facing an amputation; despite her recent erratic behavior, Weaver (Laura Innes) tries to save a baby who was all but killed in a home birth gone awry; and the romance between Chuny (Laura Ceron) and Kovac (Goran Visnjic) is sabotaged by his insatiable addiction to sex. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
A man is sent into the future to see the possible results of his actions in this mixture of sci-fi adventure and Christian drama. In 1890, Russell Carlisle (D. David Morin) is a philosopher and college professor who has completed a manuscript he calls "The Changing Times." The university where Carlisle teaches is considering publishing his latest work, but a committee of ranking professors under the leadership of the school's Dean (Hal Linden) must first vote unanimously to approve the material. One of Carlisle's colleagues, Norris Anderson (Gavin MacLeod), strongly objects to the paper on the grounds that Carlisle contends morality can be taught apart from Christianity -- a view that Anderson, a devout Christian, cannot abide. Carlisle becomes increasingly frustrated with Anderson's objections, but after the meeting, Anderson shows Carlisle something remarkable -- a working time machine he has built in his home. Using this innovation, Anderson sends Carlisle to a typical American city in the year 2001, in order to show the impact his ideas could have as he witnesses a society in which morality and Christianity are considered separate entities. As he tries to make his way through modern-day America, Carlisle becomes friendly with Eddie (Paul Rodriguez), a well-meaning regular guy, and Michelle (Jennifer O'Neill), a beautiful woman with a mind of her own. Time Changer is the first feature film from writer and director Rich Christiano, who has been making short films for the Christian marketplace since 1991. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- D David Morin, Gavin MacLeod, (more)
Director Barry Levinson follows up the low-budget An Everlasting Piece (2000) with another comedy, this one of the homegrown variety from former Twin Peaks (1990) TV series writer Harley Peyton. Bruce Willis stars as suave bank robber Joe, who has escaped from prison with his hypochondriac buddy Terry (Billy Bob Thornton). Together, the two men have devised a clever scheme to take a bank officer hostage the night before a heist, then simply escort the executive to work early the next morning when they clean out the vault. Their ingenious methods have led to the men becoming media darlings dubbed "the Sleepover Bandits," but all Joe and Terry want is to make a nice pile of money before crossing the Mexican border to a life of freedom and legitimacy. Their quest gets more complicated when Terry is struck by a car driven by Kate Wheeler (Cate Blanchett), a bored housewife who's then forced to join their crime spree. Soon both Joe and Terry are in love with Kate and she with them, realizing that the two friends put together pretty much equal the perfect man. Bandits co-stars Troy Garity, son of actress Jane Fonda. ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Bruce Willis, Billy Bob Thornton, (more)
- 2001
Peter Falk returns to the role of Lt. Columbo -- he of the grimy trenchcoat, dumb-like-a-fox interrogations, and the inevitable "Just one more question" -- in this two-hour TV-movie special. British comic actor Billy Connolly guest stars as famed movie composer/conductor Findlay Crawford, who commits murder rather than have the public discover that his Oscar-winning movie scores were ghostwritten by a younger and more talented tunesmith. Although the hard-drinking Crawford does a magnificent job covering his tracks and deflecting suspicion, shabby little Lt. Columbo suspects that there is more to the case than meets the eye. Beyond the usual cat-and-mouse banter between the detective and his prey, the film includes such highlights as a musical duet between Falk and Connelly (who knew that Peter Falk was capable of so stirring a rendition of "That's Amore"?). Reportedly filmed in 1999, Columbo: Murder With Too Many Notes made its ABC network bow on March 12, 2001. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
David Portlock's darkly comic film about race, The Gristle, concerns a pair of struggling medical technicians who get a moonlighting gig to deliver kidneys to a Senator. Complications ensue when a drug deal set to go down in the same place and at the same time leads to the wrong deliveries being made to the wrong groups of people. Soon the pair of kidney deliverers hatch a plan to get the drug money all for themselves. ~ Perry Seibert, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Michael Dorn, Barry Corbin, (more)
- 2001
