Whoopi Goldberg

Jumpin' Jack Flash

Whoopi Goldberg (The Color Purple) gives one of her earliest and finest film performances as Terry Doolittle, a computer programmer who unwittingly becomes embroiled in an international espionage scheme, forced to outmaneuver the CIA and KGB in this riotous 1986 Cold War comedy. Doolittle, the outspoken and irreverent employee of an international bank, is working overtime one evening when her terminal receives an encrypted message pleading for help from Jumpin' Jack Flash, code name for a British spy (Jonathan Pryce) trapped in Eastern Europe. At first reluctantly and then audaciously, Doolittle becomes privy to his predicament and essential to his escape while delivering a steady stream of ribald one-liners and witty slapstick—whether it's her Mick Jagger impersonation, police station meltdown, or infamous dress-caught-in-the-paper-shredder escapade at the British Consulate ball. A host of supporting talent includes Annie Potts, Jon Lovitz, Jim Belushi, the late Phil Hartman, and Stephen Collins (who shines as Marty, the mole), yet the film belongs to Whoopi. Though the plot is far-fetched and often flimsy, Penny Marshall (in her directorial debut) gives Goldberg enough latitude to showcase her immense talent in a role she obviously relishes—and audiences will too. Rated R for extreme profanity and mature themes. --Lynn Gibson

A computer operator (Goldberg) at a bank is plunged into an exciting world of international intrigue, danger and romance when her terminal gets an S.O.S. from "Jumpin' Jack Flash," a British spy stranded in Eastern Europe. She is soon matching wits with the deadliest members of the CIA to the KGB. Jon Lovitz and Jim Belushi co-star in this suspenseful, fast-paced and murderously funny comedy.

The Little Rascals

Kids may enjoy the slapstick of this modern reworking of the old Our Gang comedies, but parents who grew up watching them on TV (or grandparents who saw them at theaters) will wonder why anyone would want to be involved in this pathetic remake. Directed by Penelope Spheeris, the film takes look-alike kids and casts them as Spanky, Alfalfa, Buckwheat, and the rest, minus any sense of what made the old Hal Roach comedies funny. Instead of kids being kids, these are kids doing shtick while recycling such old bits as the He-Man Woman Haters Club, the kids' go-cart race, and Spanky and Alfalfa dressing as girls. Devoid of charm or wit. --Marshall Fine

They're all here! Spanky Alfalfa Buckwheat Darla Stymie Porky Petey the dog and all of the rascals star in this hilarious motion picture hit. The Little Rascals directed by Penelope Spheeris (Wayne's World The Beverly Hillbillies) brings a whole new generation of rascals to today's audiences.Recapturing the sense of innocent fun and unabashed pandemonium that has made the original series a classic and favorite for decades their new adventures begin at an emergency meeting of the "He-Man Womun Haters Club."Alfalfa has fallen in love with Darla threatening the very existence of their "boys only" club. Further trouble ensues when their clubhouse is destroyed and their prized go-cart "The Blur" is stolen by the neighborhood bullies. How can they win the big race and its prize trophy? Adding to their woes is the new boy in town Waldo who's refined rich and also wooing Darla.Through mischief and mayhem tricks and ingenuity the rascals will learn the value of true friendship...and even an appreciation of girls!System Requirements:Running Time 83 Mins.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: CHILDREN/FAMILY Rating: PG UPC: 025192003424 Manufacturer No: 61020034

Rat Race (Special Collector's Edition)

Modeled after 1963's It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World, Jerry Zucker's Rat Race lacks the irreverence of Zucker's 1980 hit Airplane! but has enough chuckles to make it an agreeable time-killer. Like Mad, Mad, Mad..., it employs a huge ensemble of comedy stalwarts, assembled by an eccentric hotelier (pearly-toothed John Cleese) to race from Las Vegas to New Mexico for a $2 million jackpot. With a backstage gambling subplot, Rowan Atkinson's Italian-geek lunacy, Seth Green's slacker antics, and some nicely understated work from SCTV alumnus Dave Thomas, the movie has almost as many highlights as clunkers, and Zucker's embrace of easy gags and traditional slapstick will tickle anyone's old-fashioned funny bone. Other ingredients are hopelessly stale: Whoopi Goldberg's frantic mugging, Cuba Gooding's latter-day Stepin Fetchit, "mature" humor that compromises the movie's broad appeal, and the assumption that crashing vehicles are inherently hilarious. Lamentable decisions, perhaps, but Rat Race maintains a pleasantly altruistic spirit. --Jeff Shannon

