Lainie Kazan Filmography

Bratz

Actors: Nathalia Ramos, Skyler Shaye, Logan Browning, Janel Parrish, Chelsea Staub

Synopsis: The most popular fashion dolls in America make the leap to the big screen in this live-action adventure that follows four diverse teenage girls who make the jump from middle school to high school, only to find that their four-part friendship doesn't fit into the rigid clique system at their new Read More

Whiskey School

Actors: Gary Swanson, Olympia Dukakis, Mary Stuart Masterson, Lainie Kazan

Synopsis: Drawing inspiration from the intervention of a well-known American playwright, director Peter Masterson's adaptation of the stage play by JoAnn Tedesco (who also wrote the screenplay) takes viewers on an emotional rollercoaster ride as one man's support system struggle to save their friend from Read More

The Engagement Ring

Actors: Patricia Heaton, Lainie Kazan, Tony Lo Bianco, Chuck Shamata, David Hunt, Vincent Spano

Synopsis: Originally titled Echoes, this made-for-cable drama is set in Napa Valley wine country, sometime in the 1980s. Patricia Heaton (who also produced the film) stars as Sara, the daughter of strong-willed vineyard owner Alicia Anselmi (Lainie Kazan). Hoping to arrange a merger between Alicia and rival Read More

Broadway: The Golden Age

Actors: Edie Adams, Bea Arthur, Elizabeth Ashley, Alec Baldwin, Kaye Ballard

Synopsis: Directed by Rick McKay, who traveled across five continents during the documentary's production, Broadway: The Golden Age is both a celebration of current Broadway stars and a tribute to Broadway legends past. Through a plethora of interviews and vast amounts of archival footage, McKay presents a Read More

Red Riding Hood

Actors: Lainie Kazan, Debi Mazar, Daniel Roebuck, Joey Fatone

Synopsis: A young girl entrusted with the task of delivering a special package to her grandmother finds herself faced with a most unpleasant stalker in this retelling of the classic fairy tale starring Daniel Roebuck, Debi Mazar, Sam Stone, and Joey Fatone and served up with a curious contemporary twist. Read More

Gigli

Actors: Ben Affleck, Jennifer Lopez, Justin Bartha, Lainie Kazan, Missy Crider

Synopsis: Larry Gigli (Ben Affleck) is a low-level Los Angeles mob enforcer. His volatile boss, Louis (Lenny Venito), hires Gigli to kidnap Brian (newcomer Justin Bartha), the mentally handicapped younger brother of a federal prosecutor who's about to bring Louis' boss to trial in New York. Gigli gets the Read More

Tempted

Synopsis: The strain of juggling her responsibilities as wife, mother, and successful paralegal have worn Emma Burke (Virginia Madsen) out. Thus it is that Emma welcomes the opportunity to briefly take leave of her Boston home and head for sunny Hawaii. It is not, however, a pleasure trip: Having promised Read More

A Good Night to Die

Actors: Michael Rapaport, Gary Stretch, Robin Givens, Ally Sheedy, Ralph Macchio

Synopsis: This crime comedy from director Craig Singer is the filmmaker's third independent feature and his second outing with screenwriter Robert Dean Klein and star Gary Stretch, who had contributed to 2001's Dead Dogs Lie, Singer's sophomore effort. Stretch plays Ronnie, a hitman who, three years prior Read More

My Big Fat Greek Life [TV Series]

Actors: Nia Vardalos, Steven Eckholdt, Michael Constantine, Lainie Kazan, Louis Mandylor

Synopsis: It was all but inevitable that the most successful independently produced film of all time, 2002's My Big Fat Greek Wedding, would spawn a weekly, half-hour TV sitcom. What was not inevitable, and indeed a bit surprising, was that the CBS series My Big Fat Greek Life would feature virtually the Read More

Adam Sandler's Eight Crazy Nights

Actors: Adam Sandler, Jackie Titone, Austin Stout, Rob Schneider

Synopsis: Come celebrate the joy and togetherness of the Hanukkah season with Adam Sandler -- yeah, that Adam Sandler -- in this raucous animated comedy written and produced in collaboration with the noted funnyman. Davey Stone (voice of Adam Sandler) is a twentysomething man with a short temper and a Read More

My Big Fat Greek Wedding

Actors: Nia Vardalos, John Corbett, Michael Constantine, Lainie Kazan, Andrea Martin

Synopsis: One woman's rocky road to the altar gets played for laughs in this comedy, adapted from the one-woman off-Broadway show written by and starring Nia Vardalos. Toula (Vardalos) is a Greek-American woman who is in her early thirties and single, with no immediate prospects of changing that status any Read More

Touched by an Angel: The Princeless Bride

Synopsis: One of the worst snowstorms in New England history threatens to cancel the marriage of overbearing young bride Liz (Kim Rhodes) and her long-suffering fiance Jonas (Neil Patrick Harris). It's bad enough that none of the guests are able to make an appearance at the wedding in the lobby of Read More

What's Cooking?

