David Paymer Movies
A former theatre and psychology major at the University of Michigan, actor David Paymer's first Broadway success was in the long-running musical Grease. He tentatively launched his film career in the tiny but telling role of a cabbie in 1979's The In-Laws, then returned to working "live" as a performer and writer for The Comedy Store. A character actor even in his early twenties,... (read more) Paymer displayed his versatility in a wealth of TV supporting roles on such weeklies as Cagney and Lacey, Diff'rent Strokes, The Commish and Downtown. Billy Crystal was so impressed with Paymer's work as ice-cream entrepreneur Ira Shalowitz in City Slickers (1991) that Crystal assigned him the plum role of Stan Yankelman, long-suffering brother and business manager of Berle-like comedian Buddy Young Jr., in Mister Saturday Night (1992). Convincingly playing an age range from 20 to 75, Paymer was honored with an Oscar nomination. Dividing his time between working in films and teaching classes at the Film Actor's Workshop, David Paymer has recently been seen as the angelic Hal in Heart and Souls (1993) and real-life TV producer Dan Enright in Robert Redford's Quiz Show (1994). In the decades to come, Paymer would remain an ever-present force on screen, appearing in films like In Good Company, Drag Me to Hell, Bad Teacher, and Redbelt, as well as TV shows like Line of Fire and The Good Wife. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
Bad Teacher
R 2011
A booze-swilling, pot-smoking, hard-swearing seventh-grade teacher rallies to get out of the classroom for good by wrangling a rich substitute teacher into marriage in this...
Drag Me to Hell
PG13 2009
Evil Dead director Sam Raimi takes the helm for this "spook-a-blast" shocker about an ambitious L.A. loan officer who incurs the wrath of a malevolent gypsy by refusing to...
Redbelt
R 2008
Tim Allen and Chiwetel Ejiofor co-star in writer/director David Mamet's martial arts drama Redbelt. Ejiofor plays Mike Terry, a jujitsu master who co-runs...
Gilmore Girls: Will You Be My Lorelai Gilmore?
2007
Taking charge of Lane's baby shower while Rory (Alexis Bledel) prepares for an important job interview, Lorelei (Lauren Graham) finds herself stuck in the middle of another...
Ocean's Thirteen
PG13 2007
Cinema icon Al Pacino joins a powerhouse cast headed by of George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Matt Damon, Andy Garcia, Don Cheadle, Bernie Mac, and series newcomer...
Grey's Anatomy: Break On Through
2006
The nurses go on strike, forcing the doctors and interns (with the exception of George [T.R. Knight], who refuses to cross the picket line) to soldier on all by themselves....
Payback: Straight Up
NR 2006
Seven years after seeing his original vision butchered under studio interference as well as his star's, director Brian Helgeland finally was given the chance to piece together...
Resurrecting the Champ
PG13 2006
Director and co-screenwriter (along with Chris Gerolmo, Allison Burnett, and Michael Bortman) Rod Lurie tells the uplifting tale of a sports writer who almost lost it...
Warm Springs
2005
In the tradition of Dore Schary's Sunrise at Campobello, the made-for-cable biopic Warm Springs focuses on one of the least publicized aspects in the life of America's...
My Suicidal Sweetheart
2005
A suicidal couple (David Krumholtz and Natasha Lyonne) escape from a mental institution and go on a search for the meaning of death. ~ Ray Stackhouse, Rovi...
Marilyn Hotchkiss Ballroom Dancing & Charm School
PG13 2005
Randall Miller's Marilyn Hotchkiss Ballroom Dancing & Charm School compiles an all-star cast to tell an unabashedly emotional story about life, love, and destiny. Robert...
Checking Out
PG13 2005
A feisty octogenarian on the verge of his ninetieth birthday invites his three grown children to his upcoming birthday celebration with the explicit understanding that when the...
School of Life
PG 2005
A small-town history teacher with a decidedly different approach to public education raises the ire of a stuffy biology teacher who's looking to win the "Teacher of the Year"...
Into the West
2005
Executive produced by Steven Spielberg, the sprawling six-part, 12-hour TV miniseries Into the West covers 65 years of American history, from the first major migration...
In Good Company
PG13 2004
A middle-aged man finds a callow twentysomething usurping his professional life and worming his way into his family in this alternately funny and poignant comedy drama. {%Dan...
Alex & Emma
PG13 2003
Rob Reiner directs Luke Wilson and Kate Hudson in Alex & Emma, a romantic comedy about an author and his secretary. Gangsters will kill Alex (Wilson) in 30...
RFK
2002
The first biographical film produced by the FX cable channel, RFK covers the last five years in the life of Robert F. Kennedy, here played by British actor Linus...
Bartleby
PG13 2001
Herman Melville's short story Bartleby the Scrivener gets a slightly surreal update in this offbeat comedy drama. The manager (David Paymer) of the city records...
Focus
PG13 2001
Focus is based on a little-known novel by playwright Arthur Miller, written when he was a very young man, just after WWII. Produced by media mogul Michael Bloomberg, and...
Bait
R 2000
In this action comedy, a crook trying to go straight finds himself lured back to crime by the police, without his even knowing it. When master criminals Jasper (Robert...