Michael McKean Movies
You knew him as Lenny Koznowski, the nasal, nerdish pal of Andrew "Squiggy" Squigman (David L. Lander) on the hit TV series Laverne and Shirley. Show-biz insiders knew Michael McKean as an intelligent, versatile actor and writer. Shedding himself of the "Lenny" image after Laverne and Shirley folded in 1983, McKean became involved in several ensemble comedy projects with such kindred spirits as Harry Shearer, Rob Reiner and Christopher Guest. In the 1984 "rockumentary" spoof This Is Spinal Tap, McKean played the cockney-accented heavy metal musician David St. Hubbins. Apparently McKean enjoyed posing as an Englishman, inasmuch as he has done it so often and so well since Spinal Tap, most recently as Brian Benben's snippish boss on the cable TV sitcom Dream On. In the early '90s, McKean was one of the stars of another, less memorable TV comedy, Grand, and appeared for two season on Saturday Night Live. He continues to land film roles, usually in comedies, including the successful The Brady Bunch Movie (1995). ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
"A family walks into a talent agent's office..." So begins "The Aristocrats," a joke kept mostly secret by stand-up comedians for decades. An intentionally "bad" joke, the laughs in The Aristocrats aren't in the punch-line (one of the only elements that's the same every time), but in the set-up, made unique by each comedian who tells it in an attempt to fashion the world's dirtiest joke. The cat was finally let out of the bag by Penn Jillette and Paul Provenza, the seasoned funnymen who gathered together a hundred people to tell a hundred different renditions of the bit. Among those presenting their personal take on The Aristocrats in this film of the same name are Jason Alexander, Robin Williams, Gilbert Gottfried, Jon Stewart, Emo Philips, and Chris Rock. The Aristocrats premiered at the 2005 Sundance Film Festival. ~ Matthew Tobey, Rovi
Mockumentary mastermind Christopher Guest turns his satirical eye away from dog shows, small-town theater, and folk music to offer a hilarious take on Hollywood award season in this comedy focusing on trio of actors whose lives are turned upside down when they discover that their performances in an independent film are generating a sizable buzz in the entertainment industry. Jay Berman (Guest) is in the process of directing his first feature film -- an intimate family drama set in the 1940s and detailing the tempestuous reunion of an estranged Jewish family that is reluctantly drawn together to celebrate Purim at the behest of their dying matriarch. The cast soon comes down with an infectious case of award fever when rumors on the Internet claim that "Purim" stars Marilyn Hack (Catherine O' Hara), Victor Allan Miller (Harry Shearer), and Callie Webb (Parker Posey) may be delivering Oscar-caliber performances. When "Hollywood Now" co-anchors Chuck Porter (Fred Willard) and Cindy Martin (Jane Lynch) perpetuate the buzz on national television, the entire film crew starts to see stars in their eyes. Subsequently convinced that they have a sleeper hit on their hands, unit publicist Corey Taft (John Michael Higgins), talent agent Morley Orfkin (Eugene Levy), and producer Whitney Taylor Brown (Jennifer Coolidge) immediately cave to requests from Sunfish Classics president Martin Gibb (Ricky Gervais) to alter the film so that it may appeal to a larger audience. Now, while "Purim" screenwriters Lane Iverson (Michael McKean) and Philip Koontz (Bob Balaban) are forced to watch helplessly as their original screenplay is plundered in order to cash in on the positive buzz, awards season draws near and the production takes a most unexpected turn. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi
- Starring:
- Bob Balaban, Jennifer Coolidge, (more)
Jules Bass and Arthur Rankin, Jr.'s 1974 animated classic comes to vivid life for a whole new generation of viewers in this live action holiday adventure starring John Goodman, Chris Kattan, Eddie Griffin, Ethan Suplee, and Carol Kane. When a depressed Santa Claus (Goodman) announces plans to take the year off after becoming convinced that the masses have forgotten the true meaning of Christmas, loyal elves Jingle (Suplee) and Jangle (Griffin) make it their mission to prove their boss wrong. Saving Christmas is going to be no easy task though, because in order to truly show Santa that the spirit of Christmas is alive and well Jingle and Jangle will first have to settle a longstanding feud between Mother Nature (Kane)'s tempestuous sons Heatmiser and Snowmiser. Perhaps, with a little luck and a bit of help from Mother Nature's notoriously disagreeable siblings, Jingle and Jangle may be able to lift Santa's spirits in time to get his sleigh in flight by the time the sun goes down on the biggest night of the year. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi
