Spoiler Alert! This story contains plot points about the season one finale of Extended Family on NBC.
Extended Family — the sitcom from Mike O’Malley that originated as an off-cycle pilot — ended its first season Tuesday after 13 episodes. The series follows Jim (Jon Cryer) and Julia (Abigail Spencer), who, after an amicable divorce, continue to raise their kids at the family home while taking turns on who gets to stay with them. Navigating the waters of divorce and child-sharing gets more complicated for Jim when the owner of his favorite sports teams (Donald Faison) enters the picture and wins Julia’s heart.
Here, O’Malley talks about why he made the decision to not end the season on a cliffhanger, how he feels about the chances of a pickup, and what he thinks about the contraction going on in Hollywood. O’Malley serves as showrunner and executive producer. Tom Werner, Jon Cryer,...
Extended Family — the sitcom from Mike O’Malley that originated as an off-cycle pilot — ended its first season Tuesday after 13 episodes. The series follows Jim (Jon Cryer) and Julia (Abigail Spencer), who, after an amicable divorce, continue to raise their kids at the family home while taking turns on who gets to stay with them. Navigating the waters of divorce and child-sharing gets more complicated for Jim when the owner of his favorite sports teams (Donald Faison) enters the picture and wins Julia’s heart.
Here, O’Malley talks about why he made the decision to not end the season on a cliffhanger, how he feels about the chances of a pickup, and what he thinks about the contraction going on in Hollywood. O’Malley serves as showrunner and executive producer. Tom Werner, Jon Cryer,...
- 3/27/2024
- by Lynette Rice
- Deadline Film + TV
You’d think that a cancer scare would have to be the worst part of anyone’s day. But that just isn’t how Grace Adler rolls. So in Thursday’s Will & Grace, her unnerving trip to the gynecologist was overshadowed by an unexpected reunion with ex-husband Leo (Harry Connick Jr.) that was so fraught, it left her eating strawberry ice cream with chicken satay for a spoon!
It all started going downhill for Grace when she got so dolled up for her doctor’s appointment that Jack quipped, “If I was straight, I’d stare at you like a...
It all started going downhill for Grace when she got so dolled up for her doctor’s appointment that Jack quipped, “If I was straight, I’d stare at you like a...
- 10/13/2017
- TVLine.com
"So you lied to me about everything?" Blue Fox Entertainment has debuted the first official trailer for an indie romantic comedy titled The Truth About Lies, made by writer/director Phil Allocco. This quirky comedy is about a guy who starts coming up with a series of lies in order to impress a girl. Fairly simple premise. Fran Kranz stars and Gilby Smalls, and the girl he falls for is played by Odette Annable, who you'll recognize from Cloverfield or The Unborn. The cast includes Colleen Camp, Mary Elizabeth Ellis, Chris Diamantopoulos, Oakes Fegley, and Laura Kightlinger. This doesn't look that unique, almost like every other quirky indie romantic comedy. And I'm pretty sure he's going to get the girl in the end, too. Here's the official trailer (+ poster) for Phil Allocco's The Truth About Lies, direct from YouTube: In The Truth About Lies, Gilby Smalls (Fran Kranz) is having a meltdown.
- 9/29/2017
- by Alex Billington
- firstshowing.net
Take My Wife Renewed for Season Two on SeesoDeadline reports Seeso has renewed its Take My Wife TV show for a second season. A romantic comedy series, Take My Wife stars comedians and real-life, same-sex married couple Cameron Esposito and Rhea Butcher. Take My Wife, season two, will premiere on Seeso, in 2017.Take My Wife also stars Zeke Nicholson and Laura Kightlinger. Matt Braunger, Janet Varney, Marcella Arguello, and Kulap Vilaysack featured in season one. Creators Esposito and Butcher executive produce. Scott Aukerman and David Jargowsky executive produce for Comedy Bang! Bang! Productions.Read More…...
- 12/19/2016
- by TVSeriesFinale.com
- TVSeriesFinale.com
“Take my wife…please,” goes the classic joke by Borscht Belt comedian Henny Youngman. In their new Seeso show, “Take My Wife,” stand-up comedians and real-life married couple Cameron Esposito and Rhea Butcher have given Youngman’s joke a 21st century twist, adapting it into a cheeky title befitting comedy’s newest gem.
