George Romero

Monkey Shines (1988) starring  Jason Beghe,  John Pankow,  Kate McNeal, Boo

reviewed by: The masked reviewer

When promising athlete Allan Mann (Jason Beghe) is involved in an accident his world changes forever. He goes from top athlete to quadriplegic in an instant, and he’s not taking it well. His over-dramatic, overbearing mother Dorothy Mann (Joyce Van Patten) tries her best to make him comfortable by hiring a patronizing, lazy nurse Maryanne Hodges (Christine Forrest) to take care of him. Time passes, and Allan’s a shadow of himself, until his friend Geoffrey Fisher (John Pankow) brings Allan a trained monkey named Ella (Boo) to help him.