Curtis Armstrong Movies

The silly spirit of Revenge of the Nerds lives on in this made-for-television sequel. Curtis Armstrong returns as Booger, and this time around the nerds are gathering for his wedding to a wealthy upper-class girl. As the nerds plan a wild bachelor party, the girl's father is busy hiring an investigator to look into Booger's past and hopefully stop the wedding. ~ Bernadette McCallion, Rovi

In this third version of the Nerds theme, the next generation of Nerd boys have by now taken control of Adams College and one of the college trustees is sick of seeing the geeky nerds running everything so he schemes a plan devoted to the return of jock power. ~ Rovi

Murphy (Candice Bergen) has of late pulled so many practical jokes on her coworkers that she has completely lost whatever newsroom credibility she ever had. The "fun" backfires on our heroine when she is kidnapped by a doltish band of eco-terrorists (including Curtis Armstrong of Moonlighting) fame)--and no one takes her plight seriously! Larry King appears as himself in this episode, which ends on a comically poignant note. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

The fifth season of Moonlighting is the shortest since season one, with only 12 new episodes produced; it is also the final season, thanks to the ever-increasing backstage squabbles involving stars Cybill Shepherd and Bruce Willis, and virtually the entire production staff. The opening episode is one of the strangest ever conceived, beginning with an appearance by practically every member of the cast and the production team, assuring viewers that their professional problems are behind them, and promising that season five will be the best ever. The plot proper finds Maddie Hayes (Cybill Shepherd), impregnated the previous season by her detective-agency partner David Addison (Bruce Willis), going into labor -- whereupon the action shifts to Heaven, where Maddie's baby (also played by Bruce Willis) nervously awaits to be born. Alas, it is not to be; Maddie miscarries, and subsequently buries herself in her work as a detective, neglecting not only David but also her nebbishy husband, Walter (Dennis Dugan). As for David, he philosophically moves on in his life, enjoying a brief fling with Maddie's sister Annie (Virginia Madsen). Thereafter, Moonlighting ceases to be about the Maddie-David relationship and devolves into a standard detective show, albeit punctuated every so often by the series' trademarked inside jokes and eccentric deviations from the plotlines. Inevitably, given the fact that everyone knew that this was the series' final season, Moonlighting comes to a halt as the doors of the Blue Moon Detective Agency are permanently closed. ~ Rovi

Although fans were still addicted to the hip, kidding-on-the-square detective series Moonlighting, the series was being eroded from within by profound production problems and internal squabbles. As a result, only 13 new episodes were produced for the series' fourth season, forcing ABC to fill out the rest of the schedule with reruns. Also, tensions between series star Bruce Willis and Cybill Shepherd, coupled with ongoing arguments between the two leads and the series' producers, culminated with extended absences from the set and lengthy production shutdowns. In one episode, "Here's Living With You, Kid," Willis and Shepherd didn't appear at all, forcing supporting actor Curtis Armstrong, cast as junior detective Herbert Viola (a character who graduated this season from recurring to regular status), to carry the plotline by himself. Fortunately, the old spark roared into flame long enough for some top-rank episodes to be produced during season four. The opener, which occurs shortly after detective-agency partners Maddie Hayes (Shepherd) and David Addison (Willis) have finally slept together, finds the duo separately seeking out advice on their relationship from psychologist Dr. Joyce Brothers and singer Ray Charles (this installment also finds time for an elaborate takeoff of The Honeymooners). In later episodes, it is revealed that Maddie is pregnant with David's baby, whereupon she gets married -- not to David, but to a total stranger named Walter Bishop (Dennis Dugan). With the two stars spending so much time on affairs of the heart, it is up to the supporting characters, notably the aforementioned Herbert Viola and detective-agency receptionist Agnes DiPesto (Allyce Beasley), to take care of the "mystery" angle; especially memorable is the episode in which Agnes' mother is inexplicably targeted for elimination after returning from a vacation. ~ Rovi

