''Teresa's Tattoo'' (also known as ''Natural Selection'') is a 1994 American

action comedy The action comedy is a film genre that applies to action films where humor plays a much more central role. While early films feature stuntwork and humor, academic Cynthia King wrote that the genre only came into its own as a mainstay of the America ...

crime film Crime film is a film belonging to the crime fiction genre. Films of this genre generally involve various aspects of crime and fiction. Stylistically, the genre may overlap and combine with many other genres, such as Drama (film and television), dr ...

directed by

Julie Cypher Julie Cypher (born August 24, 1964) is an American film director and gay rights advocate. She is best known as the former partner of musician Melissa Etheridge, with whom she had two children. They were one of the first celebrity same-sex coupl ...

. The film stars

C. Thomas Howell Christopher Thomas Howell (born December 7, 1966) is an American actor and director. After making his film debut with a supporting role in ''E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial'' (1982), Howell had his breakout with a lead role as Ponyboy Curtis in the c ...

Nancy McKeon Nancy Justine McKeon (born April 4, 1966) is an American actress. She is known for her roles as Jo Polniaczek on the NBC sitcom '' The Facts of Life'' and Jinny Exstead on ''The Division''. Early life and family Nancy Justine McKeon was born on ...

Lou Diamond Phillips Louis Diamond Phillips (né Upchurch; born February 17, 1962) is an American actor, director, and writer. His breakthrough came when he starred as Ritchie Valens in the biographical drama film '' La Bamba'' (1987). For his performance as Angel ...

Melissa Etheridge Melissa Lou Etheridge (born May 29, 1961) is an American singer, songwriter, musician, and guitarist. Her Melissa Etheridge (album), eponymous debut album was released in 1988 and became an underground success. It peaked at No. 22 on the Billbo ...

, who also performed songs for the film,

Casey Siemaszko Kazimierz Andrew "Casey" Siemaszko (; born March 17, 1961) is an American actor. He had supporting roles in ''Back to the Future'' and '' Stand By Me'' before having starring roles in '' Three O'Clock High'' and '' Young Guns''. Personal life Sie ...

Adrienne Shelly Adrienne Shelly ( Levine; June 24, 1966 – November 1, 2006) was an American actress, film director, and screenwriter. She gained recognition for her roles in independent films, particularly Hal Hartley's '' The Unbelievable Truth'' (1989) and ...

, and

Majel Barrett Majel Barrett-Roddenberry ( ; born Majel Leigh Hudec; February 23, 1932 – December 18, 2008) was an American actress. She was best known for her roles as various characters in the ''Star Trek'' franchise: Nurse Christine Chapel (in the origi ...

. It was filmed in Los Angeles, California, USA. ''Teresa's Tattoo'' was produced by

CineTel Films CineTel Films Inc. was an independent film production company and distributor based in West Hollywood, California. History The company was founded in Chicago in 1980 as Chicago Teleproductions and later moved the company's headquarters to Los ...

, Trimark Pictures, and Yankee Entertainment Group Inc. It was distributed by Trimark Pictures.

Plot

The film starts with Gloria (

), who is being held

hostage A hostage is a person seized by an abductor in order to compel another party, one which places a high value on the liberty, well-being and safety of the person seized—such as a relative, employer, law enforcement, or government—to act, o ...

, bothering her captors in charge of watching her, Mooney ( Anthony Clark) and Titus (

Matt Adler Matthew D. Adler (born December 8, 1966) is an American film actor. He is best known for his supporting roles in the 1980s teenage films: ''Teen Wolf'', '' White Water Summer'', and '' Dream a Little Dream''. He starred in '' North Shore''. He c ...

), by changing the channel the two were watching on television and jumping in front of the TV. Titus then scolds and takes the remote from Gloria and suggests she should go take a swim in the pool outside which she subsequently obliges. While playing in the pool, Gloria hauls a trampoline near the edge of the pool and begins to jump on it before slipping and falling in the pool. The film then cuts to a university where Teresa Brigger (also Adrienne Shelly), a mathematician grad student that bears an uncanny resemblance to Gloria, is talking to her friend Bruno, (

Joe Pantoliano Joseph Peter Pantoliano (born September 12, 1951) is an American actor who has played over 150 roles across film, television, and theater. He is best known for portraying Francis Fratelli in '' The Goonies'' (1985), Captain Conrad Howard in th ...

