Kanew, Jeff

Troop Beverly Hills

As Phyllis a Beverly Hills housewife is in the middle of a divorce she tries to find focus in her life by taking over her daughter's (Hannah) Wilderness Girl troop. Among the girls are Tiffany (who her father has to bribe to attend meetings Emily (the daughter of an out of work actor whose financial difficulties hinders her wanting to participate in certain activities) the neurotic Tessa (whose parents divorce has forced her into therapy twice a week) the hostile Chica (whose parents are too busy with their own lives to even remember her birthday) and Claire (the child star who see the wilderness girls as her chance to lead a "normal" life). Phyllis then begins to take the girls camping at a Beverly Hills hotel and earn patches relating to material things. The district leader Velda feels the troop should be disbanded. However the head of the Wilderness girls organization believes that as long as Phyllis has taken an active interest in the girls that is the only thing that's important. Then Velda begins to sabotage the girls endlessly.System Requirements:Run Time: 105 minutesFormat: DVD MOVIE Genre: COMEDY Rating: PG UPC: 043396078918 Manufacturer No: 07891

Gotcha!

Before he started losing his hair (which gave his baby face the maturity it needed for him to be taken seriously as a doctor on E.R.), Anthony Edwards was the quintessential juvenile lead, college division. That is what he plays here: a college kid who is campus champ at an assassination game called Gotcha (that uses fake guns). Then he goes on a summer vacation behind the Iron Curtain (before it came tumbling down) and falls for a female operative (Linda Fiorentino), who not only uses him as an unsuspecting courier for spy stuff but makes him a fall guy, as well. When he finally extricates himself from the trouble, the trouble follows him back to campus. Silly and far-fetched, though Edwards has that wounded-puppy look down perfectly. --Marshall Fine

Revenge of the Nerds - Panty Raid Edition

In this hilarious satire on college life a group of misfits led by Robert Carradine and Anthony Edwards decides to start their own fraternity after being rejected by every house on campus. Chaos results with a brains vs. brawn battle as the football team jocks try to run the nerds off campus. But as the nerds carefully engineer their revenge it begins to appear as if their day is at hand.System Requirements:Running Time: 90 Mins.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: COMEDY Rating: R UPC: 024543241089 Manufacturer No: 2234108

Nerds without computers may seem a contradiction in terms, but life was simpler back in 1984 and the geeks seemed to get along fine with just a slide rule and a plastic pocket protector. A variation on the fraternity-farce plot of Animal House, the picture celebrates the triumphs of a gang of geeks, led by Robert Carradine and a pre-E.R. Anthony Edwards, as they get back at a rival frat house full of jocks and preppies. Although the brains-over-brawn theme ought to be sure-fire, the movie gets by mostly on charm; there are very few explosively funny sequences. The supporting cast includes some surprising familiar faces, notably James Cromwell (Babe, L.A. Confidential) as Carradine's look-alike dad, pants hoisted proudly to his armpits. The director, Jeff Kanew (Gotcha!), went on to the 1991 private-eye belly flop V.I. Warshawski and has not been heard from since. --David Chute

V.I. Warshawski

You couldn't do better than Kathleen Turner to bring Sara Peretsky's tough but tender Chicago PI (who goes by her initials "because it makes it harder for people to patronize [her]") to the big screen. Too bad her vehicle is such routine murder mystery. The story of an insolent teenager (Angela Goethals) who hires Warshawski to investigate her father's suspicious death never rises above TV detective show melodrama, and Jeff Kanew's generic direction is less hardboiled than over-easy. The film's pleasures are all in the performances: smart, stylish, and sassy, Turner can toss off a tart retort with the best of them and her chemistry with Goethals's foul-mouthed wharf rat is as much mentor as maternal protector. Given a better script, Turner could have hung her shingle on this character for years to come. --Sean Axmaker

When brute force isn't enough to handle the human sludge of the Chicago underworld, private investigator V.I. Warshawski pulls out two of her most lethal weapons -- powerful charm and the skill of a woman who knows all the right moves. A tough-talking, fiercely independent, sexy P.I. with a weakness for pretty shoes, Warshawski is armed with brains and seductive sex appeal. When pushed to the edge, Warshawski can play hardball with the Windy City's most wanted, including a cold-blooded killer who has murdered Boom-Boom Grafalk, an ex-hockey player who has caught her eye. A just cause is reason enough for Warshawski to take on a new case, and when Boom-Boom's 13-year-old daughter, Kat, retains the detective to ferret out her father's killer, V.I. uncovers a startling conspiracy for murder and money.

Revenge of the Nerds/ Revenge Of the Nerds II - Nerds in Paradise

National Lampoon's Adam and Eve

Adam and Eve has an interesting premise with a lot of potential as a thoughtful, adult movie. Disheveled musician and college student Adam (Cameron Douglas, son of Michael Douglas) goes out of his way to meet the beautiful Eve (Emmanuelle Chriqui) on campus. In no time, the two are in love. Everything goes swimmingly except in the bedroom, where Eve asserts her right to remain a virgin until she's ready. Adam--though deferential--takes her requirement personally and demands to know what "ready" means. The pair go on like this for months, with Adam remaining true to his passion for Eve, despite howls of protest from his degenerate housemates (among them Jake Hoffman, son of Dustin Hoffman). Eve takes flak, too, from some of her own roomies, yet for awhile it appears Adam and Eve's story will include other young women inspired by Eve's insistence on respect behind closed doors. Unfortunately, writer-director Jeff Kanew (Revenge of the Nerds) elects not to go down that path and nearly derails the movie with inconsequential gross-out scenes at Adam's house. But the material dedicated to Adam and Eve's challenging relationship is discerning. --Tom Keogh

In the tradition of National Lampoon's Animal House and National Lampoon's Van Wilder comes this wildly hilarious comedy about a guy who wants to date a girl who wants to wait. Adam (Cameron Douglas) is a typical college-aged guy which is to say he wants sex 24 hours a day. But when he meets and falls for Eve (Emmanuelle Chriqui) a scorchingly hot co-ed who's still very attached to her virginity the waiting game is on! While his college buddies score right and left and campus hotties make tempting passes Adam ponders an explosive question: Will Eve say "it's the right time" before he goes completely out of his mind?Running Time: 91 min.System Requirements:Running Time 91 Mins.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: COMEDY Rating: R UPC: 794043839221 Manufacturer No: N8392

Tough Guys [Region 2]

Revenge of the Nerds II: Nerds in Paradise [Region 2]

V.I. Warshawski, Detective in High Heels [Region 2]

You couldn't do better than Kathleen Turner to bring Sara Peretsky's tough but tender Chicago PI (who goes by her initials "because it makes it harder for people to patronize [her]") to the big screen. Too bad her vehicle is such routine murder mystery. The story of an insolent teenager (Angela Goethals) who hires Warshawski to investigate her father's suspicious death never rises above TV detective show melodrama, and Jeff Kanew's generic direction is less hardboiled than over-easy. The film's pleasures are all in the performances: smart, stylish, and sassy, Turner can toss off a tart retort with the best of them and her chemistry with Goethals's foul-mouthed wharf rat is as much mentor as maternal protector. Given a better script, Turner could have hung her shingle on this character for years to come. --Sean Axmaker

Tough Guys