Tracey Ullman Movies
An irrepressible "Jill of All Trades," British actress Tracey Ullman is master of all of them. Winning an arts scholarship at age 12, Ullman worked as a professional dancer with a German ballet company before channelling her energies into musical comedy. For her work in the West End production Four in a Million, Ullman was honored with the London Theatre Critics' award as Most Promising New Actress of 1981. Two years later, she was presented with a British Academy Award for her efforts on BBC Television. While still in her early twenties, she headlined her own British comedy/variety TV series, Three of a Kind, and climbed the pop-music charts with her singles "You Broke My Heart in 17 Places" and "They Don't Know." After an inauspicious film debut in 1984's Give My Regards to Broad Street, Ullman ascended to film stardom in such productions as Plenty (1985), Jumpin' Jack Flash (1986), I Love You to Death (1990), Death Becomes Her (1992), and I'll Do Anything (1994). In 1987, she launched her American TV career with the Fox Network's weekly The Tracey Ullman Show, a superb showcase for her many offbeat characterizations, including mixed-up teen Francesca, selfish yuppie Sara Downey, repressed spinster Kay, and Goodallesque anthropologist Ceci Beckwith. The Tracey Ullman Show not only won the Fox Network its first Emmy nomination, but also spawned the popular cartoon series The Simpsons, which first took shape as a series of between-the-acts animated vignettes. While the show indeed served well to earn the wildly versatile actress a loyal stateside fanbase, it was her 1996 Emmy-winning HBO series Tracey Takes On... that truly allowed Ullman the chance to cut loose in front of the camera. A freewhelling comedy smorgasbord that allowed Ullman the opportunity to tackle a different topic each week, Tracey Takes On... continued to give testament to its star's remarkable knack for character play. Later branching out with roles in such popular television series' as Ally McBeal and Will and Grace, Ullman proved that she was as capable of livening up the material of others as she was of creating her own. Supporting roles in such features as Panic and Woody Allen's Small Time Crooks kept the energetic player busy on the big screen, and in 2004 she would take the lead as an uptight suburban mom transformed into a insatiable sex-addict by a head concussionin director John Waters' raunchy comedy A Dirty Shame. Voice work in The Cat That Looked LIke a King, Corpse Bride, and Kronk's New Groove found Ullman flexing her vocal chords to impressive effect in late-2004 and early-2005, and after taking a trip to the land of fairytales in the made for television production of Once Upon a Mattress, it was time to step into the role of the mischevous Mother Mature in director Amy Heckerling's 2006 romantic comedy I Could Never Be Your Woman. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
James L. Brooks' showbiz comedy I'll Do Anything is "The Musical That Almost Was" (after test screenings Brooks removed all the musical numbers in the film, turning the film into a songless romantic comedy). Matt Hobbs (Nick Nolte) is a hardly working actor who finds himself raising his 6-year-old daughter Jeannie (Whittni Wright) after her mother Beth (Tracey Ullman) is sent away to prison. Since Matt now has to support a daughter, he has to develop more regular work habits. As a result, he takes a job as a chauffeur for a William Castle-inspired schlockmeister named Burke Adler (Albert Brooks). As Adler develops a relationship with divorced test-marketing researcher Nan Mulhanney (Julie Kavner), Matt becomes romantically attached to beautiful development executive Cathy Breslow (Joely Richardson). ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Nick Nolte, Whittni Wright, (more)
This large, sprawling comedy directed by Robert Altman concerns a variety of romantic and personal intrigues that intersect against the backdrop of Paris's annual "Pret-a-Porter" fashion extravaganza. With 31 principal characters and a number of cameos from well known models, designers, actors and actresses, there's far too much going on to describe the film in a limited space, but Julia Roberts and Tim Robbins get stuck in a hotel room together, Danny Aiello wears a dress, Sophia Loren and Marcello Mastroianni reignite their old passion (or at least try to), Stephen Rea humiliates a number of female journalists, Kim Basinger often looks dumbfounded, and Lyle Lovett plays a Texan (talk about imaginative casting!). Originally called Pret-a-Porter, this underwent a last-minute title change when the distributor discovered very few Americans understood what the French phrase means, with the English translation taking its place. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Sophia Loren, Marcello Mastroianni, (more)