The gay adult film industry is the backdrop for this drama focusing on Sean (Michael Cunio), a young gay man who is looking for a job in the movie business. While trying to rent a video of Citizen Kane, Sean accidentally brings home a video from Men of Janus Productions, an outfit that churns out hardcore porn movies with exclusively male casts, finding himself infatuated with Johnny Rebel (Scott Gurney), the film's hunky leading man. Sean lands a job with Men of Janus helping out the camera crew, but he soon finds himself serving a different function on the set -- he becomes the "fluffer," who helps the actors "warm up" for their sex scenes. Sean is more than happy to be working with Johnny, but he soon makes the surprising discovery that Johnny is straight and only appears in gay porn because he can make more money than in heterosexual sex films. What's more, Sean learns Johnny has a girlfriend, Babylon (Roxanne Day), who works as an exotic dancer and is not enthusiastic about her lover's current career. The Fluffer was written and co-directed by Wash West, who previously shot and directed several hardcore gay films himself. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Scott Gurney
Laramie, WY, is a small town which became infamous overnight in the fall of 1998, when Matthew Shepard, a gay college student, was found tied to a fence after being brutally beaten and left to die, setting off a nationwide debate about hate crimes and homophobia. A month after the crime, Moises Kaufman, a writer and director with the New York City theater troupe the Tectonic Theater Project, traveled to Laramie with a handful of actors to interview people who lived in and around Laramie in preparation for an upcoming production; Kaufman's goal was to create a play that focused not on the assault on Matthew Shepard, but on the community where such an attack could happen, and how many of the citizens reacted to the crime. The result was The Laramie Project, which was first performed in early 2000, and was performed in Laramie in the fall of that year, two years after Kaufman and his associates first arrived in the city. The Laramie Project is a film adaptation of Kaufman's play, in which the thoughts and opinions of Laramie residents from all points of the political spectrum are presented alongside re-enacted excerpts from the trials of the two men who attacked Matthew Shepard. Produced for the premium cable network HBO, The Laramie Project was adapted for the screen by Moises Kaufman, who served as both writer and director. The distinguished cast includes Dylan Baker, Steve Buscemi, Peter Fonda, Janeane Garofolo, Laura Linney, Amy Madigan, Camryn Manheim, Christina Ricci, and Frances Sternhagen. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Christina Ricci, Peter Fonda, (more)
Bobby Farrelly and brother Peter Farrelly continue exploring outrageous premises with this comedy directed by their first assistant director J.B. Rogers. In this wacky spin on the boy-meets-girl tale, Gilly Noble (Chris Klein) enters a sexually charged, passionate love affair with girl of his dreams Jo Wingfield (Heather Graham). After a happy time together, they soon realize that they are brother and sister and quickly break it off. Jo begins a new life elsewhere and Gilly is left heartbroken -- until he learns that Jo is not actually his sister; the incest suggestion was in fact a lie begun by a meddlesome third party. As Gilly travels to meet up with his beloved, he finds out that Jo is engaged to be married to another man; he must put a stop to it, even while everyone still believes he is Jo's sibling and is committing an unnatural act. Say It Isn't So also features Sally Field, Orlando Jones, and Farrelly stalwarts Richard Jenkins and Lin Shaye. ~ Jason Clark, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Chris Klein, Heather Graham, (more)
- 2000
In this follow-up to the Star Trek: Voyager episode "Fair Haven," a computer glitch causes the citizens of Fair Haven, an 18th century Irish village created in the Holoprogram, to cross over into the "real" Voyager. Observing the crew playing holographic games, the "fabricated" villagers assume that the crew members all have magical powers, possibly demonic in nature. As Janeway renews her romance with Fair Haven bartender Michael Sullivan (Fintan McKeown), Paris (Robert Duncan McNeill) and Kim (Garrett Wang) are captured by several other holographic villagers, who fear that they are on the verge of being banished to oblivion. "Spirit Folk" originally aired on February 23, 2000. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Roxann Dawson
- 2000
Fair Haven is the name of a quaint 18th century Irish village, created in the ship's Holoprogram by crewmen Paris (Robert Duncan McNeill) and Kim (Garrett Wang). With the threatened approach of a dangerous neutrino wave weighing heavily upon her, Janeway (Kate Mulgrew) permits herself and her crew to get their minds off their troubles by spending 24 hours in Fair Haven. Fantasy and reality collide head-on when Janeway falls in love with Irish pubkeeper Michael Sullivan (Fintan McKeown), a holocharacter created especially for her. "Fair Haven" originally aired on January 12, 2000. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Roxann Dawson
- 1999
Produced for the TNT cable network, this is the last in a short series of TV movies starring Burt Reynolds as retired police detective Logan McQueen. Something of a bargain-basement Die Hard, the plot is set in motion when a disturbed, vengeance-seeking Vietnam veteran named Arlin Flynn (Keith Carradine) takes over the landmark California hotel where congressman Robert Sinclair (David Rasche) is delivering a speech, then kidnaps Sinclair's family. The situation becomes personal for maverick former cop McQueen when his ex-partner Charlie Duffy (Charles Durning) is also kidnapped while trying to negotiate with Flynn. Despite the many deadly booby traps set in and around the besieged hotel by the crazed but clever villain, McQueen endeavors to defuse the crisis and rescue the hostages himself. Directed by longtime Burt Reynolds crony Hal Needham, Hostage Hotel first aired November 14, 1999. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Burt Reynolds, Charles Durning, (more)
