News

Lenny Bruce: Dustin Hoffman in the 1974 Bob Fosse movie. Lenny Bruce movie review: Polemical stand-up comedian merited less timid biopic (Oscar Movie Series) Bob Fosse's 1974 biopic Lenny has two chief assets: the ever relevant free speech issues it raises and the riveting presence of Valerie Perrine. The film itself, however, is only sporadically thought-provoking or emotionally gripping; in fact, Lenny is a major artistic letdown, considering all the talent involved and the fertile material at hand. After all, much more should have come out of a joint effort between director Fosse, fresh off his Academy Award win for Cabaret; playwright-screenwriter Julian Barry, whose stage version of Lenny earned Cliff Gorman a Tony Award; two-time Best Actor Oscar nominee Dustin Hoffman (The Graduate, Midnight Cowboy); and cinematographer Bruce Surtees (Play Misty for Me, Blume in Love). Their larger-than-life subject? Lenny Bruce, the stand-up comedian who became one of the...

New York isn't just a place. Making it there symbolizes acting success. And for five performers with credits ranging from Bollywood to comedy clubs, the time had come to make the move.The Cast Tanika Brown McKelvy had been a working actor in Los Angeles since 1995, appearing on such programs as Las Vegas, George Lopez, and House and in several indie films. "But I was beginning to get complacent," she says. "I wanted to do more things -- more stage work -- but there wasn't that much opportunity in L.A." Her lifelong desire to appear on Broadway, and the fact that her high school sweetheart was in New York, propelled her to cross the continent last August. Three years prior to arriving in New York in September, Stuti Kejriwal was an acting student in her native Mumbai, India, where she had appeared in a few independent movies. But when...