Bullets Over Broadway is a Woody Allen romp that, as the title suggests, combines gangsters with show business at the height of the Roaring Twenties. David Shayne (John Cusack) is a straight-arrow playwright who plans to stand firm against compromising his work, but quickly abandons that stance when his producer (Jack Warden) finds a backer to mount his show on Broadway. There's just one catch, however: the backer is a mobster (Joe Viterelli) who sees Shayne's play as a vehicle for his dizzy, talent-free girlfriend, Olive (Jennifer Tilly). Shayne also has to deal with the demands of veteran theatre diva Helen Sinclair (Dianne Wiest) and is shocked to discover that Olive's hitman bodyguard, Cheech (Chazz Palminteri), is probably a better playwright than he is, as he secretly revises Shayne's work when he sits in on rehearsals. ~ Don Kaye, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- John Cusack, Jack Warden, (more)
- 1993
- PG13
Mel Brooks directed and co-wrote this satiric comedy which lampoons a number of cinematic treatments of the legend of Sherwood Forest, including Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves and The Adventures of Robin Hood. Robin Hood (Cary Elwes) comes home after fighting in the Crusades to learn that the noble King Richard (Patrick Stewart) is in exile and that the despotic King John (Richard Lewis) now rules England, with the help of the Sheriff of Rottingham (Roger Rees). Robin Hood assembles a band of fellow patriots to do battle with John and the Sheriff, including Asneeze (Isaac Hayes) and his son Ahchoo (Dave Chappelle), the blind watchman Blinkin (Mark Blankfield), Will Scarlet O'Hara (Matthew Porretta), and Rabbi Tuckman (Brooks). The Sheriff is eager to put Robin Hood out of business with the aid of criminal mastermind Don Giovanni (Dom DeLuise), but Robin soon has an ally in the royal palace when he falls for the lovely Maid Marian (Amy Yasbeck), whose minder Broomhilde (Megan Cavanagh) has uncooperatively outfitted Marian with a chastity belt. The cast also includes Tracy Ullman, Robert Ridgely, and Clive Revill. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Cary Elwes, Richard Lewis, (more)
- 1993
- R
Household Saints is a leisurely-paced portrait of three different generations of working-class, New York-based, Italian women. Carmela Santangelo (Judith Malina) is an elderly immigrant whose son (Vincent D'Onofrio) wins a wife, Catherine Falconetti (Tracey Ullman), during a pinochle game. The pair have a daughter, Teresa (Lili Taylor), who becomes obsessed with religion, eventually believing that she will become the bride of Christ. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Tracey Ullman, Vincent D'Onofrio, (more)
- 1991
A classic presentation of this delightful fairy tale. This is part of the "We All Have Tales" series. ~ All Movie Guide
In this unauthorized sequel to Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, the animation is so bad that it makes Scooby Doo look like Fantasia. Disney's litigation against the film caused its theatrical release to be delayed for several years. But there was no need to worry -- there is no way that Happily Ever After could ever be confused with the Disney classic. The story takes up where Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs leaves off. After the demise of the evil queen, a group of grotesque creatures are celebrating in the castle, led by Scowl the Owl (voice of Ed Asner) and his bat sidekick Batso (voice of Frank Welker). But soon the scowling brother of the evil queen, Lord Malice (voice of Malcolm McDowell), arrives and busts up the festivities, declaring vengeance upon the cartoon characters responsible for his sister's death. Utilizing the Looking Glass (voice of Dom DeLuise), he locates the whereabouts of Snow White, changes into the form of a dragon, and goes out hunting. While all this is going on, Snow White (voice of Irene Cara) and Prince Charming (voice of Michael Horton) are heading off into the forest to invite the Seven Dwarfs to their wedding. On the way, Lord Malice appears and kidnaps Prince Charming, carrying him off to the Realm of Doom. Snow White breaks free and escapes to the home of the Seven Dwarfs. Since the Seven Dwarfs apparently have exclusive contracts with Disney, Snow White meets instead the female Dwarfelles, who explain that their male cousins are away on business. Like a kiddie-cartoon version of Sigourney Weaver's Ripley character from the Alien movies, Snow White empowers herself and the Dwarfelles, and they head off to rescue Prince Charming from the clutches of Lord Malice. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Irene Cara, Ed Asner, (more)
Lawrence Kasdan's black comedy about a wife's ultimate revenge against her womanizing husband is based on a true story about the wife of a pizzeria owner who decided to kill her cheating husband. When her attempt to murder him failed, the husband refused to press charges against her because he felt she had done the right thing. Kevin Kline is the pizzeria owner Joey Boca in I Love You to Death. Joey is a smooth Italian lothario, modeled after Marcello Mastroianni, who cheerfully dons his plumbers overalls to repair his female tenants' plumbing in the rental apartments the family owns. Joey feels he is justified in bedding down countless numbers of women because of all the hours he puts in day after day at the pizzeria. Plus, as he tells one of his women friends, "I'm a man. I got a lotta hormones in my body." His wife Rosalie (Tracey Ullman) sweetly ignores her husband's philandering -- that is until she visits the public library and sees Joey fondling one of tenants in the book stacks. At first Rosalie considers suicide, but finally, egged on by her mother Nadja (Joan Plowright), she determines that Joey must be the one to face the music. But the people Rosalie hires to do Joey in are of the cut-rate variety and are unsuccessful. They then try to knock Joey off by feeding him barbiturate-laced spaghetti, but also to no avail. Rosalie then enlists pizzeria employee Deco Nod (River Phoenix), who has a crush on Rosalie, to do the job. But even then, they have no luck. As a last resort, they try to hire professionals. What they get instead are two drugged-out junkies -- Harlan (William Hurt) and Marlin (Keanu Reeves) -- who arrive at the home and blast at a slumbering figure in the bedroom. Then, while they report on their progress downstairs, Joey ambles into the living room, very much alive. