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player ready...Ray Romano, beware: Few sitcom stars find big- and small-screen success. But these films (rated to four TVs) featured TV actors who managed the feat:
1. ‘ROMY AND MICHELE’S HIGH SCHOOL REUNION’
(David Mirkin, 1997) 31/2 TVs
Lisa Kudrow’s Michele is a practical clone of Phoebe from “Friends.” But the formula works well in this surprising comedy, as the sweet, dumb blond, with best friend Romy (Mira Sorvino), one-ups her former high school rivals at their reunion with an inspired interpretive dance to Cyndi Lauper’s “Time After Time.”
2. ‘SIX DEGREES OF SEPARATION’
(Fred Schepisi, 1993) 31/2 TVs
Before former “Fresh Prince of Bel-Air” star Will Smith appeared in bloated blockbusters, he acted in this small, sharp comedy based on John Guare’s play. As Paul, a confused con passing as a successful sophisticate, Smith gives a complicated performance that is drastically different from his TV role, and easily the actor’s finest work.
3. ‘AS GOOD AS IT GETS’
(James L. Brooks, 1997) 3 TVs
Helen Hunt matched wits with film ace Jack Nicholson in Brooks’ sweet character comedy. Both actors received Academy Awards as a result, with Hunt’s win marking the first time an actress won an Oscar and an Emmy (for “Mad About You”) in the same calendar year.
4. ‘CASUALTIES OF WAR’
(Brian DePalma, 1989) 3 TVs
One month before “Family Ties” ended, Michael J. Fox made this tense war movie based on actual events, as it chronicles an American squad’s abduction (and eventual raping) of a Vietnamese farm girl.
5. ‘GREASE’
(Randal Kleiser, 1978) 3 TVs
John Travolta was at the top of the celeb crop by the end of the ’70s, thanks to “Saturday Night Fever” and TV’s “Welcome Back, Kotter.” But “Grease,” released a year before “Kotter’s” finale, sealed his iconic status, as Travolta’s rebellious Danny Zuko sings and dances his way into the heart of Sandy (Olivia Newton-John).