“Take My Wife” is the story of Cameron and Rhea, playing fictionalized versions of themselves, two lady-identified comics who date each other. The series begins with their wedding night, then cuts to six months earlier, when Rhea is working a graphic design job she hates and Cameron is fielding podcast questions about what it’s like to be a woman in comedy. (“My favorite question!”)
Read More: Wyatt Cenac’s New Show on Seeso Is a Perfect Blend of Comedy and Observation
The two comics host the wildly popular stand-up show and podcast “Put Your Hands Together” in real life,...
“Take My Wife” is the story of Cameron and Rhea, playing fictionalized versions of themselves, two lady-identified comics who date each other. The series begins with their wedding night, then cuts to six months earlier, when Rhea is working a graphic design job she hates and Cameron is fielding podcast questions about what it’s like to be a woman in comedy. (“My favorite question!”)
Read More: Wyatt Cenac’s New Show on Seeso Is a Perfect Blend of Comedy and Observation
The two comics host the wildly popular stand-up show and podcast “Put Your Hands Together” in real life,...
- 8/10/2016
- by Jude Dry
- Indiewire
Lucky Louie, Season 1, Episode 5: “Long Weekend”
Written by Dino Stamatopoulos
Directed by Andrew D. Weyman
Aired on July 10th, 2006 on HBO
If nothing else, “Control” makes for a very focused episode of Lucky Louie. In a series crammed full of B plots and skits that feel forced in because Louis C.K. didn’t know where to put them (i.e. the “Why” sketch from the cold open in “Pilot”), it’s refreshing to see an episode which clearly develops a single idea. Whereas other half-hours have felt trapped between half-baked gags, there’s something enjoyable about seeing an episode which devotes its running time to exploring a specific concept and how it affects various members of the ensemble.
It’s too bad, though, that writer Dino Stamatopoulos doesn’t use the focus of the episode to examine a fresher topic. By looking at dieting, and specifically Louie’s desire...
Written by Dino Stamatopoulos
Directed by Andrew D. Weyman
Aired on July 10th, 2006 on HBO
If nothing else, “Control” makes for a very focused episode of Lucky Louie. In a series crammed full of B plots and skits that feel forced in because Louis C.K. didn’t know where to put them (i.e. the “Why” sketch from the cold open in “Pilot”), it’s refreshing to see an episode which clearly develops a single idea. Whereas other half-hours have felt trapped between half-baked gags, there’s something enjoyable about seeing an episode which devotes its running time to exploring a specific concept and how it affects various members of the ensemble.
It’s too bad, though, that writer Dino Stamatopoulos doesn’t use the focus of the episode to examine a fresher topic. By looking at dieting, and specifically Louie’s desire...
- 7/8/2015
- by Max Bledstein
- SoundOnSight
Ahead of his third Saturday Night Live hosting gig in as many years, Louis C.K. popped across Rockefeller Center to visit Late Night with Seth Meyers, where he recalled auditioning for the famed sketch show years ago.
While the gig didn't pan out, C.K. harbored no ill will. Instead, he laughed as he remembered auditioning at a comedy club amongst a handful of other comedians — Dave Attell, Laura Kightlinger, Sarah Silverman and Jay Mohr all got the job — and being the only one to not get hired.
"I had a good set,...
While the gig didn't pan out, C.K. harbored no ill will. Instead, he laughed as he remembered auditioning at a comedy club amongst a handful of other comedians — Dave Attell, Laura Kightlinger, Sarah Silverman and Jay Mohr all got the job — and being the only one to not get hired.
"I had a good set,...
- 5/12/2015
- Rollingstone.com
The comedian also urges readers to go see “Boyhood” and “Into the Woods”
Louis Ck dropped new $5 stand-up special “Live at the Comedy Store” — his sixth (video below) — on Tuesday, and celebrated with a very lengthy, occasionally rambling email blast to fans.
Plugging his independent project, the comedian’s note discussed his history with the industry, lamented having to cancel the last of four Madison Square Garden concerts for underwhelming Winter Storm Juno and even pushed his followers to see “Boyhood” and “Into the Woods.”
Ck’s personal rep told TheWrap that there are no plans to reschedule the Msg date at the moment.
Louis Ck dropped new $5 stand-up special “Live at the Comedy Store” — his sixth (video below) — on Tuesday, and celebrated with a very lengthy, occasionally rambling email blast to fans.
