Noah Wyle

After over a decade in front of the camera on NBC's hit medical drama ER, Noah Wyle took his first stab at directing with this romantic comedy. From a script by first-time scribe Rachel Weinhaus, Prince Test follows the humorous exploits of a female private investigator specializing in infidelity. ~ Matthew Tobey, All Movie Guide

An adventurous former librarian sets out in search of the legendary mines of King Solomon in this epic sequel to The Librarian: Quest for the Spear starring Noah Wyle, Gabrielle Anwar, Bob Newhart, and Olympia Dukakis. Flynn Carsen (Wyle) was a quiet bookworm whose 12 bachelor's degrees, six master's degrees, and four Ph.D.'s weren't earned by risking his life at the far corners of the globe. But now school is over, and the only way to uncover some of history's most exciting secrets is to travel into the field and set out on the adventure of a lifetime. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

Narrated by ER-star Noah Wyle (not a doctor, though he played one on TV), this four-part Discovery Channel series detailed the trial and error and triumphs and tragedies that culminated in what are now considered "routine" medical procedures. It was shown that the great medical pioneers were often ignored or vilified, and seldom properly funded. Still, such procedures and paraphernalia as heart transplants, blood transfusions, sterilization, antibiotics, x-rays, and pacemakers had to start somewhere. Mavericks, Miracles and Medicine debuted September 16, 2003. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

A Cinderella story turns into a nightmare when a former waitress' perfect marriage gives way to adultery and physical abuse in this combination of domestic drama and revenge thriller. Motherless young woman Slim (Jennifer Lopez) works in a San Francisco diner with her best friend, Ginny (Juliette Lewis). After almost succumbing to the slick flirtation of an insincere customer (Noah Wyle), she is rescued by another dashing diner named Mitch (Bill Campbell). A few years later, the now happily married couple seem to have it all -- a perfect house, a precocious daughter (Tessa Allen), and a comfortable life. Then, Slim discovers that Mitch is actually a lothario who has been sleeping with other women behind her back. When she protests, he slaps her around and uses daughter Gracie as leverage to keep her in line. Slim enlists the help of her friends to escape with her child, though Mitch attacks and very nearly kills her in the process. Going on the lam, Slim adopts a series of new identities, wigs, and residences to avoid the goons Mitch has sent to retrieve her. Along the way, she receives help from Joe (Dan Futterman), a friend and old flame from college. Ultimately, Mitch and his unexpected allies so terrify Slim that she must turn the tables and transform herself from hunted to hunter. In doing so, she receives some surprise assistance of her own -- from Jupiter (Fred Ward), the rich father who abandoned her mother years ago. Although the soundtrack to Enough features the music of star J. Lo, the title song was written especially for the film by Magnolia tunesmith Aimee Mann. ~ Brian J. Dillard, All Movie Guide

Resolving the cliffhanger ending of season seven, season eight of the award-winning hospital drama ER surveys the damage done when the emergency room of Chicago County was besieged by a gun-wielding lunatic whose son Dr. Greene (Anthony Edwards) had put in foster care. In subsequent episodes, two new characters are introduced: medical student Michael Gallant (Sharif Atkins) and intern Dr. Gregory Pratt (Mekhi Phifer), two polar-opposite personalities whose only common bond is the fact that they are both African-Americans. Under normal circumstances, the season's most dramatic development might have been the return after a five-year absence of Dr. Susan Lewis (Sherry Stringfield), who finds herself re-upping with the ER even though that hadn't been her original intention (the fate of Susan's troublesome sister Chloe and Chloe's daughter, Suzy, would be explained in a "crossover" episode with another NBC series, Third Watch). However, too much happens this season for any one plot strand to predominate. For starters, Dr. Benton (Eriq La Salle) enters into a bitter custody battle over his son, Reese, with Roger (Vondie Curtis-Hall), the widow of Reese's late mother, who had previously been helping to raise the boy, during which Benton's paternity is called into question; this and other crises ultimately inspire Benton to leave the ER and go to work in a small clinic with his current girlfriend, Dr. Cleo Finch (Michael Michele) -- who, ironically, has become exposed to the HIV virus, just like Benton's former sweetheart Jeanie Boulet. Elsewhere, nurse Abby Lockhart (Maura Tierney) tries to mediate an argument between her neighbors, only to get beaten up for her trouble; though East European émigré Dr. Luka Kovac (Goran Visnjic) seizes upon this incident to appoint himself Abby's "protector," she is still sweet on Dr. John Carter (Noah Wyle). As for Carter, he is burdened with family problems brought about by his estranged parents -- especially his guilt-tripping mom. On a lighter note, a case of on-the-job political incorrectness gets several of the ER doctors "sentenced" to a weekend sensitivity-training session, which evolves into the series' own version of The Breakfast Club. In addition to the departing Eriq La Salle, season eight of ER marks the exit of Anthony Edwards as Dr. Mark Greene. After learning that his tumor has returned and is now truly inoperable, Greene slowly loses his faculties and wastes away, as his new wife, Elizabeth Corday (Alex Kingston), and daughter Rachel (Hallee Hirsh) stand by helplessly. Greene's final episode, largely told in flashback, is one of the series' most poignant moments. Curiously, however, the demise of Dr. Greene does not take place in the season finale; that particular episode is reserved for a cliffhanger situation involving a smallpox scare, a lockdown at the ER, and a riot -- not to mention a passionate kiss between two of the principal characters. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