Actors: Alfre Woodard, Dennis Haysbert, Ann Weldon, Mercedes Ruehl, Victor Rivers, Kyra Sedgwick, Julianna Margulies, Joan Chen, Kristy Wu, Will Yun Lee

Synopsis: Kenyan-born, London-educated Indian filmmaker Gurinder Chadha follows up on her debut hit Bhaji on the Beach (1994) with this gentle look at multiculturalism in Los Angeles. The film details the lives of four ethnically diverse families -- black, Latino, Jewish, and Asian -- during one frantic Read More

The Crew

Actors: Richard Dreyfuss, Burt Reynolds, Dan Hedaya, Seymour Cassel, Carrie-Anne Moss, Jennifer Tilly

Synopsis: In this dark comedy, a group of retirees wants to save their homes -- but they're not typical senior citizens trying to make the most of their Social Security checks. Four aging former mobsters -- Joey "Bats" Pistella (Burt Reynolds), Bobby Bartellemeo (Richard Dreyfuss), Mike the Brick (Dan Hedaya Read More

If You Only Knew

Actors: Johnathon Schaech, Gabrielle Anwar, Alison Eastwood, Lainie Kazan, James LeGros

Synopsis: David Snedeker directs this nutty indie flick about a couple of wacky neurotic 20-something New Yorkers. After Gen-X loser Parker Concord (Jonathan Schaech) accidentally burns down his own apartment, he crashes at the pad of his womanizing buddy Jack, who lives by the credo that "New York is a Read More

Daddy Who?

Actors: Gabrielle Anwar, Sean Astin, Jason Lewis, Robert Mailhouse, Chris Rydell

Synopsis: In this comedy, teamwork takes on a new meaning when four friends fall in love with the same woman. Four guys with an interest in competitive rowing -- ad executive Scott (Jason Lewis), architect Michael (Chris Rydell), stockbroker Bob (Sean Astin), and college professor Walter (Robert Mailhouse) Read More

The Big Hit

Actors: Mark Wahlberg, Lou Diamond Phillips, Christina Applegate, Avery Brooks, Bokeem Woodbine, Antonio Sabato, Jr., Lela Rochon

Synopsis: Kirk Wong directed this comedy actioner about mild-mannered, beleaguered hitman Melvin Smiley (Mark Wahlberg), who very much wants to be liked. However, the naive Mel is being taken advantage of by both his girlfriends and associates (who cheat him out of his bonuses). Mel and his "Odd Squad" Read More

The Unknown Cyclist

Actors: Lea Thompson, Vincent Spano, Danny Nucci, Stephen Spinella, Michael J. Pollard

Synopsis: Bernard Salzmann made his directorial debut with this comedy-drama set in West Hollywood where a wake is held for community center founder Christopher Cavatelli, who leaves behind his lover Doug (Stephen Spinella), his ex-wife Melissa (Lea Thompson), friend Gaetano (Danny Nucci), and his macho Read More

Safety Patrol

Actors: Bug Hall, Lainie Kazan, Curtis Armstrong

Synopsis: Curtis Armstrong and Lainie Kazan star in this goofball comedy (directed by Savage Steve Holland) about the new kid at school who wants more than anything to join the Safety Patrol -- never mind the fact he's so inept it's dangerous. Also features guest appearances from Leslie Nielsen and "Weird" Al Yankovic Read More

Touched By an Angel: Deconstructing Harry

Synopsis: Following orders from Above, Tess (Della Reese) takes her driver's-license examination, only to end up as accessory to a crime! Tess' driving instructor Doris (Lainie Kazan) interrupts the lesson long enough to stop at the funeral of her married lover--and to steal the man's ashes. Commanding Tess Read More

Allie & Me

Actors: Lyndie Benson, Joanne Baron, James Wilder, Steven Chester Prince, Ed Lauter