Yet another Saturday Night Live alumnus makes his bid for big-screen success as Rob Schneider, best remembered as the "Making copies!" guy, tackles his first leading role in this broad comedy. Deuce (Rob Schneider) earns a meager living as a professional fish tank cleaner until he's asked to housesit for a gigolo. Deuce mistakenly answers the gigolo's business phone and finds himself having sex with a woman he's never met and getting paid for it (not a bad deal, since women generally avoid Deuce like the Ebola virus). It's not long before Deuce learns that there's more to selling your body than one might expect: for example, being re-styled by your pimp or having to explain your new source of income when the owner of the house gets home. Deuce Bigalow: Male Gigolo was the first feature film produced by Adam Sandler's production company, Happy Madison; Sandler himself makes a cameo appearance, while Oded Fehr, William Forsythe, Eddie Griffin, and Marlo Thomas highlight the supporting cast. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Rob Schneider, William Forsythe, (more)
- 1999
After months of unemployment, young MBA Jenny Morgan (Heidi Noelle Lenhart) applies for what she thinks is an administrative position with the firm owned by handsome business executive Oliver Caldwell (Gregory Harrison). Unforutnately, someone's signals have gotten crossed, and Jenny finds she has been hired as nanny for the widowed Caldwell's spoiled-brat kids Kate (Katie Volding) and Alex (Jake Dinwiddie). Despite her daunting lack of experience as a surrogate mom, Jenny manages to bond with the kids, who behave badly mainly because their dad doesn't spend any time with them. During a trip abroad, Kate and Alex decide to play matchmaker for Oliver and Jenny, even though both adults already have fiancés. But taking into account that Kate's boyfriend Charlie (Michael Woolson) is an aimless dork and Oliver's intended Vivian (Jane Sibbert) is a bitch on wheels, it isn't hard to figure out how things will turn out. And if there are any doubts, just ask Caldwell's wry, all-knowing chauffeur Nigel Kent (John Rhys-Davies). Set in Paris (but actually filmed in Budapest!), the made-for-cable Au Pair originally aired August 22, 1999, on the Fox Family Channel; its open-ended finale enabled the producers to dash off a sequel, Au Pair II, in 2001. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Peter Gibbons (Ron Livingston) is a computer programmer working for Initech in Houston. Every day, he and his friends Samir (Ajay Naidu) and Michael Bolton (David Herman as not THAT Michael Bolton), suffer endless indignities and humiliations in their soulless workspace from their soulless boss, Bill Lumbergh (Gary Cole). For Peter, stuck in his cookie-cutter apartment with paper-thin walls and IKEA furniture, every day is worse than the one before it -- so every day is the worst of his life. To cap it off, Initech has hired a pair of "efficiency experts" to downsize the company. One Friday night, Peter's soon to be ex-girlfriend Anne (Alexandra Wentworth) forces him to go to an occupational hypnotherapist to relieve work stress. While Peter is under hypnosis, the therapist keels over and dies. As he never snaps out of his hypnotic state, Peter has a new outlook on life. If something annoys him, he just ignores it or walks away from it. He is completely relaxed and enjoying life for the first time in a long time. On Monday, Peter skips work and sleeps in. He gets up for lunch and drives down to a restaurant next to his office and asks the waitress he's had a crush on, Joanna (Jennifer Aniston), on a date. When Peter stops into the office to pick up his organizer, he's called in to talk to the efficiency experts. Relaxed and friendly, Peter charms them as he describes everything wrong with the office, including his boss. Even as Peter now appears at work only as the mood strikes him, the experts decide he's management material and give him a promotion even as they lay off the hardworking Samir and Michael. Peter then convinces his friends to exact revenge on Initech based upon an idea from Superman III. Not everything works out quite as planned. Office Space originated from writer/director Mike Judge's first animated short of the same name, created in 1991. The short was about Milton (reproduced in the film by Stephen Root), a damaged office drone whose complaints and threats about his sufferings go unheeded. ~ Ron Wells, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ron Livingston, Jennifer Aniston, (more)