Plugging his independent project, the comedian’s note discussed his history with the industry, lamented having to cancel the last of four Madison Square Garden concerts for underwhelming Winter Storm Juno and even pushed his followers to see “Boyhood” and “Into the Woods.”
Ck’s personal rep told TheWrap that there are no plans to reschedule the Msg date at the moment.
- 1/27/2015
- by Tony Maglio
- The Wrap
HBO is getting into the rejection game. The premium cable network is teaming with Will and Grace's Max Mutchnick to develop his longtime friend and collaborator Laura Kightlinger's book Quick Shots of False Hope: A Rejection Collection, The Hollywood Reporter has learned. The single-camera comedy follows a 1970s-era single mom and her ongoing quest to find a husband, while still sleeping with her daughter’s married father. Mutchnick and Kightlinger, who have collaborated on and off since they met at Emerson College in Boston, will pen the script and executive produce via the former's Warner Bros. Television-based Too Mutch
read more...
read more...
- 12/3/2014
- by Lesley Goldberg
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Today’s film is the 1993 short Ice Cream. The film stars Laura Kightlinger and Craig Anton, and is written and directed by Louis C.K. While he is most prominently known as a standup comedian, Louis also has a long list of tv and movie work on his resume, including being a writer for Late Night With Conan O’Brien and Late Show with David Letterman, and writing and directing the film Pootie Tang and appearing in Parks and Recreation and Woody Allen’s Blue Jasmine. Louie, his newest show on which he writes, directs, and stars in, is nominated in six categories at the 65th annual Primetime Emmy Awards, which are to be given out tonight.
****
The post Sunday Shorts: ‘Ice Cream’, written and directed by Louis C.K. appeared first on Sound On Sight.
****
The post Sunday Shorts: ‘Ice Cream’, written and directed by Louis C.K. appeared first on Sound On Sight.
- 9/22/2013
- by Deepayan Sengupta
- SoundOnSight
This is probably going to be the most you've thought about dry cleaning in a while, but trust us: it's worth it.
Comedian and former "Saturday Night Live" cast member Laura Kightlinger appears in the video above, and yes, it's a commercial for a dry cleaning service but for some reason she's wearing a hot dog costume and it's hilarious. Need we say more?...
Comedian and former "Saturday Night Live" cast member Laura Kightlinger appears in the video above, and yes, it's a commercial for a dry cleaning service but for some reason she's wearing a hot dog costume and it's hilarious. Need we say more?...
- 12/11/2012
- by Katla McGlynn
- Huffington Post
This is probably going to be the most you've thought about dry cleaning in a while, but trust us: it's worth it.
Comedian and former "Saturday Night Live" cast member Laura Kightlinger appears in the video above, and yes, it's a commercial for a dry cleaning service but for some reason she's wearing a hot dog costume and it's hilarious. Need we say more?...
Comedian and former "Saturday Night Live" cast member Laura Kightlinger appears in the video above, and yes, it's a commercial for a dry cleaning service but for some reason she's wearing a hot dog costume and it's hilarious. Need we say more?...
- 12/11/2012
- by Katla McGlynn
- Aol TV.
Marcy Rylan to guest on $#*! My Dad Says on Feb. 10
"Lock and Load" - With a burglar on the loose in their neighborhood, Ed wants to use his prized gun for protection, but Rosemary shoots down the idea. Also, Vince and Bonnie look for some extra help during their trip to a fertility clinic, on $*#! My Dad Says, Thursday, Feb. 10 (8:31-9:00 p.m., Et/Pt) on the CBS Television Network. Jean Smart returns as Ed's neighbor, Rosemary Pernworth. Guest stars also include television producer Laura Kightlinger as Nancy, a fertility clinic nurse, and Marcy Rylan (The Young And The Restless) as Rebecca, an old acquaintance of Henry's.
Y&R's Michael Fairman shares his experiences with the Church of Scientology
"My friendship with those of you who have spoken with me this past week, and others whom I have known and cared about over the years, is not based...
"Lock and Load" - With a burglar on the loose in their neighborhood, Ed wants to use his prized gun for protection, but Rosemary shoots down the idea. Also, Vince and Bonnie look for some extra help during their trip to a fertility clinic, on $*#! My Dad Says, Thursday, Feb. 10 (8:31-9:00 p.m., Et/Pt) on the CBS Television Network. Jean Smart returns as Ed's neighbor, Rosemary Pernworth. Guest stars also include television producer Laura Kightlinger as Nancy, a fertility clinic nurse, and Marcy Rylan (The Young And The Restless) as Rebecca, an old acquaintance of Henry's.