An all-star comedy cast brings laughs from start to finish when a casino tycoon gives six money-crazed contestants the chance to win $2 million in a race from Las Vegas to New Mexico. Who will win this dash for the cash is anybody's guess but one thing is for sure - it's going to be a hilarious ride.System Requirements:Starring: Rowan Atkinson John Cleese Whoopi Goldberg Cuba Gooding Jr. Seth Green John Lovitz Breckin Meyer Kathy Najimy Amy Smart. Directed By: Jerry Zucker. Running Time: 112 Min. Color. This film is presented in "Widescreen" format. Copyright 2002 Paramount Pictures.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: COMEDY Rating: PG-13 UPC: 097363368441 Manufacturer No: 336844

Soapdish

Though this movie did decent box-office business, it was never as funny as it should have been or as clever as it thought it was. The film is set behind the scenes at The Sun Also Sets, a soap opera starring Sally Field that is suffering a ratings slump. To lure the audience back, the producers resurrect a dead character, played by Kevin Kline, with whom Field was once a lover of but is now at odds (and helped exile to dinner theater, where he is first glimpsed playing Willy Loman). Written by Andrew Bergman and Robert Harling, the script has its funny moments but never manages to string them together, despite a cast that includes Whoopi Goldberg, Robert Downey Jr., Cathy Moriarty, and Carrie Fisher. --Marshall Fine

Corrina, Corrina

Ray Liotta plays a 1950s jingle composer whose wife dies, leaving him to raise their grieving young daughter (Tina Majorino) alone. Dad hires an African-American housekeeper (Whoopi Goldberg), who helps fill the gap in the child's life--and then Dad's life--and soon an interracial relationship crossing the social mores of the era is underway. Written and directed by Jessie Nelson, the film is a spot-on recreation of '50s suburbia without gratuitous kitsch. Liotta is perfect as a working man of the day, given to white shirts and narrow ties; Goldberg gives one of her finest performances as the levelheaded Corrina; and little Majorino is heartbreakingly effective. But the film entirely bears the stamp of one person, and that's Nelson, who has a wonderfully witty eye and a sophisticated but sensitive approach to the crosscurrents of emotion at play in this story. --Tom Keogh

Sister Act

Whoopi Goldberg plays a Reno lounge singer who hides out as a nun when her villainous boyfriend (Harvey Keitel) goes gunning for her. Maggie Smith is the mother superior who has to cope with Whoopi's unorthodox behavior, but the cute script turns the tables and shows how the latter energizes the stodgy convent with song and attitude. A real crowd-pleaser and a perfect vehicle for Goldberg, this is a happy experience all around. --Tom Keogh

A lounge singer witnesses a mob hit and must hide out until she can testify against the killers. The police put her in the custody of a convent, where she soon begins to transform the sisters.
Genre: Feature Film-Comedy
Rating: PG
Release Date: 1-JUN-2004
Media Type: DVD

The Aristocrats

Released without a rating and billed as "the most vile, disgusting, and vulgar" film of all time, The Aristocrats is also funny enough to qualify as a minor comedy classic. We say "minor" only because hearing the same foul joke told by 100 celebrated comedians is inevitably exhausting, even though the shaggy-dog gag (a vintage in-joke among comedians, allowing outrageously obscene improvisation, and always ending with the same titular punchline) is also a fascinating litmus test for each comedian's irreverent style. As codirectors and show-biz insiders, veteran comedians Paul Provenza and Penn Jillette (from the comedy duo Penn & Teller) corralled an unprecedented parade of stand-up celebrities (George Carlin, Robin Williams, Drew Carey, Whoopi Goldberg, Sarah Silverman, the South Park kids and many, many more), each telling "the dirtiest joke of all time" in their own inimitable fashion. The sheer volume of vaudevillian vulgarity takes on a life of its own, more fascinating than funny, until Gilbert Gottfried (at a celebrity roast for Hugh Hefner, shortly after the terrorist attacks of 9/11/01) tells what is unanimously hailed as the definitive version of the joke. It's a matter of context, style, and bawdy bravado, and for better or worse, The Aristocrats will endure as a testament to a joke so bad--so uproariously bad--that no comedian worthy of the profession can resist the temptation to tell it. --Jeff Shannon