Although he enjoyed great critical success with crime dramas and slice-of-life pictures, director Barbet Schroeder continued dabbling in the thriller genre with this action-oriented film. Andy Garcia stars as Frank Conner, a widowed San Francisco police officer whose young son Matt (Joseph Cross) is suffering from leukemia. Without a bone marrow transplant, Matt will die, but Frank isn't a donor. In fact, the only potential match is prison inmate Peter McCabe (Michael Keaton), a psychotic but charming serial killer. At first, McCabe refused to participate despite Conner's pleas, but eventually, the convict relents and agrees to the procedure. It is all a ruse, however, as McCabe has discovered a clever way to escape the confines of the operating room where Matt's oncologist, Dr. Hawkins (Marcia Gay Harden) is scheduled to perform the transplant. Faced with the dual nightmare of his son's deteriorating condition and a mass murderer on the loose in a major metropolitan hospital, the frantic Conner finds himself bending and even breaking the law to bring McCabe down and save Matt's life. ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Michael Keaton, Andy Garcia, (more)
- 1998
In this feature-length episode of the enduring and endearing television detective drama, the world's most rumpled police investigator, Lt. Columbo investigates the mysterious disappearance of a controversial Hollywood gossip columnist. Columbo's prime suspect is a secretive mortician who specializes in celebrity funerals. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Peter Falk, Patrick McGoohan, (more)
Two lawmen find the call of corruption too loud to ignore in the drama Route 9. Booth Parker (Kyle MacLachlan) and Earl Whitney (Wade Williams) are two deputies in a small town who discover a crime scene along a deserted highway. There appears to have been a shoot-out with no living witnesses, and left in the dust by the side of the road are a van filled with illegal drugs and $1 million in cash. Booth and Earl are too weak to resist the urge to take the money, but when a federal agent (Roma Maffia) arrives to look into the case, they soon discover there's more to the crime than they originally expected. The knots become even more tangled when another sheriff (Peter Coyote), whose wife has been sleeping with Booth, starts sticking his nose into the case. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Kyle MacLachlan, Peter Coyote, (more)
- 1998
Acathla, a demon turned to stone by an ancient knight, is dug up during the construction of a new housing project. Angel (David Boreanaz) steals Acathla in hopes of using the demon for the stultifyingly original purpose of opening a portal to Hell. Meanwhile, Buffy (Sarah Michelle Gellar) and Willow (Alyson Hannigan) discover the disk Jenny (Robia La Morte) saved the spell to restore Angel's soul on (see "Passion"). Despite Giles' (Anthony Stewart Head) protestations, Willow readies herself to cast the spell. Unexpectedly, Kendra (Bianca Lawson) shows up with the blessed sword of the knight who turned Acathla to stone. Soon, Angel lures Buffy away from the library and Drusilla (Juliet Landau) leads an attack to capture Giles. Subsequently, Kendra is killed. As this is the first part of the second season finale, the episode is peppered with flashbacks to other episodes highlighting important events, such as Darla (Julie Benz) siring Angel in "Angel." ~ All Movie Guide
In this action-suspense thriller, orphaned nine-year-old autistic savant Simon (Miko Hughes) deciphers a government code hidden in a puzzle magazine. Calling for his prize, Simon triggers an alarm at the National Security Agency: NSA chief Nicholas Kudrow (Alec Baldwin), who says the code protects covert American operatives all over the world, sends an assassin to do away with Simon. Simon's parents are killed, but Simon survives, hiding in a secret closet crawlspace where he's later discovered by maverick FBI agent Art Jeffries (Bruce Willis). Simon is emotionally unpredictable, complicating matters as Art drags him all over Chicago, eluding Kudrow's hitman in a variety of interesting locations (train tracks, street scenes, heliport, Wrigley building) and improbable situations. Based on the novel Simple Simon by Ryne Douglas Peardon, the film features Industrial Light & Magic special FX/animation. ~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Bruce Willis, Alec Baldwin, (more)
Howard Deutch directed this sequel to the The Odd Couple (1968), originally adapted from the 1965 Broadway comedy by Neil Simon. Thirty years later, Felix Ungar (Jack Lemmon) and retired sportswriter Oscar Madison (Walter Matthau) meet at LAX and drive a rental car across the desert to attend the wedding of Oscar's son Brucey (Jonathan Silverman) to Felix's daughter Hannah (Lisa Waltz), but a breakdown leaves them stranded at some distance from the main highways where they are sprayed by a cropduster and hang out with two flirtatious women (Christine Baranski, Jean Smart) in a small-town bar before getting a lift from slow-driving elderly Beaumont (Barnard Hughes), eventually arriving at the wedding. Composer Alan Silvestri brings in Neal Hefti's original theme from the 1968 film, music also featured in ABC's 1970-75 TV series with Tony Randall and Jack Klugman. Another Odd Couple sequel is the TV movie The Odd Couple: Together Again (CBS, 1993, repeated July 1997), starring Randall and Klugman; it also involved the wedding of Felix's daughter. ~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jack Lemmon, Walter Matthau, (more)