Y&R's Michael Fairman shares his experiences with the Church of Scientology
"My friendship with those of you who have spoken with me this past week, and others whom I have known and cared about over the years, is not based...
- 2/4/2011
- by We Love Soaps TV
- We Love Soaps
The Other Network!
Wed at 9:30 at The Ritz!
We’re pleased and shocked to bring completely undiscovered original TV pilots from the pre-successful days of many of your favorite modern stars! Rare gems rescued from the secret vaults of Hollywood! Conan O’Brien! Patton Oswalt! Judd Apatow! Zach Galifianakis! Ben Stiller! Jack Black! Amy Poehler! Fred Armisen! And lots of others who deserve exclamation points.
The Other Network presents long-buried TV pilots that were too controversial, too idiosyncratic or just too damn funny for prime-time TV. These fully-produced TV shows were never aired, never before seen and the closest thing to auteur pieces ever made. Each show screens with an exclusive intro from the writers/producers who created them, giving unique insights into Hollywood and the creative process.
Here’s what the critics think of the damn thing:
“A runaway hit!… A revelation!” – NY Times
“An alternative universe of television!
Wed at 9:30 at The Ritz!
We’re pleased and shocked to bring completely undiscovered original TV pilots from the pre-successful days of many of your favorite modern stars! Rare gems rescued from the secret vaults of Hollywood! Conan O’Brien! Patton Oswalt! Judd Apatow! Zach Galifianakis! Ben Stiller! Jack Black! Amy Poehler! Fred Armisen! And lots of others who deserve exclamation points.
The Other Network presents long-buried TV pilots that were too controversial, too idiosyncratic or just too damn funny for prime-time TV. These fully-produced TV shows were never aired, never before seen and the closest thing to auteur pieces ever made. Each show screens with an exclusive intro from the writers/producers who created them, giving unique insights into Hollywood and the creative process.
Here’s what the critics think of the damn thing:
“A runaway hit!… A revelation!” – NY Times
“An alternative universe of television!
- 10/4/2010
- by Zack Carlson
- OriginalAlamo.com
This post was originally going to be titled “Quick Shots of False Hope,” in both homage to comedienne Laura Kightlinger’s entertaining essay collection, and in acknowledgment that even good TV news amounts to so much dust in the wind when one takes the industry’s 80 percent-plus failure rate into account. But pretty much all of what you’ll read here is good news, or at the very least interesting, so we’ll save the false hope for this week, when the broadcast networks present. Let the good times start a-rolling with…
– Pauley Perrette is guest starring on the second episode of “NCIS: Los Angeles,” in a cameo that executive producer Shane Brennan characterized as being “directly involved in helping us solve the case. Pauley is very excited to be joining…...
– Pauley Perrette is guest starring on the second episode of “NCIS: Los Angeles,” in a cameo that executive producer Shane Brennan characterized as being “directly involved in helping us solve the case. Pauley is very excited to be joining…...
- 8/3/2009
- by Melanie McFarland
- IMDb Television Blog
Filmmaker Mike White is being sued over his latest film Year Of The Dog by his former friend Laura Kightlinger, who claims she gave him the idea for the movie. Kightlinger has filed suit in Los Angeles Superior Court, claming she gave him the script named We Are Animals about a woman who loves rescuing cats. Year Of The Dog, which stars Molly Shannon, centers on a pet-obsessive. White tells the Los Angeles Times newspaper, "They are totally different scripts. I know there is a similarity in the sense that (the female leads) both have pets that they care about, but beyond that, everything she is saying that is similar seems like a real stretch to me. The only thing that has ever mattered to me as far as my work was that people thought I was original and that I had integrity. I never cared if they thought I was weird or uncommercial or an acquired taste or whatever. That Laura is seeking publicity for herself by trying to damage what I have spent my career trying to create seems cruel." Kightlinger's lawyer Jennifer McGrath says, "Our claim is not a copyright claim but rather a breach of 'implied' contract claim. Mike and Laura were friends, but he was also a writer-producer. There was an expectation that if she told him her idea and he was going to use it in some way, she would be paid and she would also be involved in the project."...