Synopsis: Getting home early, Beverly Hills wife Michelle Halaburton (Lyndie Benson) catches her husband Dustin (Harry Hamlin) in bed with her best friend Allie (Joanne Baron), who works at Michelle's favorite beauty salon. Not long after this, Michelle and Allie embark on a life of crime. At the beauty Read More

Hullabaloo, Vol. 11

Love Is All There Is

Actors: Lainie Kazan, Joseph Bologna, Barbara Carrera, Paul Sorvino, Renée Taylor, Angelina Jolie, Nathaniel Marston

Synopsis: Romeo and Juliet gets updated -- and played for laughs -- in this romantic comedy set in the City Island section of the Bronx. Mike and Sadie Cappamezza (Joseph Bologna and Lainie Kazan) are a hard-working couple who have run a family-style Italian restaurant for years. The Cappamezzas' fiercest Read More

The Associate

Actors: Whoopi Goldberg, Dianne Wiest, Eli Wallach, Tim Daly, Bebe Neuwirth

Synopsis: In this comedy, a woman discovers that it's impossible to get ahead in business without a man to guide her -- so she invents one. Laurel (Whoopi Goldberg) is an expert financial analyst with a top Wall Street brokerage; however, she keeps getting passed over for raises and promotions, and she's Read More

Prince for a Day

Actors: Joey Lawrence, Richard Belzer, Khrystyne Haje

Synopsis: In yet another modern-dress version of The Prince and the Pauper, Joey Lawrence plays Ricky Prince, a famous pop star who has grown tired of the spotlight and the pressures of fame. Ricky makes the aquaintance of Ralph Bitondo (also played by Joey Lawrence), a pizza delivery boy who looks almost Read More

Murder, She Wrote: Crimson Harvest

Synopsis: Lainie Kazan guest stars as Anna Grimaldi, the matriarch of a family of vintners who own a financially strapped Sonoma Valley winery. Anna's burdens are intensified by the occurrence of two murderers: one victim is her own son, the other is a rival vintner who was attempting a hostile takeover of Read More

The Cemetery Club

Actors: Ellen Burstyn, Olympia Dukakis, Danny Aiello, Diane Ladd, Lainie Kazan

Synopsis: Based on the play by Ivan Menchell, this drama concerns three friends, Doris (Olympia Dukakis), Lucille (Diane Ladd), and Esther (Ellen Burstyn). All three live in the same Jewish community in Pittsburgh, are in their mid-to-late 50s, and have become widows within the past few months. Once a week Read More

Honeymoon in Vegas

Actors: James Caan, Nicolas Cage, Sarah Jessica Parker, Noriyuki "Pat" Morita, Johnny Williams, Anne Bancroft

Synopsis: After making a deathbed promise to his mother that he would never marry, Jack Singer (Nicolas Cage) finds that resolve challenged when his girlfriend, Betsy (Sarah Jessica Parker), begins making noise about wanting to start a family. Worried he might lose her, Jack makes the rash decision that Read More

I Don't Buy Kisses Anymore

Actors: Jason Alexander, Nia Peeples, Lainie Kazan, Lou Jacobi, Eileen Brennan

Synopsis: Jason Alexander stars in this sweet-natured romantic comedy, marred by some overblown stereotypes. Alexander plays shoe salesman Bernie Fishbine. Bernie is lonely and shy and ever conscious about his weight problem. He stills lives at home with his mother Sarah (Lainie Kazan) and grandpa Irving Read More

29th Street

Actors: Danny Aiello, Anthony LaPaglia, Lainie Kazan, Frank Pesce, Donna Magnani

Synopsis: A hybrid cross-pollination of a Martin Scorsese and Frank Capra film, this feel-good comic fantasy is loosely based on the real-life story of a New York lottery winner. Anthony LaPaglia stars as Frank Pesce Jr., a New Yorker with a good-luck streak that is unmatched in his Little Italy Read More

The Adventures of a Two-Minute Werewolf

Synopsis: This made-for-TV chiller was originally made for younger audiences. Based on a book by Gene DeWeese, it tells the tale of a 13 year-old with a passion for horror movies. One night, while watching an utterly terrifying flick, he finds himself turning into a werewolf. Trouble ensues. ~ Sandra Read More

Eternity

Actors: Jon Voight, Armand Assante, Eileen Davidson, Wilford Brimley, Kaye Ballard

Synopsis: In this blend of fantasy and romantic comedy, a man isn't sure if he's stuck between past and present or if his imagination is simply working overtime. Edward (Jon Voight) is a prince in Medieval Europe, where his greatest rival is his brother Roni (Armand Assante). Roni wants to declare war on Read More

