Adam Rifkin Movies
A screenwriter, director, producer, and occasional actor whose unabashed taste for the bizarre has resulted in such wildly diverse efforts as the indescribably outlandish three-armed comic opus The Dark Backward and the kid-friendly DreamWorks hit Small Soldiers, Chicago native Adam Rifkin got his start in community-access television before making the move to Hollywood to try his luck in feature films.Educated at the Chicago Academy for Video and Performing Arts and determined to make a name for himself in film, Rifkin launched his career with the films Never on Tuesday, Tale of Two Sisters (featuring poetry by Charlie Sheen), and The Invisible Maniac (directed under the pseudonym Rif Coogan). In 1991, he gained gaining notoriety with The Dark Backward, a grotesque tale of a terminally unfunny comedian (memorable portrayed by Judd Nelson) whose career is heading nowhere until a third arm inexplicably sprouts from his back. The film featured Bill Paxton as a chubby-chasing degenerate, Wayne Newton as a sleazy talent agent, and James Caan portraying the most incompetent doctor in the history of cinema. Additional appearances by Rob Lowe and Lara Flynn Boyle may have served well to increase the exposure of The Dark Backward, but in the end, the film was simply too bizarre to earn anything more than a small cult following. After directing a pair of sleazed-out B-movie bombs, Rifkin made a bid for the big time as the writer and director of the Charlie Sheen action comedy The Chase (1994), but scathing reviews and disastrous box-office business soon found Rifkin withdrawing into familiar low-budget territory with the talky comedy drama Something About Sex in 1998.
As luck would have it, Rifkin's script for the kiddie-comedy Mouse Hunt resulted in the biggest hit DreamWorks studios had seen to date (it also launched the career of Pirates of the Caribbean director Gore Verbinski), providing the longtime filmmaker with some shred of respectability in the studio system and leading to a lucrative deal to pen the script for Joe Dante's Small Soldiers. Back behind the camera, Rifkin would please KISS fans with his retro-minded comedy Detroit Rock City before skewering Tinseltown with the showbiz mockumentary Welcome to Hollywood and then taking a momentary detour into romance with the relationship comedy drama Without Charlie. While Rifkin's 2002 would-be redemption tale, Night at the Golden Eagle, may not have been seen by many, it did draw some of the best reviews of his directorial career while simultaneously signaling a shift toward more mature themes. Rifkin next teamed with writer David Berenbaum to adapt author Jason Lethcoe's popular children's novel Zoom Academy for the big screen, and then pulled triple duty as actor, writer, and director in the philosophical caveman comedy Homo Erectus. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
A philosophical caveman discovers that there's more to life than sticks, stones, and brontosaurus burgers in this prehistoric comedy from cult director Adam Rifkin (The Dark Backward). Ishbo (Rifkin) isn't your average hunter/gatherer; in a world dominated by Neanderthals, his fellow tribe members openly mock his sincere attempts to advance the human race. Convinced that cave-dwelling beauty Fardart (Ali Larter) would fall for him if he could only come up with something truly revolutionary, Ishbo invents such useful items as toothbrushes, ladders, spoons, and pants to no avail. When using his brain fails to help him win the girl, Ishbo considers resorting to the tried and true method of simply dragging her away by her hair, though his dim-witted brother Thudnik (Hayes MacArthur) beats him to the punch. Later, an enemy tribe launches a surprise attack from the other side of the hill, prompting Ishbo to fall back on his smarts in hopes of saving his people and impressing Fardart. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Adam Rifkin, Ali Larter, (more)
At times, it seems video surveillance is omnipresent in America, and Adam Rifkin (Underdog) spends the better part of two hours asserting just that in his fiction feature Look. This motion picture gains a historical footnote as the first U.S. mainstream movie to depict events solely through the "eyes" of surveillance video cameras. The preponderance of action unfurls in San Fernando Valley offices, stores, and shopping malls, where we witness security-camera footage of character interactions and events that would likely never occur if the perpetrators knew they were being "watched." In one subplot, Marty (Ben Weber), a beleaguered insurance salesman alienated by his co-workers, makes brazenly sexual passes at his female colleagues, secretly hatching a darker plan of his own on the side. Meanwhile, in another locale -- that of a department store at the Northridge Fashion Center shopping mall -- a chauvinistic floor manager named Tony takes full-scale sexual advantage of each of his female co-workers, letting all his inhibitions fly out the window in the "secrecy" of the back room. And in the same store, two minors, Holly (Heather Hogan) and Sherri (Spencer Redford), shop for seductive apparel in a twisted plot to seduce and presumably blackmail a high-school instructor. On a darker note, Rifkin follows convenience-store employees attempting to "bring down" a cadre of serial murderers tagged as "The Candid Camera Killers," whose doings attract the attention of police cameras. Other perspectives included in the film include those of ATM cameras, robot security cameras, and all sorts of other surveillance devices of varying ingenuity, all of which catch shocking behavior and are used to follow a myriad of substories. ~ Nathan Southern, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jamie McShane, Spencer Redford, (more)