A small-time crook who worships Steve McQueen gets in over his head in French music video director Dominique Forma's debut feature, Scenes of the Crime. Lenny (Jon Abrahams of Scary Movie) is about to be married, but he skips his own bachelor party to drive for thug Rick (Peter Greene), who, unbeknownst to Lenny, is planning a kidnapping. The kidnapping plot goes awry, and Lenny ends up alone in the van, holding the soft-spoken victim, Jimmy (Jeff Bridges), at gunpoint. Jimmy turns out to be a powerful criminal himself and warns Lenny that there will be dire consequences if he isn't released unharmed. While Jimmy's partner (Bob Gunton) negotiates his release with Rick's boss (Loyd Catlett), Jimmy's slimy bodyguard, Seth (Noah Wyle of E.R.), tries to figure out a way to resolve the situation himself. As the van sits parked on a city street, the couple that runs the nearby deli (Morris Chestnut and Madchen Amick) and a senile old man who lives nearby (R. Lee Ermey) become involved in the tense standoff. Based on an anecdote Forma heard in a seedy bar, Scenes of the Crime was shown in competition at the 2002 Tribeca Film Festival. ~ Josh Ralske, All Movie Guide

A seemingly-minor electronic error sets the world on the verge of nuclear annihilation in this made-for-TV adaptation of the novel by Eugene Burdick and Harvey Wheeler (which was previously filmed in 1964). Due to the burn-out of a piece of circuitry, a computer orders a U.S. Air Force jet on a strategic bombing raid, destroying targets in Russia with nuclear weapons. As Generals Bogan (Brian Dennehy) and Black (Harvey Keitel) desperately search for a way to recall the planes once the mistake has been discovered, the bomber's commander, Col. Grady (George Clooney) sets out on his mission with grim determination, while the President (Richard Dreyfuss) and his translator (Noah Wyle) stay in contact with the Soviet premier, trying to convince him that this was all a terrible mistake. Fail Safe was first presented as a live television broadcast which aired on CBS on April 9, 2000. The supporting cast includes Hank Azaria, Don Cheadle, James Cromwell, and Sam Elliott. Star George Clooney spearheaded the unique project and served as executive producer. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

This tech-world biopic traces the fortunes of personal-computer companies Apple and Microsoft from their obscure dorm-room and backyard origins to their very public battle for corporate supremacy. Writer/director Martyn Burke follows the parallel lives of Microsoft founder Bill Gates (Anthony Michael Hall) and Apple co-founders Steve Jobs (Noah Wyle) and Steve Wozniak (Joey Slotnick) -- the former a crafty Harvard dropout, the latter a pair of hippies with jobs at Hewlett-Packard and a yen to sell miniature versions of corporate mainframes to small businesses and at-home enthusiasts. Much like the personal-computer industry itself, the action starts with Apple then gradually shifts to Microsoft. The former plot thread recounts how Jobs and Wozniak "borrowed" key concepts from a Xerox computer lab, eked out their success as countercultural businessmen, and finally fell out with one another over the pressure of success. The latter thread focuses on the way Gates learned from, then surpassed, the brains behind Apple and turned his company into the global powerhouse that it is today. Based on Paul Freiberger and Michael Swaine's Fire in the Valley: The Making of the Personal Computer, the film actually focuses only on that book's final chapters. Produced for cable channel TNT, Pirates of Silicon Valley debuted June 18, 1999. ~ Brian J. Dillard, All Movie Guide