"A man walks into a talent agent's office with his family and says Have I got an act for you! The talent agent replies So what do you do?" So begins "The Aristocrats" a joke that has been handed down from comedian to comedian for decades but is rarely told on stage. The next part of the joke varies allowing for improvisation and the only requirement in telling the joke is that it be as offensive as possible.Paul Provenza and Penn Jillette spent two years documenting as many versions of this infamous joke as possible cornering comedians like Drew Carey Whoopi Goldberg Susie Essman and Paul Reiser whenever and wherever possible. The results are surprising and often take their humor to places that may make sensitive viewers uncomfortable. While comic legends such as Don Rickles The Smothers Brothers and Phyllis Diller admit their familiarity with the joke they shy away from telling their own versions. Some may be surprised however to see performers who are normally associated with family-friendly material including Bob Saget and Jason Alexander describing scatological and incestuous acts with deadpan glee. Ultimately though THE ARISTOCRATS is more than just many versions of the same dirty joke--it is an exploration of the workings of the unrestricted comic mind.System Requirements:Running Time 86 Mins.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: COMEDY Rating: UNRATED UPC: 821575540759 Manufacturer No: TF-54075

Boys on the Side

This female-bonding film takes your basic soap opera and twists it inside out. Although director Herbert Ross draws superb performances from his actresses, he occasionally wallows in that maudlin, Hollywood melodrama in which close-ups are crucial. Remember, this is the man who directed Steel Magnolias. However, Ross also does something you don't expect: he makes you fall in love with his characters. Whoopi Goldberg is a down-on-her luck singer who hopes to start over in Los Angeles. Mary-Louise Parker is the realtor whose life is going nowhere. After Goldberg answers Parker's ad in the paper for a companion to drive to LA, these two completely different women grudgingly find themselves emotionally involved. Drew Barrymore enters the picture on the first leg of the trip when Goldberg insists on visiting her. After battling with her drug-dealing boyfriend, the flighty, sexy Barrymore throws in with them. During their trek west, the women learn to take life as it lands on them while recognizing true friendship. The film is enlightened in that it accepts the complications and blurred family ties of the '90s. At the heart of the story is the realization that people can expand past expected boundaries. The movie gels in other areas as well. The all-female soundtrack is powerful and works to underscore, not overpower, certain scenes. The same can be said of the supporting cast, specifically Anita Gillette and James Remar. --Rochelle O'Gorman

The Player (Special Edition) (New Line Platinum Series)

A wicked satirical fable about corporate backstabbing--and actual murder--in the movie business, The Player benefits from director Robert Altman's long and bitter experience working within, and without, the Hollywood studio system. Rising young executive Griffin Mill (Tim Robbins) is tormented by threats from an anonymous writer. The pressure and paranoia build until Griffin loses control one night and semi-accidentally kills screenwriter David Kahane (Vincent D'Onofrio), who may or may not be the source of the threats. From that point, Griffin's life and career begin to fall apart. In keeping with the ironic spirit of the film itself, Altman's scathingly funny attack on the moral bankruptcy of Hollywood was embraced by many of the same people it was intended to savage, and restored the director to commercial and critical favor. Michael Tolkin adapted the screenplay from his own novel, and the movie is studded with cameos by famous faces, many of whom appear as themselves. The digital video disc includes a commentary track with Altman and Tolkin, some deleted scenes, a documentary about Altman, and a key to help identify more than 50 of the picture's big-name cameos. --Jim Emerson

Sister Act 2: Back in the Habit

A lounge singer who had previously posed as a nun returns to the order to help teach in an inner city school.
Genre: Feature Film-Comedy
Rating: PG
Release Date: 1-JUN-2004
Media Type: DVD

Whoopi Goldberg returns in a gratuitous, poorly written sequel that contrives a reason to get her character back into Maggie Smith's convent. The "socially conscious" plot finds Goldberg being asked to relate to a bunch of street kids and pull them together into a choir. Since a bad guy is needed, the script grabs that old chestnut about a rich guy (James Coburn) preparing to close down the convent's school, and runs with it. The film is slow and unconvincing from start to finish, although costars Mary Wickes and Kathy Najimy get some good laughs, and the music is pretty spirited. --Tom Keogh