- 6/8/2007
- WENN
IFC has greenlighted two new original scripted series to premiere as part of its Summer of IFC programming, which will be promoted with what the network is calling its largest-ever marketing campaign. IFC is set to premiere the new half-hour series "The Minor Accomplishments of Jackie Woodman" and The Business back-to-back at 10 p.m. EDT/PDT on Aug. 4 as part of its Film Fanatic Fridays block. Both have been given eight-episode orders. Jackie Woodman centers on two best friends -- a struggling screenwriter and aspiring producer -- who are still waiting for Hollywood to give them their big break more than 10 years after graduating from film school. The series was created by and stars Laura Kightlinger, who is executive producing with Bob Balaban, Dave Punch, Adam Kassen and Mark Kassen.
- 5/25/2006
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
IFC has greenlighted two new original scripted series to premiere as part of its Summer of IFC programming, which will be promoted with what the network is calling its largest-ever marketing campaign. IFC is set to premiere the new half-hour series The Minor Accomplishments of Jackie Woodman and The Business back-to-back at 10 p.m. EDT/PDT on Aug. 4 as part of its Film Fanatic Fridays block. Both have been given eight-episode orders. Jackie Woodman centers on two best friends -- a struggling screenwriter and aspiring producer -- who are still waiting for Hollywood to give them their big break more than 10 years after graduating from film school. The series was created by and stars Laura Kightlinger. Executive producers are Bob Balaban, Adam Kassen and Mark Kassen.
- 5/24/2006
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
King Kong star Jack Black has eloped with his girlfriend Tanya Haden. The couple first met while they were attending a private performing arts high school in Santa Monica, California, but were not romantically involved. According to the bride's father, jazz bassist Charlie Haden, "They love each other very much. We're thrilled." Haden, like her famous father, is a musician and played cello in the Haden Triplets with her sisters, Rachel and Petra, who are, in fact, triplets. The bride's sister, Petra, recently released the acclaimed a cappella cover album The Who Sell Out. The couple began dating when they bumped into each other last April at a mutual friend's birthday party where, Black's two-man band Tenacious D was performing. Black says of the initial meeting, "Tanya was there. I got really nervous and I talked to her...and it's been great. I'm really crazy about her." The actor reportedly proposed to Haden just after Christmas, presenting her with a $220,000 ring from celebrity jeweler Neil Lane. Prior to his surprise nuptials, Black had been linked with writer and comic Laura Kightlinger since 1997.
- 3/15/2006
- WENN
King Kong star Jack Black is reportedly heading down the aisle after asking his new girlfriend Tanya Haden to marry him. The actor proposed to Haden, an animator, after buying her a $220,000 ring from celebrity jeweler Neil Lane just after Christmas, according to American magazine In Touch. The couple started dating last year after Black split from his longtime comedienne lover Laura Kightlinger.
- 1/12/2006
- WENN
Touchstone Television has closed deals with George Lopez and actresses Lisa, Christina and Tanya Vidal for a comedy project for ABC to star the three sisters and to be executive produced by Lopez. Writer Laura Kightlinger (NBC's Will & Grace) has come on board to pen the sitcom. Based on the Vidal sisters' life, it centers on an interracial family of three adult sisters and their relatives. Kightlinger also will executive produce with Lopez. Lopez's wife Ann, who was involved in the project's conception, will serve as producer. The deal has been in the works for several months. Don Reo originally was expected to write and executive produce the show (HR 10/5). The My Wife & Kids co-creator has since taken on another comedy project, teaming with Law & Order chief Dick Wolf for a legal comedy set up at NBC (HR 12/13).
Martin Lawrence takes the inevitable Eddie Murphy-Vin Diesel career turn in 20th Century Fox's predictable yet passably entertaining "Rebound". Aimed squarely at young squirts who in the past could only dream of sneaking into one of his raunchier movies, this by-the-playbook kids-sports vehicle presents Lawrence as an outwardly tough guy mellowed by a bunch of 13-year-old kids on the verge of puberty. Business should be merely fair because there is little of the gross-out qualities or edgy adult situations required to attract older teens.
Lawrence's character, Roy McCormick, is no music mogul -- he just acts, dresses and lives like one, with bodyguards, a black Cadillac SUV, expensive suits and shades of a Sean "P. Diddy" Combs or Jay-Z. He's actually an arrogant big-time college basketball coach. At the start of director Steve Carr's ("Daddy Day Care") family comedy, Roy throws one temper tantrum too many and promptly gets banned for life from the league.
Roy and his small-time agent, Tim Fink (Breckin Meyer), face unemployment until kids from Roy's own Mount Vernon Junior High fax him a scribbled request to rescue their pathetic basketball team, coached by teacher Mr. Newirth (Horatio Sanz). Curiously, little is made throughout the screenplay by Jon Lucas and Scott Moore of the star coach being back at his alma mater.
Keith Ellis (Oren Williams) is the leader (read: hotshot) of the inept team of misfits, and he naturally has a hot yet doting single mom, Jeanie Wendy Raquel Robinson), who teaches at the school. Jeanie warns the ethically challenged Roy from the outset that she's keeping her eye on him. Of course, Roy has eyes for no-nonsense Jeanie as well. Parents in the audience can count the cliches while waiting for Roy to develop into Cosby-esque father material.
Practices and games, in which Roy's Smelters are typically outscored as if they were playing an NBA franchise, should be fun for young viewers. These are actually quite brief, as is, for that matter every scene, and thus the entire film. All of this, plus Roy's morality life lessons, makes "Rebound" resemble an extended version of a wholesome television sitcom.
The youngsters' performances are all acceptable but not much more, as the stereotypes they portray pretty much defeat them. There is a boy who is very tall but uncoordinated, one who constantly vomits and one who is a tough girl. The best young thespian is Steven Christopher Parker as the towering nerd Wes.
Other small supporting roles are filled by Megan Mullally as the cynical school principal and Patrick Warburton as a testosterone-filled rival coach. Laura Kightlinger turns up in a cameo.
Lawrence won't disappoint his fans, who no doubt will revel in his brief, second role as Preacher Don, a slick gold-toothed man of the cloth -- purple cloth suit and fedora, that is -- who delivers a barely intelligible "pep talk" while resembling a ghetto pimp.
The soundtrack includes pop tunes ranging from Paul Anka to Outkast. If only "Rebound"'s story had a similar range.
REBOUND
20th Century Fox
A Robert Simonds/Runteldat production
Credits:
Director: Steve Carr
Screenwriters: Jon Lucas & Scott Moore
Story: William Wolff, Ed Decter & John J. Strauss
Producer: Robert Simonds
Executive producers: Martin Lawrence, Tracey Trench, Heidi Santelli, Paul Deason
Director of photography: Glen MacPherson
Production designer: Jaymes Hinkle
Editor: Craig Herring
Music: Teddy Castellucci
Costume designer: Salvador Perez
Cast:
Roy/Preacher Don: Martin Lawrence
Jeanie: Wendy Raquel Robinson
Tim: Breckin Meyer
Mr. Newirth: Horatio Sanz
Keith: Oren Williams
Larry Sr.: Patrick Warburton
Principal Walsh: Megan Mullally
One Love: Eddy Martin
Wes: Steven Christopher Parker
MPAA rating PG
Running time -- 87 minutes...
Lawrence's character, Roy McCormick, is no music mogul -- he just acts, dresses and lives like one, with bodyguards, a black Cadillac SUV, expensive suits and shades of a Sean "P. Diddy" Combs or Jay-Z. He's actually an arrogant big-time college basketball coach. At the start of director Steve Carr's ("Daddy Day Care") family comedy, Roy throws one temper tantrum too many and promptly gets banned for life from the league.
Roy and his small-time agent, Tim Fink (Breckin Meyer), face unemployment until kids from Roy's own Mount Vernon Junior High fax him a scribbled request to rescue their pathetic basketball team, coached by teacher Mr. Newirth (Horatio Sanz). Curiously, little is made throughout the screenplay by Jon Lucas and Scott Moore of the star coach being back at his alma mater.
Keith Ellis (Oren Williams) is the leader (read: hotshot) of the inept team of misfits, and he naturally has a hot yet doting single mom, Jeanie Wendy Raquel Robinson), who teaches at the school. Jeanie warns the ethically challenged Roy from the outset that she's keeping her eye on him. Of course, Roy has eyes for no-nonsense Jeanie as well. Parents in the audience can count the cliches while waiting for Roy to develop into Cosby-esque father material.
Practices and games, in which Roy's Smelters are typically outscored as if they were playing an NBA franchise, should be fun for young viewers. These are actually quite brief, as is, for that matter every scene, and thus the entire film. All of this, plus Roy's morality life lessons, makes "Rebound" resemble an extended version of a wholesome television sitcom.