Bestowed with superpowers when a lab experiment goes unexpectedly awry, an average beagle becomes the savior of Capitol City as everyone's favorite canine do-gooder embarks on his first-ever live-action adventure. The maniacal Dr. Simon Barsinister (Peter Dinklage) was on the verge of a revolutionary discovery when a sudden mishap gave birth to Underdog (voice of Jason Lee). Not only can this remarkable mutt now leap tall buildings in a single bound, be he can let his "best friend" know precisely what's on his mind in no uncertain terms as well. When Dr. Barsinister and his overgrown crony Cad (Patrick Warburton) threaten to destroy Capitol City, Underdog must leap into action in order to protect the frightened citizens and ensure that no harm comes to pretty Polly Purebread (voice of Amy Adams). ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- James Belushi, Peter Dinklage, (more)
- 2007
Underground filmmaker Giuseppe Andrews returns to the helm to direct this surreal statement against animal abuse produced by Adam Rifkin. Dougal and Dongo are two small-time criminals who have just scammed an unsuspecting woman's social-security check. Their plan for the cash: to rent a local hotel room and take in a televised kangaroo fight. Unfortunately the pair stays up arguing and misses the match. Deeply depressed by their blunder and lacking the cash needed to purchase the baked potatoes they so deeply desire, Dougal and Dongo vow to commit suicide when checkout time rolls around. Meanwhile, a talking cow released from the local slaughterhouse checks into the room next door, and a murderous homeless man who receives his instructions through bath towels reads a newspaper report about the cow's reprieve and sets out in search of some steak. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Miles Dougal, Walt Dongo, (more)
- 2007
Detroit Rock City's Adam Rifkin writes, directs, and stars in National Lampoon's Homo Erectus, a prehistoric comedy surrounding a caveman and his plight to find love while leading his clan. Ali Larter plays the love interest, with David Carradine and Talia Shire portraying Rifkin's parents. Cameos are supplied by Tom Arnold and Gary Busey. ~ Jeremy Wheeler, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Adam Rifkin, Ali Larter, (more)
When Earth is faced with certain destruction, an over-the-hill superhero is charged with the task of training four super-powered kids to harness their powers and save the planet in an out-of-this-world comedy adventure for the whole family from director Peter Hewitt. Tim Allen, Spencer Breslin, Courteney Cox, and Chevy Chase star in a film written by Adam Rifkin and David Berenbaum and based on Jason Lethcoe's comic book Zoom's Academy for the Super Gifted. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Tim Allen, Courteney Cox Arquette, (more)
In this comedy from Troma Entertainment (The Toxic Avenger, Killer Condom), entitled Touch Me in the Morning, writer-director Giuseppe Andrews stars as a young man named Coney Island, who struggles against the problems that plague him. Faced with unemployment, feelings of sexual incapability, an ex-con gigolo father, and a broken family, Coney opts instead to spend his days singing to the elderly and riding pint-sized mechanical bulls at a local playground. ~ Nathan Southern, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Giuseppe Andrews, Bill Nowlin, (more)
- 2003
Tony Markes' second film, Getting Hal, was funded by auctioning off acting jobs and the executive-producer credit. Dixie (Delicia Lanza) wants revenge on her boyfriend Hal (Brad Rowe), who has stolen from her money she planned on using to buy a roller skating rink. She strikes a deal with a detective (Brian Doyle-Murray), who uses her case as a teaching tool for his detective-class students. Many of the students were winners of the auction. Getting Hal was screened at the 2003 Santa Monica Film Festival. ~ Perry Seibert, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Brian Doyle-Murray, Delicia Lanza, (more)
A pair of elderly career criminals may have ended their old lives before they can start a new one in this streetwise drama. Tommy (Donnie Montemarano) and Mic (Vinnie Argiro) are a pair of aging wiseguys who used to work on the fringes of the New York mob. Now in their mid-sixties, Tommy has just been sprung from prison after spending seven years behind bars, and Mick has offered to put him up at his place -- a room in a seedy Los Angeles flophouse called the Golden Eagle, which is overrun by junkies, streetwalkers, and bums with no where else to go. While Tommy's been in stir, Mick has been living the straight life; he's gotten a legitimate job, quit drinking, stopped doing business with prostitutes, and has saved up enough money that he and his best friend can head to Las Vegas and start new lives with real jobs there. However, Tommy isn't so sure he wants to live quite so clean, especially on his fight night out of the joint. Tommy meets another resident of the Golden Eagle, Amber (Natasha Lyonne), an attractive young woman who happens to be a hooker. Not having been with a woman for seven years, Tommy is eager to retain Amber's services, but Amber is working for Rodan (Vinnie Jones), a brutal and short-tempered pimp. Tommy's treatment of Amber manages to anger Rodan, and now Mick and Tommy have to get away from the pimp if they have any hope of getting to Las Vegas (and out of Los Angeles) alive. A low-budget labor of love for director Adam Rifkin, A Night at the Golden Eagle's supporting cast includes James Caan, Ann Magnuson, Sam Moore (of the popular singing group Sam and Dave), Fayard Nicholas (of the legendary dance team the Nicholas Brothers), and Francesca 'Kitten' Natividad. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Vinny Argiro, Donnie Montemarano, (more)
Are you ready for the hottest band in the land? It's 1978 in Detroit, and pretty much any teenager who isn't a total wimp is totally stoked for the upcoming Kiss concert (as anyone who ever listened to Kiss Alive! knows, Detroit has always loved this band). But four proud members of the Kiss Army find themselves without tickets to the show, and one has to deal with a mother who is convinced that Kiss and their music are evil incarnate. Will they be able to foil scalpers, security, and paranoid parents to witness the fire-spitting, blood-puking, hard rock frenzy that is Kiss on stage? Detroit Rock City stars Edward Furlong, Sam Huntington, Natasha Lyonne, Giuseppe Andrews, and James DeBello as the representative members of the Teenage Nation; the original four members of Kiss (Gene Simmons, Paul Stanley, Ace Frehley, and Peter Criss) play themselves, and Simmons also co-produced. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Edward Furlong, Giuseppe Andrews, (more)
Film director Adam Rifkin spoofs Hollywood's star machine in concocting this fictional "mockumentary" about a director (Rifkin playing himself) who wants to make a documentary film about a rising young star. Anton Markwell (Tony Markes, who co-directed the film) is the object of Rifkin's inquiring camera. Rifkin, fancying himself a star-maker, advises Markwell to change his name to Nick Decker. Decker is actually the second choice for the project. Rifkin originally selects David Lake (David Andriole), but Lake signs a film contract and his studio won't cooperate with Rifkin's documentary. Rifkin has no better luck with Decker, until his protégé lands a guest role on the popular television series Baywatch. But while filming on the set, Decker steps on a sting ray and ends up in the hospital, ending his chance for quick notoriety. Meanwhile, Lake continues to beat out Decker for plum roles. ~ Michael Betzold, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Tony Markes, Adam Rifkin, (more)
- 1998
John Landis directed this comedy suspense-thriller about a woman plotting to murder her ex-husband for insurance money. When Susan (Nastassja Kinski) and insurance salesman Sam (Billy Zane) decide to kill her ex, Paul (Adrian Paul), Sam contacts Bill (Michael Biehn) and Steve (Rob Schneider) to do the deed, while Susan recruits her hairdresser, Betty (Lara Flynn Boyle), to set up the victim. Bill and Steve shoot three times at close range but miss. Betty distracts doctors, while biker Bob (Dan Aykroyd) goes into the intensive care room to smother Paul. When Sam's former wife Penny (Lisa Edelstein) learns what's going down, she demands sex plus money. Appearing in cameos are several film directors (Stuart Gordon, Randall Kleiser and Adam Rifkin). Shown at the 1998 AFI Film Festival. ~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide
Adam Rifkin wrote and directed this comedy that begins at a Los Angeles dinner party when unmarried, unattached novelist Art Witz (Jason Alexander with hair) argues that couples actually live in a state of denial and cannot maintain monogamous relationships. The plotline diverges to examine the lives of couples at the dinner party, including Isaac and Claudia (Ryan Alosio and Amy Yasbeck), who have an agreement to keep their affairs secret. Medical student Sophie (Leah Lail) sees a professor when she's not with her husband, attorney Joel (Jonathan Silverman), a fan of "Oriental" massages. Despite an upcoming marriage to pregnant Sammie (Christine Taylor), chef Sam (Patrick Dempsey) can't stop looking at pornography. Shown at the 1998 Seattle Film Festival. ~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jonathan Silverman, Leah Lail, (more)
Joe Dante directed this satirical action-comedy about talking tech toys accidentally juiced-up with military microchips. After the defense industry firm Globotech takes over a small toy company, Heartland Play Systems' CEO Gil Mars (Denis Leary) gives the green light to develop a new line of action figures, requesting an upgrade to more realistic figures from Heartland toy designers Larry Benson (Jay Mohr) and fumbling Irwin Wayfair (David Cross). Mars wants toys that act like the ones in TV commercials. The results are fierce fighting figures, the Commando Elite, programmed to seek out and destroy the kindly alien-like Gorgonites. In an effort to make the toys as natural as possible, Benson inserts Globotech's most powerful military computer chips. Meanwhile, in quiet Winslow Corners, Ohio, toy-store owner Stuart Abernathy (Kevin Dunn) and his 15-year-old son Alan (Gregory Smith) are stuck in a failing business, so when Heartland truckdriver Joe (Dick Miller) stops by with the Commando and Gorgonite toys, Alan is convinced they will be hot sellers, commenting, "Maybe this store will finally make a little money." With blistering blows to their blister packs, the Commandos burst out, receive orders from their leader Chip Hazard (voice of Tommy Lee Jones) and ready for an all-out assault on the Gorgonites. When the Gorgonite leader Archer (voice of Frank Langella) begins communicating with Alan, it causes the Commandos to perceive humans as another enemy, simply by their association with the "Gorgonite scum," so an attack on the Abernathy house begins. Unfortunately, the Gorgonites can offer only limited assistance, since they have been programmed to lose. The film combines animatronics, puppetry, and computer animation. The Commando Elite voices include surviving actors from Robert Aldrich's The Dirty Dozen (1967), while the Gorgonite voices reunited several This Is Spinal Tap (1983) cast members. A dedication to Phil Hartman (the voice of Phil Fimple) after the closing credits features a brief Hartman outtake. ~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Kirsten Dunst, Gregory Smith, (more)
Gore Verbinski, the TV-commercials director responsible for the Budweiser frogs, directed this Adam Rifkin screenplay about two brothers (Nathan Lane and Lee Evans) who inherit a string factory and a decaying country home after the death of their father (the late William Hickey, in his last role). After moving in, they learn that the house has historical architectural importance and is valued in the millions. However, they are constantly tormented by a mouse within the walls. They engage in cartoon-like combat against the rodent, but it manages to outwit the brothers in successive situations. Both live and animatronic mice portray the title role, and some scenes assume the mouse's point of view. The film is dedicated to William Hickey. ~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Nathan Lane, Lee Evans, (more)
This high-speed action comedy stars Charlie Sheen as Jack Hammond, who has been given a life sentence for a bank robbery that he didn't commit. Hammond manages to escape, and while trying to avoid capture at a gas station, he ends up kidnapping Natalie Voss (Kristy Swanson); he threatens her with what she thinks is a gun, although it turns out to be a candy bar. Jack and Natalie take off in her BMW, with Jack unaware that his "victim" is actually Dalton Voss (Ray Wise), one of California's richest and most powerful land barons. Soon half the state's law enforcement officers and every member of the media is on Jack's tail as he races down the highway; in the meantime, Natalie and Jack get to know each other, and while she doesn't much care for him at first (as you might imagine), before long her attitude has softened quite a bit. Alternative rock fans might want to keep an eye peeled for Henry Rollins, playing a policeman, and Anthony Kiedis and Flea from The Red Hot Chili Peppers as a pair of yahoos with a very large truck. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Charlie Sheen, Kristy Swanson, (more)
A popular television lifeguard show faces cancellation when the crew is forced to find a new director on short notice in this sexy satire filled with skimpy bikinis and lots of fun in the sun. Thanks to a healthy display of skin and a cast that includes some chiseled hunks and lovely lifeguards, "Bikini Squad" draws some of the highest ratings on television. After the original director walks and a female is brought in to finish the season, she finds that sticking to the shooting schedule is harder than it appears when you're dealing with a crew whose collective IQ is that of a bag of beach balls. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Lucky O'Boyle, J.C. Palermo, (more)
A commendably gruesome title sequence gets this slasher sequel off on the right foot, and Bobby Ray Shafer returns as Satanist killer-cop Joe Vickers, this time chasing strippers and businessmen through an office building during an after-work bachelor party. Director Adam Rifkin (under the pseudonym "Rif Coogan") keeps the tension level high and sets up some nicely-staged sequences, making up for the less-than-stellar acting. Gorehounds and slasher fans should be more pleased with this one than the tedious original. Julie Strain and Barbara Lee Alexander co-star. ~ Robert Firsching, All Movie Guide