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Kevin Kline, Tracey Ullman, (more)
- 1986
Written for television by Victoria Wood, Happy Since I Met You is an excellent showcase for the talents of Educating Rita star Julie Walters. Cast as a ditsy dramatics teacher, Julie tries to help aspiring actor Duncan Preston. Though both resist the inevitable as long as possible, love inevitably blooms. Several well-known British actors show up in cameo roles, notably the irrespressible Tracey Ullman. Filmed in 1986, Happy Since I Met You was first seen on American cable TV in 1989. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Penny Marshall in her feature film directing debut, four screenwriters, and a ebullient Whoopi Goldberg join forces to make Jumpin' Jack Flash, a modern espionage comedy. Goldberg plays Terry Doolittle, a computer operator in a large New York City bank who picks up a cry of help on her computer. The signal is from a man who signs off as Jumpin' Jack Flash. Based on the Rolling Stones tune of that name, she figures out his secret password and opens up a Pandora's box of international intrigue. It seems Jack Flash is a pseudonym for a British agent who is trapped in Russia and desperate for information from the British Embassy that will help him escape. When Terry agrees to help him, the CIA, the KGB, British intelligence, and sundry other law enforcement organizations are all hot on her tail as she tries to help the beleaguered British agent. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Whoopi Goldberg, Jonathan Pryce, (more)
Plenty boasts a cast of actors ranging from John Gielgud as an ethical and caustic senior diplomat to Meryl Streep as Susan Traherne, a woman looking for solace and a decent life in the aftermath of World War II. After World War II has ended, along with her work in the French Resistance movement and an idealized love affair with a soldier, Susan finds jobs in the business and diplomatic worlds. Her life slowly disintegrates as she tries and fails to have a child then marries diplomat Raymond Brock (Charles Dance) and suffers further emotional decline as her rather conventional marriage eventually becomes cool and finally, alienating. Against Susan's difficulties are tumultuous events in the background -- the Suez Canal crisis and Middle East developments among them. David Hare adapted the screenplay from his successful stage play which first opened in 1978. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Meryl Streep, Charles Dance, (more)
- 1984
After a brief introduction by J.M. Barrie (Alec McCowen) and shots of the young Daisy Ashford (Carina Radford) working on a book, this children's fantasy film about the aristocracy in England at the end of the 19th century begins its surreal journey. Comedian Tracey Ullman plays Ethel Monticue, a woman who must decide between two suitors: the suave and worldly Bernard Clark (John Harding) or the clod Alfred (Kenny Ireland), sent off to London to learn how to become a gentleman. Unreal sequences, such as entering the chambers of the aristocratic elite through caverns, or a train that is really a horse stable, take the narrative of the film away from logic and into the fantasy of a child's imagination. Ullman and Ireland are excellent as the comic Ethel and Alfred, and in general this make-believe tale is one that could be appreciated by parents as well as children. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Alec McCowen, Carina Radford, (more)
- 1984
In 1984, years before she gained an audience in the United States, Tracy Ullman scored a hit with British television viewers on the comedy series Three Of A Kind, which teamed her up with Lenny Henry and David Copperfield (no, not the popular magician) for a weekly mixture of sketch comedy, musical satire, and blackout routines. Three Of A Kind presents over eighty minutes of highlights from the run of the series. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- 1984
- PG
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Having written the music and screenplay for this film, Paul McCartney also plays himself in the leading role. When the sole copy of McCartney's latest album is misplaced, he must discover its whereabouts in less than 24 hours or else risk losing his recording company to the lowlife Mr. Rath (John Bennett). McCartney performs three new songs, along with a number of classic Beatles' tunes. ~ Iotis Erlewine, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Paul McCartney, Bryan Brown, (more)