Rude Awakening

Actors: Cheech Marin, Eric Roberts, Julie Hagerty, Robert Carradine, Buck Henry

Synopsis: Cheech Marin and Eric Roberts play two draft-dodging hippies who flee to a commune in Central America where they stay for 20 years. When they return in 1989 and seek out some of their old NYC buddies, they find they've turned yuppie and things just aren't what they'd expected. ~ All Movie Guide Read More

Out of the Dark

Actors: Cameron Dye, Karen Black, Bud Cort, Lynn Danielson, Starr Andreeff

Synopsis: In this suspense thriller with a few humorous touches, an employee of a phone-sex service (Lynn Danielson) is being stalked by a clown-masked psychotic killer (Cameron Dye) who has already murdered a number of her colleagues. ~ Yuri German, All Movie Guide Read More

Beaches

Actors: Bette Midler, Barbara Hershey, John Heard, Spalding Gray, Lainie Kazan

Synopsis: Based on a novel by Iris Rainer Dart, Beaches traces the 30-year oil-and-water friendship between free-spirited Bronx Jew CC Bloom (Bette Midler) and uptight San Francisco WASP Hillary Essex (Barbara Hershey). The two meet as children in Atlantic City (played by Mayim Bialik and Marcie Leeds) and Read More

Harry and the Hendersons

Actors: John Lithgow, Melinda Dillon, Margaret Langrick, Joshua Rudoy, Kevin Peter Hall

Synopsis: While vacationing in the Pacific Northwest, the Henderson clan's dad George (John Lithgow), mom Nancy (Melinda Dillon), daughter Sarah (Margaret Langrick) and son Ernie (Joshua Rudroy) accidently run over a strange animal with their car, and when they get out to see what it is, they find the Read More

The Delta Force

Actors: Chuck Norris, Lee Marvin, Martin Balsam, Joey Bishop, Robert Forster

Synopsis: Menahem Golan melds a Chuck Norris action spectacle with the disaster film genre in The Delta Force. The story is based upon the June, 1985 hijacking of a TWA jet, where passengers were held at gun-point by terrorists in Beirut, Lebanon. The film re-enacts various real life incidents from the Read More

The Journey of Natty Gann

Actors: Meredith Salenger, John Cusack, Ray Wise, Scatman Crothers, Barry Miller

Synopsis: Disney's The Journey of Natty Gann stars Meredith Salenger in the title role. During the Depression, Natty's father (Ray Wise) takes a job in a Northwestern lumber camp, leaving his daughter behind in Chicago with the promise that he'll send for her when he's put together enough money. Unwilling Read More

Obsessive Love

Synopsis: "Her fantasy is to possess him. But now, it had become an obsession." The ad copy for the TV movie Obsessive Love said it all. Yvette Mimieux stars as the "number one fan" of soap-opera actor Simon McCorkindale. Not content with an autographed 8X10 glossy, Mimieux plots and plans to seduce Read More

The Jerk, Too

Synopsis: Navin Johnson, the consummate idiot, returns in this remake of Steve Martin's popular 1979 film The Jerk. As in the first, Johnson, the lily white adoptee of a black sharecropper sets out across the country in search of true love. This version was designed as a pilot for a TV series that never Read More

Lust in the Dust

Actors: Tab Hunter, Divine, Lainie Kazan, Geoffrey Lewis, Henry Silva

Synopsis: A controversial spoof on the Spaghetti western (some love it, some hate it), Lust in the Dust features the 300-pound Divine as the inimitable Rosie Velez, riding into view in full drag on a poor donkey as solemn commentary muddles on about the passions that enslave men and women -- and then Rosie Read More

Hotel

Actors: Bette Davis, Morgan Fairchild, Shirley Jones, Erin Moran, Mel Tormé

Synopsis: Arthur Hailey's novel Hotel had already served as the inspiration for a 1967 theatrical film when this TV pilot came along on September 21, 1983. Bette Davis stars as Laura Trent, the entrenched owner of the Hotel St. Gregory (moved from the novel's New Orleans to San Francisco, to allow for Read More

Faerie Tale Theatre: Pinocchio

Synopsis: Paul Reubens is the troublemaking title character in this installment of Faerie Tale Theatre. Carl Reiner stars as Gepetto, the lonely woodcarver who wishes for a son and creates a wooden marionette named Pinnochio as a substitute. One night a good fairy pays a visit and brings Pinnochio to life Read More

