happy birthday frank oz

Not only is Frank Oz the puppeteer and voice of Miss Piggy, Fozzie Bear, Cookie Monster, Bert, and Grover, but he has directed some of my favorite comic films. And of course he is the man behind Jedi Master Yoda. Sounds like it's time for a Frank Oz film fest, but which one to watch first?

Little Shop of Horrors is a hoot, with Rick Moranis and Ellen Greene an adorable couple, Audrey II as a very impressive space alien plant, and Steve Martin as a particularly creepy dentist.

Dirty Rotten Scoundrels pits Steve Martin vs. Michael Caine as con men on the French Riviera, with a lovely Glenne Headley giving them both a run for her money.

Steve Martin and Michael Caine strike a pose

Bill Murray shows his support for his doctor, Richard Dreyfuss

What About Bob? may be Bill Murray's best film, as he unloads all of his neuroses on his shrink Richard Dreyfuss's doorstep, with of course, hilarious results.

Housesitter pairs Steve Martin and Goldie Hawn in a romance that is part comedy, part duel.

In and Out, is another funny funny film, featuring Kevin Kline as Howard Brackett's a high school English teacher who is outed by a former student at the Oscars played by Matt Dillon. Joan Cusack is amazing as Kline's fiancee and Tom Selleck is wonderful as a self-centered entertainment reporter who wants to get the scoop of Howard's coming-out party.

Joan Cusack and Kevin Kine watch the Oscars

Steve Martin and Eddie Murphy in Hollywood

Martin heads the cast again in Bowfinger, a wicked Hollywood farce that also stars Eddie Murphy in one of his best comic performances.

Although I love all of the films listed above I may have to start with Death at a Funeral, which I haven't yet seen. I've seen the pretty funny remake with Chris Rock, Martin Lawrence and Peter Dinklage, but Oz's film is set in England and it also features Dinklage. Maybe a double feature with Bowfinger ...

buffy's back ... with an evil twin

I'm interested in checking out Sarah Michele Gellar's new show this fall, Ringer. It's a mystery/suspense show where she plays twins. I'm glad she's back on television and I hope this series is fun for her and the audience.

Doesn't every actor want to play their evil twin? Not so sure audiences clamor for twin stories, but they do make for quirky, sometimes campy classics. Here are some of my favorites:

Bette Davis plays sisters Margaret (rich and bad, a husband murderer) and Edith (good and poor) in Dead Ringer. This is not a great movie, but it is compellingly watchable. Bette has to vie with good guy cop suitor Karl Malden and naughty boy toy Peter Lawford in this sordid '60s murder mystery. Apparently Bette played twins in another earlier film, A Stolen Life, which I have yet to see.

Eddie Murphy as movie star Kit ("Keep it Together, K-I-T") Ramsay and his nerdy brother Jiff in Bowfinger, a sarcastically funny take on Hollywood from Frank Oz and Steve Martin. This movie is just as funny whether you're watching it for the first or fifteenth time and Murphy is truly great at two very different, wacked out twins. He has always liked to play multiple characters, and did that to perfection in The Nutty Professor, his riff on Jerry Lewis's '60s version.

Jeremy Irons as creepy twins in the creepy Dead Ringers, directed by creepy David Cronenberg, who always seems to make creepy movies. They play twin gynecologists, who both start messing around with the wonderful Geneviève Bujold, who deserves much better.

Nicolas Cage plays screenwriter Charlie Kauffman and his nebbish brother Donald in Spike Jones's Adaptation, a surreal take on Susan Orleans's bestseller about the orchid industry in Florida. Meryl Streep, Tilda Swinton and Chris Cooper are along with the Cage (s) for the ride.

Twin-age is not limited to comedy and arty films. Action-adventure's own Jean Claude Van Damme beats himself up in Double Impact - what's not to love about that? Well, a lot actually, but it's still pretty fun.

If you were expecting the classic twinfest The Parent Trap, I'm sorry, but I don't like either version, Mills or Lohan. But I do love the concept of identical cousins, which isn't exactly a twin scenario, but it's wacky enough to fit this theme, and has that unforgettable theme song, to boot.

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