This 1990 release followed up "Look Who's Talking", a hit comedy that revived John Travolta's career a second time (not to be confused with "Pulp Fiction", which revived it a third time). Bruce Willis supplied the voice of Kirstie Alley's baby. Here, the movie opens with the couple making love, and mega-star Travolta lets loose an entire stream of opening credits inside her which, combined with Kirstie's egg, forms a baby with the voice of Roseanne Barr (her name at the time).
Amy Heckerling directed, and co-wrote along with husband Neal Israel, who is seen here as Kirstie's obnoxious boss. Amy also wrote and directed the first film, along with "Clueless", her current film, "Loser", and directed the cult hit "Fast Times at Ridgemont High."
Noelle's scene comes at a crucial moment for Kirstie's baby. The fetus is nearly ready for delivery, and is entangled in her umbilical cord, causing lots of stress for Kirstie, who reports to her job with a large accounting firm. Here, two of her clients are running frantically up the steps to met with her and an IRS auditor. The scene is very hectic, and we can hear the non-stop arguing of a husband (Douglas Warhit, who's appeared on many tv shows and films) and wife (played by Noelle). In the credits, Noelle is listed as "Woman Client", but apparently these actors invented their own backstory, because we can hear the husband calling her "Bambi" several times, along with other bits of dialogue:
Husband: "Did you bring the shoebox, Bambi?"
Wife: "I looked all over the closet--!"
Husband: "Don't play dumb with me, you know what I'm talking about--"
Wife: "You saw me clean out the closet!"
Husband: "Yes I did!"
Their argument gets absorbed by the general hustle and bustle of the noisy firm, which looks like an ant farm from above. So, can you pick Noelle out of a crowd? (Answer at bottom of page.)
While we're at it, who's this peering through the watercooler?
It's their IRS Inspector, played by character actor Terry David Mulligan, who has the distinction of appearing with both of Noelle's Amy Fisher colleagues:
In 1993, he appeared with Drew Barrymore in "The Amy Fisher Story", as Hard Copy's tabloid journalist Rafael Abramavitz, who reveals the damning video of Amy kidding about wanting a Ferrari for going through all her trouble (Mulligan seen on the right).
In 1995's "Deadly Sins", he plays a local townsman, Doc, who buys Alyssa Milano a double scotch.
Here, he's just trying to find out about the couple's bad business loan they declared on their taxes, if he can only get them to stop yelling at each other for a minute.
(Notice how the husband is hunched over, seemingly crowned by the lamp, adorned with a post-note, stuck there no doubt during all the chaos. Even though the actor is taller than petite Noelle, he never bumps his head on it, blissfully ignorant of its presence throughout the scene, while Noelle's character had the sense to not to sit right under it to begin with.)
Kirstie explains to the inspector that the couple had taken out a loan to start a restaurant on advice from their uncle Ernie. The restaurant was called "Eat Me Raw."
Noelle rolls her eyes at the memory of it.
The husband thinks differently, though. "It was a great idea." Everything was to be served raw: sushi, steak tartar, and vegetables.
"Crudités", she corrects him (which means, raw vegetables in French; although, instead of pronouncing it "crew-duh-tayz", she keeps saying it like "cruddities", indicating that these two don't really have a lot of experience in restaurant cuisine. Noelle tries to explain that ordering frozen salmon for the sushi wasn't the best idea, but it gets lost in the bickering:
Wife: "The whole idea of sushi is that it's fresh--"
Husband: "I ate at a five-star restaurant last week, and they gave me frozen sushi--"
The husband nods, still enraptured by the idea: "It had a certain quixotic quality that--"
Wife: "Excuse me! People thought it was an x-rated movie house!"
Husband: "People thought it was a delightful place--"
Wife: "No they didn't! Everyone was offended!"
Husband: "They were offended but they still wanted to eat there--"
Inside Kirstie's womb, the fetus is twisting about and tightening her stranglehold. We can hear Noelle and her husband still bickering through the fleshy walls, as Roseanne says she's had enough and wants out. This makes Kirstie extremely uncomfortable.
The inspector interrupts: Did Uncle Ernie have any experience in the restaurant business?
Husband: "Ernie was more of an idea man..."
Wife: "Well I'd say that's giving him a lot of credit!"
Finally, the inspector asks to see their books. Books, they ask?
Books, he repeats, little pieces of paper with numbers on them that record expenditures and income!
The husband thinks this is crass, reducing it to numbers:
"No! We didn't keep any books!"
Wife: "Would you not yell at the man--!"
Kirstie can't take anymore. In an unnaturally deep voice, she calls Uncle Ernie an idiot. These people lost their shirts on a stupid idea so let them have the f*cking deduction!!
This ends the audit.
So, where was Noelle?
If you said: "upper lefthand corner", you are correct!