- Starring:
- John Goodman, Chris Kattan, (more)
A twentysomething misfit dedicates his life to giving the drummer some, even when the drums are only imaginary, in this comedy written and directed by comic Ari Gold. Power (Gold) grew up in a small mining town in New Mexico, where his father (Michael McKean) always imagined his son would one day join him in digging copper from the earth. But Power has a dream of playing the drums, and since he doesn't have a drum kit, he's become a master of "air drums," flailing his arms in the manner of Neil Peart or Keith Moon against a huge but nonexistent set of traps. Power's desire to become the world's greatest air drummer doesn't earn him much respect at home, so he travels to Mexico, where he learns of an air-drumming competition in Newark, NJ. Power hits the road for the garden state and meets Carlos (Steven Williams), a master air drummer who becomes his guide in the art of not really playing. Power also gets some much-needed encouragement from Annie (Shoshannah Stern), a sweet born-again girl living upstairs from him. But when Power learns that his father back home is leading a strike to save jobs for the employees at the local copper mine, winning the title becomes a matter of defending the honor of his family and his hometown, and he dedicates himself to defeating arrogant country music star Dallas Houston (Adrien Grenier), who is favored to win. Adventures of Power also stars Jane Lynch, Travis Johns, and Jimmy Jean-Louis. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
- Starring:
- Ari Gold, Michael McKean, (more)
Sam Rockwell and Vera Farmiga star in director George Ratliff's uncomfortable psychological thriller Joshua, as Brad and Abby Cairn, an affluent young stockbroker and his wife, raising children in New York City. Their firstborn, the nine-year-old Joshua (Jacob Kogan), is a frighteningly intelligent child -- to such a degree that he thinks and acts decades ahead of his age. Nearly always clad in formal wear and demonstrating limitless brilliance as a pianist -- with a marked predilection for "dissonant" classical pieces -- Joshua gravitates toward his gay aesthete uncle (Dallas Roberts) as a close friend, but distances himself from his immediate kin -- particularly when Abby brings a newborn baby sister home from the hospital and unwisely alienates the young tyke. As the days pass, one at a time, the mood at the house regresses from healthy and happy to strange, unsettled, and disorienting; meanwhile, bizarre events transpire. As the baby's whines drive an already strained Abby to the point of a nervous breakdown, Joshua devolves from eccentric to downright sociopathic behavior, discarding all of his toys, disemboweling a stuffed animal, and killing off pets. One at a time, family members also begin to suffer tragic fates -- but are they Joshua's fevered and psychotic doings or merely the result of happenstance? ~ Nathan Southern, Rovi
- Starring:
- Sam Rockwell, Vera Farmiga, (more)
Incident at Loch Ness director Zak Penn takes the helm for this mockumentary that finds film and television star Woody Harrelson entering the Grand Championship of Poker in hopes of saving his late grandfather's popular hotel casino from a scheming real estate developer. As the wrecking ball swings ever closer, Harrelson continually ups the ante in order to take home the top prize at the world's most prestigious poker tournament. Co-stars Ray Romano, Werner Herzog, Cheryl Hines, David Cross, and Dennis Farina all put on their best poker face for a comedy where all bets are off and anything can happen. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi
- Starring:
- Woody Harrelson, Cheryl Hines, (more)
Woody Allen writes and directs this "blackish comedy" about an eccentric upper-class New Yorker (Larry David) who abandons his comfortable lifestyle in favor of leading a more bohemian existence. After meeting a young Southern girl (Evan Rachel Wood) and her family, he discovers that life among the nonconformists isn't quite as carefree as he'd envisioned it to be. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi
- Starring:
- Larry David, Evan Rachel Wood, (more)
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