In the first episode of a four-part story arc, detective David Addison (Bruce Willis) briefly curbs his flippancy to find out why his partner Maddie Hayes (Cybill Shepherd) is so unhappy of late. Following Maddie around town, David ends up trailing the wrong woman--and "wrong" hardly begins to cover the situation. Mark Harmon makes his first series appearance as Maddie's yuppie inamorata Sam Crawford, while Donna Dixon shows up as the "other" blonde--and listen for that "Three Stooges" reference, courtesy of the versatile Robert Wuhl. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Rather than ignore the negative press surrounding the discord and ego clashes on the set of Moonlighting, the series' writers fashioned an entire episode around the brouhaha. Gossip columnist Rona Barrett shows up to investigate rumors that the stars of the series, Bruce Willis and Cybill Shepherd--or rather, their screen characters, David Addison and Maddie Hayes--are not exactly bosom buddies. We then segue into a crazy quilt of highlights from earlier episodes, plus hitherto unshown bloopers and deleted scenes. Guest stars include Pierce Brosnan in his familiar "Remington Steele" characterization, and film director Peter Bogdanovich, who discusses his romance with a certain "model from Memphis"--not to mention his brief fling with detective Maddie Hayes, who bears a remarkable resemblance to that selfsame model! ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Richard Beymer guest stars as Father McDonovan, a priest who thinks he's fallen in love. The object of his affections is a woman whom he has never seen, but whose voice he has heard in Confession on a weekly basis. Private eyes David (Bruce Willis) and Maddie (Cybill Shepherd) are brought into the situation when the woman announces her intention to commit suicide--then disappears! Jessica Harper appears as the "mystery" woman, who turns out to have more than a few surprises up her sleeve. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

There must be an inviolate law on the TV statute books demanding that every series turn out at least one takeoff of the 1946 film classic It's a Wonderful Life. Moonlighting's contribution to this ongong Yuletide tradtion finds a disgruntled Maddie (Cybill Shepherd) wondering what her life would have been like had she sold the Blue Moon Detective Agency as she originally planned. The "Clarence" character this time out is a most unangelic angel named Albert, played by Richard Libertini. Guest appearances include model Cheryl Tiegs as herself, and Lionel Stander in his "Max" character from the earlier TV detective series Hart to Hart (which had previously occupied Moonlighting's Tuesday-night network timeslot!) ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

In this madcap comedy, Demi Moore plays Cassandra and John Cusack is Hoops McCann, two people who eventually fall in love and help each other out. Hoops is a cartoonist working on a teen love story that he hopes will get him accepted into art school. Cassandra is a troubled young woman about to lose her home to a money-hungry developer. Characters with names like Squid Calamari, Clay Stork, or Ack Ack Raymond are involved in the unfolding romance and figure in several slapstick routines. Several cartoon sequences are inserted throughout this comedy to comment on the story. This was director Savage Steve Holland's second feature-length film. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi

Most animation aficionados of the 1990s know "Savage Steve Holland" as the cocreator (with Bill Kopp) of the all-stops-out TV cartoon series Eek! The Cat. But Holland had been exercising his own peculiar brand of deviltry on live characters long before Eek! came into being. In Holland's Better Off Dead, John Cusack plays a lovestruck teenager, hopelessly enamored with Amanda Wyss. When she dumps him in favor of a more popular high-schooler, the boy's entire day quickly goes to Hell. In the words of Hamlet, all occasions do inform against Cusack: he is bullied, tormented and torn apart by everyone from the paperboy (who seemingly turns up everywhere) to the disembodied voice of a radio deejay. Cusack attempts suicide, but his efforts are just as unsuccessful-and amusing-as Bud Cort's in Harold and Maude. Meanwhile, French exchange student Diane Franklin, held a virtual prisoner by her host family, develops a long-distance crush on Cusack. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Revenge of the Nerds is the juvenile sex comedy perhaps most synonymous with the 1980s, alternating gags and scantily clad women with a power to the underdogs mentality that prompted three sequels. The handsome jocks of Alpha Beta, led by Stan (Ted McGinley), run Adams College, which means that when they burn down their house after a stunt involving grain alcohol and an open flame, they kick a bunch of socially inept freshman out of their dorm and into the gymnasium. But sleeping on cots is only the beginning of their worries, as the so-called nerds soon become the target of pranks by Alpha Beta, assisted by Betty (Julie Montgomery) and the gorgeous gals of Pi Delta Pi. Instead of taking the abuse sitting down, the displaced freshman, led by Gilbert (Anthony Edwards) and Lewis (Robert Carradine), buy a ramshackle house, affiliate themselves with the only national chapter who will take them (the all-black Lambda Lambda Lambda), and use their superior intellect to launch a counterstrike. The bespectacled but loveable geeks set up surveillance cameras in the Pi bathroom and put liquid heat in the athletes' jock straps, then draft a sister sorority of misfits (Omega Mu) to strengthen their resources. The frats quickly become bitter rivals, and the goal is to win the annual fraternity decathlon, which involves such feats as a burping contest and a go-cart race, with bragging rights (and perhaps peace of mind) at stake. Look for John Goodman and future thirtysomething cast member Timothy Busfield in small roles, and expect a torrent of nasal laughter. ~ Derek Armstrong, Rovi