Tom McGowan Movies

Director Robert Luketic adapts Ben Mezrich's best-seller Bringing Down the House: The Inside Story of Six M.I.T. Students Who Took Vegas for Millions to tell the true-life tale of six genius students who used their brains to beat considerable odds. Ben Campbell (Jim Sturgess) may be shy, but his wallflower reputation betrays his inner brilliance. As smart as Ben may be, however, if he can't pay his tuition he'll be kicked out of M.I.T. Fortunately, the answer to all of Ben's problems is right there in the cards. Recruited to join a team of extremely gifted students who have used their mastery of numbers to beat the odds at blackjack, Ben procures a fake identity in order to join the casino scammers and their brilliant leader -- eccentric math professor and stats genius Micky Rosa (Kevin Spacey) -- in some highly profitable weekend excursions to Las Vegas. Counting cards isn't illegal, and by using a complex series of signals, this team has cracked the code. Of course, it doesn't take long for Ben to become seduced by the glamorous Las Vegas lifestyle, and the attention afforded to him by his sexy teammate Jill Taylor (Kate Bosworth) finds him pushing his luck to the absolute limits. Laurence Fishburne stars as Cole Williams, the Sin City security chief who catches on to the group and makes it his mission to expose their lucrative blackjack scam. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

Comic actor Rowan Atkinson brought his bumbling character Mr. Bean from television to the big screen with this British comedy. Mr. Bean (Rowan Atkinson) is a well-meaning but not especially bright fellow with a gift for making the worst of any situation. Bean is about to be fired from his job as a guard at the Royal Nation Art Gallery for sleeping on the job, but the Chairman (John Mills) intervenes at the last moment. To insure that his incompetence will manifest itself so completely that there will be no choice but to get rid of him, Bean's superiors come up with a plan -- they'll send him to America to speak at a posh private gallery owned by George Grierson (Harris Yulin), where General Newton (Burt Reynolds) will display the most recent addition to his art collection, "Whistler's Mother." It's even money whether or not the museum will still be standing before Bean is done; as if this weren't enough, while in L.A. Bean is mistaken for a surgeon and forced to operate on an injured police officer. Richard Curtis, one of the film's producers, said after viewing the final product, "It's an unpleasant family movie. I'm very pleased." ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

No less than three directors contrived to piece together this crazy-quilt story (written by Dillinger scripter Phillip Yordan) of a newly-appointed Antichrist who rises up amid a morass of religious wackos, assorted demons, and Nazi war criminals. The identity of this evil agent is discovered by a relentless Nazi-hunter, who eventually convinces a couple of grizzled cops (Cameron Mitchell and original gangster Marc Lawrence) that his story is true. This long-shelved, low-budget occult weirdness was originally seen in condensed form (with the addition of some hokey stop-motion monster effects) in the horror anthology Night Train to Terror and appeared on home video as both Satan's Supper and the aptly-titled The Nightmare Never Ends. Look for Night Court's "Bull," Richard Moll (listed as "Charles Moll" in the credits), as the Nobel-winning (and far-from-bald) author of an atheist manifesto. ~ Cavett Binion, All Movie Guide

The direct-to-DVD romantic comedy Dog Gone Love is the tale of two dog lovers, bookish author Steven (Alexander Chaplin) and assistant veterinarian Rebecca (Lindsay Sloane). Upon meeting Steven, Rebecca makes the assumption that he is gay. Steven allows her to go on believing this so that he can use her expertise in all things canine to research his latest novel -- and besides, he thinks she's cute. Originally rated R, Dog Gone Love was whittled down to a safe PG-13 when the film made its cable-TV debut over the Lifetime network on July 29, 2005. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Weaver (Laura Innes) is suspended by Romano (Paul McCrane) for defying his orders not to operate on a severely retarded
girl. Elizabeth Corday's (Alex Kingston) medical treatment of Greene's dad (John Cullum) causes a falling out between herself and Greene (Anthony Edwards). Kovac (Goran Visnjic) is dissatisfied when one of several people is chosen as a kidney recipient. A patient whom Carter (Noah Wyle) was forced to discharge returns in terrible shape. And Cleo (Michael Michele) and Benton (Eriq La Salle) make love. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Julia (Felicity Huffman) breaks up with Avery when it becomes obvious he won't divorce his wife -- and when she also realizes he has been appropriating her ideas for his software company. Somehow this situation leads to Frasier (Kelsey Grammer) helping Julia burgle Avery's office, whereupon the two are locked in the same closet. Inevitably, Frasier and Julia use this "opportunity" to make love -- with Julia alternately showering Frasier with affection and haranguing him for his shortcomings. Meanwhile, Roz (Peri Gilpin) is offered a new job out of town, and Niles (David Hyde Pierce) makes some new "friends" at a shooting range. ~ All Movie Guide

Christine Baranski makes her first series appearance as Seattle radio therapist Dr. Nora Fairchild, a spoof of a certain well-known, ultraconservative talk-show host. Dr. Nora's outspoken, bullying and predominately homophobic "my way or the highway" radio personality is extremely irritating to many observers, including Frasier (Kelsey Grammer), who to his everlasting regret recommended Nora to the KACL management. Even so, the outrageous Nora dramatically increases the station's ratings -- setting the stage for a riotous showdown between the Doctors Crane and Fairchild. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Niles (David Hyde Pierce) is thrilled when he is appointed art critic for his favorite upscale publication. While Frasier (Kelsey Grammer) is happy for his brother, he is also a tad jealous since he's always wanted to be a critic as well. In fact, Frasier is convinced that he would be excellent in this capacity on his own radio station. But first he must convince management -- or more specifically, the station owner's daughter Poppy (Katie Finneran), who never shuts up long enough to listen to anyone else. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Frasier (Kelsey Grammer) thinks he has scored a professional coup when his Seattle-based radio advice show is syndicated to a station in Spokane. No such luck! The Spokane audiences resent Frasier because his show has replaced the one hosted by popular and venerable local radio personality Sully (Bill Hayes). Former Second City TV co-star Joe Flaherty makes a cameo appearance while the "guest voices" include a certain former mermaid! ~ All Movie Guide

Frasier (Kelsey Grammer) is willing to donate a huge amount of money to KACL's bike-a-thon fundraiser for AIDs research, but he balks at participating in the event. Julia (Felicity Huffman) goads Frasier into riding one of the bikes, while Daphne (Jane Leeves) does the same with Niles (David Hyde Pierce). Only one problem: Neither brother knows one end of a bike from another. Elsewhere, Daphne's mom (Millicent Martin) manages to bollix up the relationship between Martin (John Mahoney) and Cora Winston (Emily Yancy). ~ All Movie Guide

"Togetherness" is the theme of the evening, as Frasier (Kelsey Grammer) and Roz (Peri Gilpin) attend an out-of-town conference, while Niles (David Hyde Pierce) joins his former-cop father Martin (John Mahoney) on a private-eye surveillance session arranged by Donny (Saul Rubinek). Not unexpectedly, nervous Niles drives his dad crazy throughout the stakeout. As for Frasier and Roz, "craziness" of another kind ensues when they are forced to share a room -- and a few other things. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Although there's little love lost between Frasier (Kelsey Grammer) and his carniverous agent Bebe (Harriet Sansom Harris), something bad always happens when our hero is represented by someone else. This time, Frasier's new agent is young Portia Sanders (Kristin Chenoweth), whose eagerness to please borders on the annoying. The limit comes when Portia gets involved in the rivalry between Frasier and competiting radio shrink Dr. Zach (Chris Berg). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide