Robert Simonds Movies

John Travolta stars as a hip music teacher in this old-fashioned pseudo-musical set in 1955, the dawn of the rock n' roll era. Travolta is Jack Cabe, a musician on the run in Texas for murdering a man during a recording session. Attempting to elude the law, Jack takes refuge at the Benedict School for Boys, where he is hired as a music instructor by school director Eugene Benedict (Richard Jordan). At the school, he sets teen rebel Jesse Tucker (James Walters) straight by introducing him to the new music called rock n' roll. But Jack doesn't just stop there, and soon all the youngsters are snapping their fingers to the devil's music instead of keeping time to John Philip Sousa. This steers Jack on a collision course with Eugene, who doesn't appreciate the rhythm and the blues of rock n' roll. As if that weren't enough, Jesse has taken it into his head to seduce Sara (Heather Graham), Eugene's beautiful daughter. Meanwhile, Jack has problems of his own. With the law closing in on him, he is ready to take it on the lam to another state. But the big school concert is coming up and he doesn't want to let his students down. Should he stay to play the gig and risk arrest, or elude the law and take off down the road to freedom? ~ Paul Brenner, Rovi

Airheads is a variation on Dog Day Afternoon, as well as a comic look at the trials and tribulations of both the music business and Generation X. A hapless rock trio consisting of Chazz (Brendan Fraser), Rex (Steve Buscemi), and Pip (Adam Sandler) hits a brick wall with their attempts to get their demo tape played by record label executives. Chazz, on the edge since being thrown out by his girlfriend (Amy Locane), decides it's time to take more serious action, and he leads his bandmates on a mission to invade the local "alternative" rock station, KPPX, and hold it hostage to get the band's tape played on the air. The station staffers don't realize that they're being held with a water gun, and when they finally agree to play the tape, it gets eaten up by a faulty machine. ~ Don Kaye, Rovi

Adam Sandler's second popular starring vehicle after Billy Madison is a goofy lowbrow paean to golf, hockey, and the comic hysterics of its childlike star. In Happy Gilmore, Sandler plays the title character, a raw, determined, but ultimately untalented hockey player who keeps trying out for the pros. When Happy discovers his grandmother (Frances Bay) will lose her home if she doesn't fork over 270,000 dollars to the IRS, he tries to figure out how he can possibly scrounge up the cash. An idea strikes during a game of one-upmanship with a couple furniture movers stripping his grandmother's home: On his first-ever swing, he drives a golf ball farther than the movers have ever seen. Before long, he has transplanted the foul-mouthed, aggressive persona of the hockey rink to the links, winning an amateur tourney that earns him a spot on the pro tour. Throttling everyone from a helpless caddy to game show host Bob Barker during the course of his 90-day quest to amass prize money, Happy also wins the sport a legion of new fans with his in-your-face style. Guiding him on his quest is a whimsical retired pro who lost his hand to an alligator (Carl Weathers) and an attractive public relations woman charmed by Happy's antics (Julie Bowen). Opposing him, however, is sneering hotshot Shooter McGavin (Christopher McDonald), who will do anything to win his championship jacket and see Happy fail. ~ Derek Armstrong, Rovi

This post-modern comic variation on The Defiant Ones concerns Keats (Damon Wayans), an undercover police detective trying to get the goods on crime kingpin Frank Colton (James Caan). Keats poses as a crook to make friends with one of Colton's underlings, a drug dealer and car thief named Archie Moses (Adam Sandler). Keats is using Archie as part of a sting operation to put Colton away; however, Archie doesn't care for this, and when he finds out Keats's true plan and actual identity, it leads to an altercation that ends with Archie shooting Keats in the head. Several months later, Keats emerges from the hospital with a metal plate in his skull, and he has to bring Archie in. However, now Archie and Keats are both on Colton's enemies list, and the two find themselves on the run in Arizona, trying to outwit Colton's team of assassins, but having Archie on hand doesn't do much good in the outwitting department. Bulletproof was directed by Ernest Dickerson, who got his start as a cinematographer for Spike Lee. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

Returning from a food run, kindly kindergarten teacher Kenny (Harland Williams) makes the mistake of feeding a massive amount of junk food to a tired-looking, diabetic NYPD horse, which drops dead. Tossed in jail, Kenny relies on his totally stoned roommates (Dave Chappelle, Guillermo Diaz, Jim Breuer) to devise a way to raise the 100,000-dollar bail. Their solution? Sell marijuana stolen from a government research lab. Cameos in this comedy include Stephen Wright, Janeane Garofalo, Stephen Baldwin, Snoop Doggy Dogg, Willie Nelson, and Jon Stewart. ~ Bhob Stewart, Rovi

Shortly after leaving the "Weekend Update" anchor slot on Saturday Night Live, Norm Macdonald resurfaced in this comedy about smart-aleck Mitch Weaver who teams with buddy Sam McKenna (Artie Lange of Mad TV). They open a revenge-for-hire business (Dirty Work Inc.) in order to raise $50,000 so Sam's father (Jack Warden) can get a heart transplant. After they bring down a dictatorial movie theater manager (Don Rickles), they next hire prostitutes to pose as dead bodies during an auto dealer's live TV commercial. Millionaire real-estate developer Travis Cole (Christopher McDonald) is bothered when Mitch and Sam interfere with his plan to wipe a woman's home out of existence. Cole hires Dirty Work to trash a building, so he can have it condemned. However, Cole doesn't own the building, and problems arise, mainly since the grandmother of Mitch's girlfriend lives in the building. The feud escalates. Cameos by Chevy Chase, the late Chris Farley, former child star Gary Coleman, Adam Sandler, and John Goodman. ~ Bhob Stewart, Rovi

Prospective parents everywhere, meet the world's least likely paternal role model: Adam Sandler! In Big Daddy, Sandler plays 30-year-old bachelor Sonny Koufax, a carefree slob who has never much taken to adult responsibilities; he works one day a week as a tollbooth collector, and spends the remainder of his time living off of a $200,000 reward he collected from an auto accident. All told, the life suits him just fine. However, as his old buddies start getting married and drifting away, Sonny realizes that if he doesn't do something soon, he could end up all alone for the rest of his life. When his most recent girlfriend, Vanessa (Kristy Swanson), indicates that she needs some time off because she's sick of being with a man who can't act like a grown-up, he decides that it's time to take drastic action to win her back. Conveniently enough, a little boy named Julian (Cole Sprouse and Dylan Sprouse) turns up on his doorstep, claiming that he's the biological son of Sonny's roommate and friend from law school, Kevin (Jon Stewart). The kid tells Sonny that he's from Buffalo, New York; Kevin has never been to Buffalo, New York, but no matter - Sonny foresees, in Julian, an opportunity to convince Vanessa that he can face adult responsibilities. He thus takes charge of the little boy over a long Columbus Day weekend, pretending to be Kevin. However, the plan doesn't work as expected, and the authorities hone in on a discovery of Sonny's real identity. Meanwhile, Sonny finds himself genuinely drawn to the tyke. Also supporting Sandler in Big Daddy are Joey Lauren Adams, Josh Mostel and Rob Schneider. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

Scott Alexander and Larry Karaszewski, the screenwriting team who penned Ed Wood, The People vs. Larry Flynt, and Man on the Moon, made their debut as directors with this broad comedy. Norm MacDonald stars as a chauffeur who decides to get revenge on his wealthy boss by kidnapping her dog. Produced under the titles Pittsburgh, Ballbusted, and Foolproof, Screwed also stars Danny De Vito, Dave Chappelle, Sherman Helmsley, Elaine Stritch, and Sarah Silverman. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

As the title character of Joe Dirt, David Spade plays a "white trash" janitor at an L.A. radio station, whose mullet hairdo is just one of many personal oddities that make him the object of much ridicule. And the sanitation gig is just the most recent of Joe's many incarnations during a tumultuous life, which got off on the wrong foot when Joe was abandoned at the Grand Canyon by his parents as a young child. After stumbling into the on-air studio, Joe steadily recounts the sad and comical story of how he cared for himself and journeyed around the country trying to relocate his family, all while being prodded, teased, and eventually embraced by a sarcastic deejay (Dennis Miller) and a rapt listening audience. His travels involve stints selling fireworks, wrangling alligators, riding aloft in a car dealership display balloon, and being held captive by a Silence of the Lambs-style serial killer. Despite numerous setbacks and bruising physical injuries, Joe emerges from each episode with his spirit intact as he searches optimistically for his roots, and eventually for the chance to return to the one place he was accepted -- a rural farm where the girl of his dreams (Brittany Daniel) awaits. The directorial debut of Dennie Gordon, Joe Dirt was produced by Adam Sandler's production company, Happy Madison, and features musician Kid Rock, also debuting, in the supporting role of Joe's rival. ~ Derek Armstrong, Rovi

A police dog finds himself pitted in a battle of wits against an accident-prone mailman and a gang of crooks (and it looks like the dog has the edge in the brains department) in this broad comedy. Agent 11 (Bob) is a bulldog trained by the FBI agent Murdoch (Michael Clarke Duncan) to sniff out drugs, and the dog's keen nose ferrets out the storage facility of Mafia kingpin Sonny (Paul Sorvino); Agent 11 has also been taught to show no mercy with criminals, and he gives Sonny a serious bite in a rather personal place. Needless to say, Sonny is not amused, and wants revenge against the pooch, so Agent 11 is put into the animal equivalent of the witness protection program. However, unlikely circumstances set the dog loose, where he soon pairs up with Gordon (David Arquette), a stunningly inept letter carrier with a long history of fending off ill-tempered pets. Gordon is attempting to impress Stephanie (Leslie Bibb), an attractive single mother, by helping to look after her son James (Angus T. Jones), and when he comes across Agent 11, he adopts the dog and names him Spot, feeling certain he can smooth out the critter's often cranky relationship with people. But Gordon doesn't know that Sonny and his henchmen are hot on Agent 11's trail and that his new best friend will lead a gang of ruthless gangsters into Stephanie and James' home. See Spot Run was originally announced as a vehicle for comedy star Martin Lawrence, but when changes in Lawrence's schedule prevented him from taking on the project, it was retooled for the talents of David Arquette. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi