Ben Stiller, Owen Wilson, Vince Vaughn, Snoop Dogg
In an age of disposable lighters, cameras and contact lenses, it's no surprise that Hollywood keeps churning out throwaway movies. Watch 'em and, figuratively, toss 'em. Latest case in point: Starsky & Hutch, a playful spoof of the disco-era cop show (1975-79) of the same name, a series that fits neatly into the TV pantheon somewhere between Adam-12 and Miami Vice.
Stiller plays the uptight Dave Starsky (Paul Michael Glaser's role in the original), a police detective in fictional Bay City who reluctantly teams with loosey-goosey Ken Hutchinson (David Soul way back when; Wilson now) to catch a smarmy drug dealer (Vaughn). Periodically, the pair consult with Huggy Bear (Dogg), a sartorially resplendent "businessman" who informs on rivals in exchange for Starsky and Hutch's over-looking his own shady dealings.
Starsky provides a steady stream of laughs and frolicsome turns by a willing cast. Period. A new paint job can't transform a Ford Gran Torino (Starsky's wheels of choice) into a Rolls-Royce. Familiarity with the television show helps in appreciating some of the film's more arcane bits (our heroes masquerading as mimes) but isn't necessary to get most of the jokes. Stiller and Wilson, who previously paired in Meet the Parents, Zoolander and The Royal Tenenbaums, cruise through Starsky, fondly lampooning their characters' tics, pouffy dos and penchant for wearing tight jeans and leather jackets. Wilson, in particular, with his offbeat timing and shaggy charm, is winning. As for Snoop, it's more as if he floats through on a cloud of cool than gives an actual performance. (PG-13)
THRILLER
Willem Dafoe, Paul Bettany
Mel Gibson isn't the only one focusing on issues of faith and God's intentions. The Reckoning, a trenchant thriller set in rural England in the late 1300s, is about a priest who has lost his way but finds it again while helping to solve a murder mystery.
Based on Morality Play, a 1996 novel by Barry Unsworth, The Reckoning bites off more than it can comfortably chew, but there's still plenty of flavor here. Bettany plays Nicholas, a priest who is on the run after getting caught having sex with a female parishioner. He joins a traveling troupe of actors whose leader (Dafoe) suggests to the group that rather than doing the same old biblical tales as usual, they try telling stories from real life. The actors begin digging into the facts behind a recent murder and discover all is not as purported to be.
Half thriller, half redemption tale, Reckoning is most effective when dwelling on the details of 14th-century theatrical life and poking fun at the eternal vanity of actors. Bettany and Dafoe, who both have cheekbones so chiseled you wonder if they sharpen them between takes, are equally effective, Bettany as a man driven to seek the truth, Dafoe as one who only reluctantly joins his path. (R)
>Maura Tierney
Maura Tierney goes from ER nurse to small-town vet in Welcome to Mooseport with Ray Romano. After four years of rattling off medical jargon, playing doc isn't a stretch for the 39-year-old Boston native.
ON SAVING HER HUSBAND (DIRECTOR BILLY MORRISSETTE) I diagnosed his appendicitis two years ago. We were home and he had localized pain in his lower right abdomen and a fever. He was also diaphoretic [perspiring]. I said, "I really think you need to go to the doctor." The surgeon said it might have burst if we had waited. And the nurse let me help draw his blood.
ON WHERE HER ER CHARACTER, ABBY, IS GOING She has sort of lightened up. I really want her to experience victory for a change.
ON DRAMAS VERSUS SITCOMS On sitcoms you get to rehearse and rehearse for four days, then you shoot. On ER we move pretty fast.
ON RAY ROMAND
I thought I was the most neurotic person I knew until I met Ray. Let me just say one thing about him—hand sanitizer. He carried it on his person at all times when we were shooting in Toronto. He may have had two bottles. I think the other was in an ankle holster.
- Contributors:
- Leah Rozen,
- Michael Fleeman.
Saved by the Bell Reunion
The hookups, the meltdowns, the memoires
The case reveals what was really going on what they think of each other now!