Traci Lords and Amy Yasbeck star in this anarchic comedy about a pair of identical twins separated at birth. One goes on to be a politician, while the other suffers from a bizarre multiple personality disorder. When the two are reunited and not everyone is sure who is whom, heads start to roll and comedy is the result. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
Writer/director Adam Rifkin's The Dark Backward is set in a dark, grimy, garbage-strewn urban netherworld, where a company named "Blump's" apparently owns everything. Marty Malt (Judd Nelson of The Breakfast Club) is an unhappy garbageman who moonlights as an atrociously unfunny standup comic. His best friend and fellow trash collector, Gus (Bill Paxton), is the only one who laughs at his jokes, and his sincerity is questionable. The obnoxiously exuberant Gus plays an accordion, which he always carries with him. Marty is seeing Rosarita (Lara Flynn Boyle), a waitress, but she doesn't seem too interested in him, either. One day, Gus convinces a talent agent, Jackie Chrome (Las Vegas circuit staple Wayne Newton), to check out Marty's act. Jackie isn't impressed. Marty's luck seems to take a turn for the worse when a large lump starts growing on his back. He goes to a quack doctor (James Caan), who calls him a wimp and puts a Band-Aid on the lump. The lump continues to grow, eventually becoming a full-sized arm. While Gus uses Marty's newfound freakishness to impress his obese girlfriends, a horrified Rosarita breaks up with Marty, and he gets fired from the club where he does his act. Marty is despondent until Gus brings him to see Jackie, who, it turns out, has always dreamed of finding a real three-armed comic. Re-christened "Desi the Three-Armed Wonder Comic," and with Gus now providing musical accompaniment, Marty gets a fresh start on his career. The Dark Backward received devastating reviews upon its initial release, but has since developed a minor cult following. The film also stars Rob Lowe and King Moody, who was the original Ronald McDonald. ~ Josh Ralske, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Judd Nelson, Bill Paxton, (more)
- 1990
- R
This juvenile rehash of The Invisible Man -- done as a combination of T&A sex-comedy and gory horror film -- stars Noel Peters as a sex-crazed mad scientist (given to ridiculous cackling fits) who evades the law by masquerading as a physics teacher at a high school filled to overflow with curvaceous blond bimbos. When the lecherous prof invents a "molecular reorganization" formula that renders him invisible, he finds even more opportunity to ogle the girls' showers and cop the occasional feel. Murdering anyone he suspects may be wise to his shenanigans, the professor eventually begins killing just for the fun of it. Writer-director Riff Coogan may have conceived this mess as a campy, Troma-style sex-and-gore romp, hardly a worthwhile aspiration. ~ Cavett Binion, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Noel Peters, Shannon Wilsey, (more)
- 1990
- R
The terror in this erotic horror thriller begins in the past when Dr. Russell, the director of a mental hospital, rapes a patient who afterward kills herself. Many years pass and the main story begins when a lovely model checks into the asylum. Dr. Russell feels those old lustful, violent stirrings upon seeing her, but during the drug-induced "seduction" something goes terribly wrong and the model seems to have died. With the aid of his weird staff, the doctor tries to get rid of the body, which mysteriously vanishes by the next day. Later, the shrink begins to seriously question his own sanity when he keeps seeing the form of the model surreptitiously sneaking around the grounds. Things only get stranger from there. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Malcolm McDowell, Geoffrey Lewis, (more)
Two years before he joined the cast of Saturday Night Live, Adam Sandler starred in this comedy as Shecky Moskowitz, who wants to get a job as a comedian on a cruise ship, but when that job is taken, signs on as a waiter instead, hoping fate will lend a hand. The cast also includes Burt Young, Peter Berg, Billy Zane, and a then-unknown Billy Bob Thornton. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Adam Sandler
- 1989
Valerie Breiman and Claudia Christian play the two sisters of the title. Containing very little dialogue, the film details the ambitions and sensual yearnings of the two heroines. The whole production has the rhythm and texture of a poem--and for good reason. Tale of Two Sisters was based on a poem written Charlie Sheen, which, like most of his verse, has made the Hollywood rounds several times without ever actually being published. Sheen also "stars" in Tale of Two Sisters, albeit only as offscreen narrator. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Valerie Breiman, Claudia Christian, (more)
- 1988
- R
Two dudes endeavor to exchange the slow lane life of their midwestern hometown for life in the fast lane of exciting LA and so hop into a car and begin the long drive out West. This comedy chronicles their exploits when a head-on collision leaves them stranded in a desert with beautiful Tuesday. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Claudia Christian, Andrew Lauer, (more)
