With his first four major motion pictures grossing close to one hundred million dollars each in box office receipts, director and screenwriter Tom Shadyac would certainly qualify as a hot Hollywood property. Boasting a set of directoral credits that include Ace Ventura, Pet Detective, Liar, Liar, The Nutty Professor, and Patch Adams, Shadyac has a good sense of what constitutes entertainment for many U.S. moviegoers. As Susan Wloszczyna declared in a USA Today review of the film Liar, Liar, "Every great filmmaker has a signature, an artistic trademark that immediately lets audience members know they haven't wandered into the wrong multiplex theatre.... For Tom Shadyac, it's bathroom humor."

Born in 1959 and raised in upscale Falls Church, Virginia, Shadyac-who is of Lebanese ancestry--proved to be a good student, although he exhibited an unbridled tendency toward hijinks during his high school years. After graduating from J. E. B. Stuart...