) about her plans for the upcoming

spring break Spring break is a vacation period at universities and schools that includes the Easter holiday, and takes place in early Northern Hemisphere spring. Introduced in the U.S. during the 1930s, spring break has been observed in Europe since t ...

. She plans on not celebrating the coming holiday and wants to continue studying math. The film cuts back to the pool where Carl (

), Titus and Mooney's boss, shows up to find their hostage who is supposed to be exchanged later in a ransom deal with Gloria's half-witted brother, Michael (

) and his associate, Wheeler (

) for the earrings she is wearing that is secretly holograph plans to a confidential

NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agencies of the United States government, independent agency of the federal government of the United States, US federal government responsible for the United States ...

space program, dead after drowning in the pool. The trio then decide to search for a girl that looks like the deceased Gloria so they can complete the deal. Teresa and Bruno then go to a gathering where she encounters Bruno's friend and her ex love interest, Rick (

Jonathan Silverman Jonathan Elihu Silverman (born August 5, 1966) is an American actor. He is known for his roles in the comedy films ''Brighton Beach Memoirs'', ''Weekend at Bernie's'', and its sequel ''Weekend at Bernie's II''. Early life and education Silverm ...

Cast

Home media

The film was released on

VHS VHS (Video Home System) is a discontinued standard for consumer-level analog video recording on tape cassettes, introduced in 1976 by JVC. It was the dominant home video format throughout the tape media period of the 1980s and 1990s. Ma ...

in the U.S. by

Lionsgate Home Entertainment Lionsgate Studios Corp. (simply known as Lionsgate Studios) is a Canadian-American film and television production and distribution conglomerate, domiciled in Vancouver, British Columbia, and primarily based in Santa Monica, California. It was f ...

Soundtrack

*"2001" – Written and Performed by

*"I Really Must Be Going" – Written and Performed by

*"All American Girl" – Written and Performed by

*"Do It For The Rush" – Written and Performed by

*"Save Myself" – Written by

; Performed by

Mare Winningham Mary Megan Winningham, known professionally as Mare Winningham ( ; born May 16, 1959), is an American actress and singer-songwriter. She is the recipient of two Primetime Emmy Awards and has been nominated for an Academy Award, two Golden Globe ...

*"No Strings Attached" – Written by Simone Lazer and Audrey Koz; Performed by Betty Ball *"When You're Near" – Written and Performed by David Adjian *"Pool Cue Music" – Written and Performed by Richard Friedman *"All Night Long" – Written by Mark Gast; Performed by Raging Storm *"Betrayal of Kings" – Written by Mark Gast; Performed by Salem's Wych *"Lover Lay Down" – Written and Performed by

K.O. A knockout (abbreviated to KO or K.O.) is a fight-ending, winning criterion in several full-contact combat sports, such as boxing, kickboxing, Muay Thai, mixed martial arts, karate, some forms of taekwondo and other sports involving striking, a ...

*"Alah" – Written and Performed by Andrew Kereazies *"I Feel You" – Written and Performed by Andrew Kereazies *"Silver Bullet" – Written by Leigh Lawson & Jack Marsh; Performed by

Leigh Lawson Allan Leigh Lawson (born 21 July 1945) is an English actor, director and writer. Early life Lawson was born in Atherstone, Warwickshire. He initially studied at Mountview Academy of Theatre Arts before training further at the Royal Academy of ...

*"Coming Down On Me" – Written by Leigh Lawson & Pete Sadony; Performed by

Production crew

*Samuel Benedict (producer) * Lisa M. Hansen (producer) * Philip McKeon (producer) * Paul Hertzberg (executive producer) *

Marc Rocco Marc Rocco (June 19, 1962 – May 1, 2009) was an American film director, film producer and screenwriter. Marc Rocco was born Marc Daniel King in North Hollywood Los Angeles, to Harvey King and Sandra Elaine Garrett. Later divorcing King, Garre ...

(executive producer) * Georgie Huntington (associate producer) * Catalaine Knell (co-producer) * Donald C. McKeon (co-producer) * Russell D. Markkowitz (line producer)

References

Sources

External links

* * *{{rotten-tomatoes, teresas_tattoo 1994 films 1990s crime comedy-drama films CineTel Films films American crime comedy-drama films Trimark Pictures films Films about kidnapping 1990s English-language films 1990s American films 1994 directorial debut films 1994 crime drama films English-language crime comedy-drama films