The youngsters' performances are all acceptable but not much more, as the stereotypes they portray pretty much defeat them. There is a boy who is very tall but uncoordinated, one who constantly vomits and one who is a tough girl. The best young thespian is Steven Christopher Parker as the towering nerd Wes.
Other small supporting roles are filled by Megan Mullally as the cynical school principal and Patrick Warburton as a testosterone-filled rival coach. Laura Kightlinger turns up in a cameo.
Lawrence won't disappoint his fans, who no doubt will revel in his brief, second role as Preacher Don, a slick gold-toothed man of the cloth -- purple cloth suit and fedora, that is -- who delivers a barely intelligible "pep talk" while resembling a ghetto pimp.
The soundtrack includes pop tunes ranging from Paul Anka to Outkast. If only "Rebound"'s story had a similar range.
REBOUND
20th Century Fox
A Robert Simonds/Runteldat production
Credits:
Director: Steve Carr
Screenwriters: Jon Lucas & Scott Moore
Story: William Wolff, Ed Decter & John J. Strauss
Producer: Robert Simonds
Executive producers: Martin Lawrence, Tracey Trench, Heidi Santelli, Paul Deason
Director of photography: Glen MacPherson
Production designer: Jaymes Hinkle
Editor: Craig Herring
Music: Teddy Castellucci
Costume designer: Salvador Perez
Cast:
Roy/Preacher Don: Martin Lawrence
Jeanie: Wendy Raquel Robinson
Tim: Breckin Meyer
Mr. Newirth: Horatio Sanz
Keith: Oren Williams
Larry Sr.: Patrick Warburton
Principal Walsh: Megan Mullally
One Love: Eddy Martin
Wes: Steven Christopher Parker
MPAA rating PG
Running time -- 87 minutes...
Martin Lawrence takes the inevitable Eddie Murphy-Vin Diesel career turn in 20th Century Fox's predictable yet passably entertaining "Rebound". Aimed squarely at young squirts who in the past could only dream of sneaking into one of his raunchier movies, this by-the-playbook kids-sports vehicle presents Lawrence as an outwardly tough guy mellowed by a bunch of 13-year-old kids on the verge of puberty. Business should be merely fair because there is little of the gross-out qualities or edgy adult situations required to attract older teens.
Lawrence's character, Roy McCormick, is no music mogul -- he just acts, dresses and lives like one, with bodyguards, a black Cadillac SUV, expensive suits and shades of a Sean "P. Diddy" Combs or Jay-Z. He's actually an arrogant big-time college basketball coach. At the start of director Steve Carr's ("Daddy Day Care") family comedy, Roy throws one temper tantrum too many and promptly gets banned for life from the league.
Roy and his small-time agent, Tim Fink (Breckin Meyer), face unemployment until kids from Roy's own Mount Vernon Junior High fax him a scribbled request to rescue their pathetic basketball team, coached by teacher Mr. Newirth (Horatio Sanz). Curiously, little is made throughout the screenplay by Jon Lucas and Scott Moore of the star coach being back at his alma mater.
Keith Ellis (Oren Williams) is the leader (read: hotshot) of the inept team of misfits, and he naturally has a hot yet doting single mom, Jeanie Wendy Raquel Robinson), who teaches at the school. Jeanie warns the ethically challenged Roy from the outset that she's keeping her eye on him. Of course, Roy has eyes for no-nonsense Jeanie as well. Parents in the audience can count the cliches while waiting for Roy to develop into Cosby-esque father material.
Practices and games, in which Roy's Smelters are typically outscored as if they were playing an NBA franchise, should be fun for young viewers. These are actually quite brief, as is, for that matter every scene, and thus the entire film. All of this, plus Roy's morality life lessons, makes "Rebound" resemble an extended version of a wholesome television sitcom.
The youngsters' performances are all acceptable but not much more, as the stereotypes they portray pretty much defeat them. There is a boy who is very tall but uncoordinated, one who constantly vomits and one who is a tough girl. The best young thespian is Steven Christopher Parker as the towering nerd Wes.
Other small supporting roles are filled by Megan Mullally as the cynical school principal and Patrick Warburton as a testosterone-filled rival coach. Laura Kightlinger turns up in a cameo.
Lawrence won't disappoint his fans, who no doubt will revel in his brief, second role as Preacher Don, a slick gold-toothed man of the cloth -- purple cloth suit and fedora, that is -- who delivers a barely intelligible "pep talk" while resembling a ghetto pimp.
The soundtrack includes pop tunes ranging from Paul Anka to Outkast. If only "Rebound"'s story had a similar range.
REBOUND
20th Century Fox
A Robert Simonds/Runteldat production
Credits:
Director: Steve Carr
Screenwriters: Jon Lucas & Scott Moore
Story: William Wolff, Ed Decter & John J. Strauss
Producer: Robert Simonds
Executive producers: Martin Lawrence, Tracey Trench, Heidi Santelli, Paul Deason
Director of photography: Glen MacPherson
Production designer: Jaymes Hinkle
Editor: Craig Herring
Music: Teddy Castellucci
Costume designer: Salvador Perez
Cast:
Roy/Preacher Don: Martin Lawrence
Jeanie: Wendy Raquel Robinson
Tim: Breckin Meyer
Mr. Newirth: Horatio Sanz
Keith: Oren Williams
Larry Sr.: Patrick Warburton
Principal Walsh: Megan Mullally
One Love: Eddy Martin
Wes: Steven Christopher Parker
MPAA rating PG
Running time -- 87 minutes...
Lawrence's character, Roy McCormick, is no music mogul -- he just acts, dresses and lives like one, with bodyguards, a black Cadillac SUV, expensive suits and shades of a Sean "P. Diddy" Combs or Jay-Z. He's actually an arrogant big-time college basketball coach. At the start of director Steve Carr's ("Daddy Day Care") family comedy, Roy throws one temper tantrum too many and promptly gets banned for life from the league.
Roy and his small-time agent, Tim Fink (Breckin Meyer), face unemployment until kids from Roy's own Mount Vernon Junior High fax him a scribbled request to rescue their pathetic basketball team, coached by teacher Mr. Newirth (Horatio Sanz). Curiously, little is made throughout the screenplay by Jon Lucas and Scott Moore of the star coach being back at his alma mater.
Keith Ellis (Oren Williams) is the leader (read: hotshot) of the inept team of misfits, and he naturally has a hot yet doting single mom, Jeanie Wendy Raquel Robinson), who teaches at the school. Jeanie warns the ethically challenged Roy from the outset that she's keeping her eye on him. Of course, Roy has eyes for no-nonsense Jeanie as well. Parents in the audience can count the cliches while waiting for Roy to develop into Cosby-esque father material.
Practices and games, in which Roy's Smelters are typically outscored as if they were playing an NBA franchise, should be fun for young viewers. These are actually quite brief, as is, for that matter every scene, and thus the entire film. All of this, plus Roy's morality life lessons, makes "Rebound" resemble an extended version of a wholesome television sitcom.
The youngsters' performances are all acceptable but not much more, as the stereotypes they portray pretty much defeat them. There is a boy who is very tall but uncoordinated, one who constantly vomits and one who is a tough girl. The best young thespian is Steven Christopher Parker as the towering nerd Wes.
Other small supporting roles are filled by Megan Mullally as the cynical school principal and Patrick Warburton as a testosterone-filled rival coach. Laura Kightlinger turns up in a cameo.
Lawrence won't disappoint his fans, who no doubt will revel in his brief, second role as Preacher Don, a slick gold-toothed man of the cloth -- purple cloth suit and fedora, that is -- who delivers a barely intelligible "pep talk" while resembling a ghetto pimp.
The soundtrack includes pop tunes ranging from Paul Anka to Outkast. If only "Rebound"'s story had a similar range.
REBOUND
20th Century Fox
A Robert Simonds/Runteldat production
Credits:
Director: Steve Carr
Screenwriters: Jon Lucas & Scott Moore
Story: William Wolff, Ed Decter & John J. Strauss
Producer: Robert Simonds
Executive producers: Martin Lawrence, Tracey Trench, Heidi Santelli, Paul Deason
Director of photography: Glen MacPherson
Production designer: Jaymes Hinkle
Editor: Craig Herring
Music: Teddy Castellucci
Costume designer: Salvador Perez
Cast:
Roy/Preacher Don: Martin Lawrence
Jeanie: Wendy Raquel Robinson
Tim: Breckin Meyer
Mr. Newirth: Horatio Sanz
Keith: Oren Williams
Larry Sr.: Patrick Warburton
Principal Walsh: Megan Mullally
One Love: Eddy Martin
Wes: Steven Christopher Parker
MPAA rating PG
Running time -- 87 minutes...
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