Inside Monkey Zetterland

Monkey Zetterland, Steve Antin, is a struggling screenwriter and former child actor who is working on a historical script about the defunct Red Car subway of Los Angeles. He lives in a building owned by his neurotic mother Honor Zetterland, [Katherine Helmond], a famous soap opera star. While secretly hoping there is a future in acting for Monkey, she tries to push her other son Brent Zetterland, [Tate Donovan], toward film stardom.

Honor shows up at Monkey’s apartment to borrow epsom salts, and at the same time his disagreeable girlfriend Daphne, [Debi Mazar], arrives. His sister Grace, [Patricia Arquette], arrives in tears to reveal that her lesbian girlfriend Cindy, [Sofia Coppola], has become pregnant from a one-night stand in an attempt to bring the two of them closer. Honor rents the basement apartment to Sasha, [Rupert Everett], and Sofie, [Martha Plimpton], a gay man and lesbian posing as husband and wife while publishing an underground newsletter that outs closeted gay people in the entertainment industry.

As if this were not enough, a creepy woman Bella, [Ricki Lake], shows up with a fan letter for Honor, and another strange lady, Imogene, [Sandra Bernhard], begins openly pursuing Monkey. After a series of confrontations with Monkey, Daphne moves out. At around the same time, his estranged father Mike, [Bo Hopkins], surfaces in time for Thanksgiving.

While everyone busies themselves with their personal issues, Grace discovers that Sasha and Sofie are terrorists who intend to bomb a local insurance agency that is denying medical coverage to people with HIV and AIDS. Sofie comes up with a plan to send Grace into the agency with a bomb, which Grace and Sasha believe is set up to give Grace enough time to escape before it detonates. It is not, and Grace dies in the explosion.

This event pulls everyone out of their own selfish interests and forces them to reexamine their lives and the people around them. The patriarch of the family disappears again, Cindy and her newborn baby are taken in by the family, and Monkey decides to let Imogene get closer to him. Then, just as things are starting to fall into place, Monkey comes home to find his apartment ransacked and his final finished script, his only copy, stolen.

Later that evening, Bella arrives with Monkey’s stolen script and a gun. She tries to shoot Honor, but hits the family dog instead. She is taken down, but the ensuing drama pulls the remaining emotional conflicts of the family into place. Honor accepts that Monkey is never going to become a famous actor. Instead of pushing him into acting, she uses her industry connections to have his script produced into a film starring Brent.

Last Updated: October 09, 2025 at 10:52