Sunset Limousine

Synopsis: In this made-for-TV comedy an unemployed stand-up comedian is tossed out by his girl friend and so gets a job driving a limo. He is still determined to win her back, and nothing, not even his inadvertent involvement with two hit men, will stop him. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide Read More

My Favorite Year

Actors: Peter O'Toole, Mark Linn-Baker, Jessica Harper, Joseph Bologna, Bill Macy

Synopsis: Richard Benjamin's directorial debut is an engaging slice of nostalgia, purportedly based on an incident in life of Mel Brooks. Mark Linn-Baker stars as Benjy Stone, junior writer on the popular 1950s TV comedy/variety series The King Kaiser Show. Kaiser (Joseph Bologna)'s guest star this week is Read More

One From the Heart

Actors: Frederic Forrest, Teri Garr, Nastassja Kinski, Raul Julia

Synopsis: After completing Apocalypse Now, Francis Ford Coppola initially planned for his next picture to be an intimate romantic musical shot on a low budget in Las Vegas. Three years later, One from the Heart had mushroomed into a big-budget spectacular, shot on strikingly stylized sets at his newly Read More

A Cry for Love

Synopsis: Jill Robinson's Bed-Time-Story, inspired by actual events, was the source for the made-for-TV A Cry for Love. Divorcee Susan Blakely, with no alimony and two kids to support, begins turning to amphetamines. While at her lowest ebb, she meets Powers Boothe, an alcoholic and three-time loser in Read More

Columbo: Make Me a Perfect Murder

Synopsis: Trish Van Devere plays a television executive (evidently inspired by Faye Dunaway in Network) in the made-for-TV Make Me a Perfect Murder. Denied a promotion, Ms. Van Devere retaliates by "cancelling" her boss--permanently. Utilizing her knowledge of TV mysteries, she manages to misdirect the Read More

A Love Affair: The Eleanor and Lou Gehrig Story

Actors: Ramon Bieri, Robert Burr, Blythe Danner, Edward Herrmann, Patricia Neal

Synopsis: Based on the 1976 autobiography My Luke and I by Eleanor Gehrig and Joseph Durso, Love Affair: The Eleanor & Lou Gehrig Story provides a slightly different slant on the events previously dramatized on film as Pride of the Yankees (1942). The story is told in flashback from the point of view of the Read More

Baretta: Murder for Me

Actors: Robert Blake, Edward Grover, Tom Ewell, Michael D. Roberts, Chino "Fats" Williams

Synopsis: A doctor is murdered, and the chief suspect is a grieving young father who held the victim responsible for his son's death. Placed in custody, the perpetrator escapes, embarking upon a seemingly senseless murder spree. In his efforts to nab the rampaging killer, undercover detective Tony Baretta (Robert Blake Read More

Romance of a Horsethief

Actors: Mira Blaskovic, Nada Cibic, Maria Mizar, Alenka Rancic, Dina Rutic, Henri Sera, Mile Sosa, Vera Stanojevic, Eugen Werber, Yul Brynner, Eli Wallach, Jane Birkin, Oliver Tobias, Lainie Kazan

Synopsis: In Polish Russia, Stoloff (Yul Brynner), a Cossack in exile from his land and family, has gained control over a small Jewish village. The villagers live mainly by horse-thievery, under the leadership of Kifke (Eli Wallach). Stoloff's regime is tolerated with difficulty until he commandeers the Read More

Dayton's Devils

Actors: Rory Calhoun, Leslie Nielsen, Lainie Kazan, Hans Gudegast, Barry Sadler

Synopsis: Frank Dayton (Leslie Nielsen) leads a group of crooks in a caper to steal one and a half million dollars from an Air Force base. Dayton is the tough-guy military leader who recruits Mike (Rory Calhoun), ex-Nazi Max (Hans Gudegast), sadistic killer Barney Barry (Barry Sadler), and failed French Read More

Lady in Cement

Actors: Frank Sinatra, Raquel Welch, Richard Conte, Martin Gabel, Lainie Kazan

Synopsis: Tony Rome (Frank Sinatra) is a Miami private detective who discovers a lady in cement while scuba diving. Rome is hired by Gronsky (Dan Blocker) to find out if the woman is his missing girlfriend. He interviews Kit Forrest (Raquel Welch), a boozy socialite who had seen the woman at a drunken party Read More