It's another year of triumph and tragedy in the emergency room of Chicago's County General Hospital as ER enters its fifth season. New to the cast this year is Kellie Martin as inexperienced and somewhat klutzy medical student Lucy Knight, who soon proves to be a major thorn in the side of her supervisor, Dr. John Carter (Noah Wyle). Even so, Carter and Lucy grow quite fond of one another, with the possibility of a serious relationship waiting in the wings. The season's major plot developments include the decision by British doctor Elizabeth Corday (Alex Kingston) to remain in the U.S. as intern for the prickly Dr. Robert Romano (Paul McCrane), a career move she soon has cause to regret; Romano's later brush with sexual-harassment charges; the efforts by Dr. Benton (Eriq La Salle) to find proper treatment for his hearing-impaired son and the tempestuous relationship between Benton's HIV-positive former girlfriend Jeanie (Gloria Reuben) and police officer Reggie Moore (Cress Williams); Benton's later, epiphany-sparking odyssey at a backwater clinic in Mississippi; another career-threatening crisis for Dr. Ross (George Clooney), who must shoulder much of the responsibly of the death of an ALD patient; a mini-tragedy involving Greene and his profoundly disturbed patient, a Nigerian-born janitor (Djimon Hounsou) who cannot overcome memories of torture at the hands of his countrymen; and the ascension of abrasive Dr. Kerry Weaver (Laura Innes) to ER chief, after the first candidate turns out to be a phony physician. ER makes media history this season, first by reaching its 100th episode (which, appropriately enough, deals with a woman who was born 100 years earlier at Chicago County), then by emerging as the most expensive weekly TV drama series in history, budgeted at 13 million dollars per episode. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Season four of ER opens with the famous "live" episode, which was originally telecast in "you are there" documentary fashion (with two separate stagings, one each for the East and West Coasts). This episode serves to introduce a new regular, British doctor Elizabeth Corday (Alex Kingston). Within a few weeks, Elizabeth has inaugurated a romance with irascible Dr. Peter Benton (Eriq La Salle), who is presently occupied with caring for his deaf son, Reese. Another character, overachieving pediatrician Dr. Anna Del Amico (Maria Bello), graduates from recurring to regular status just in time to enter into a relationship with Dr. John Carter (Noah Wyle). Also joining the cast this season is the obnoxious, obstreperous Dr. Robert Romano (Paul McCrane), whose dislike of Dr. Corday borders on the obsessive; and Carter's fabulously wealthy grandmother, played by Frances Sternhagen. Dr. Greene (Anthony Edwards) spends much of the season trying to overcome the physical and emotional scars after being severely beaten by an unknown assailant near the end of season three. When Dr. Ross (George Clooney) heads to California to handle funeral arrangements for his ne'er-do-well father, Greene accompanies him, and along the way he endures a painful reunion with his own parents. Elsewhere, Nurse Carol Hathaway (Julianna Margulies) breaks off her rekindled romance with Ross; gruff ER head Dr. Anspaugh (John Aylward) is "humanized" by the serious illness of his son; Dr. Weaver (Laura Innes) is appointed new acting chief of emergency services, leading to a brief fling with the CEO in charge of the cost-cutting organization that has purchased Chicago County; Greene makes a bid for the position of pediatrics attending physician, causing a sharp divide between those for and against his promotion; and Benton's ex-girlfriend Jeanie (Gloria Reuben) tries to lead a normal life and career despite her AIDs. The season closes with Ross in deep trouble (again!), this time over his unauthorized treatment of a drug-addicted baby. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide