Shirley Knight Movies

Rebecca Miller (The Ballad of Jack & Rose) adapts her own novel with this comedy drama about a woman who begins a second life after her husband leaves her for a younger woman. Robin Wright Penn, Julianne Moore, Winona Ryder, Alan Arkin, Monica Bellucci, Maria Bello, and Keanu Reeves headline the Plan B Entertainment production. ~ Jeremy Wheeler, All Movie Guide

While taking the AP Calculus exam, high-school student Matt Davis (John Patrrick Amedori) collapses. Discovering that Matt has been lethally poisoned, House (Hugh Laurie) suspects that the boy has been doing drugs at home. When another student exhibits the same symptoms, however, it is obvious that the source of the poison is the school testing room--but how can this be? Meanwhile, another clinic patient, 82-year-old Georgia Adams (Shirley Knight), suddenly develops an uncontrollable sex drive...and an insatiable lust for Dr. House! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Mia Goldman's psychological drama Open Window stars Joel Edgerton and Robbin Tunney as a husband and wife who have intense professional lives, but are able to rely on each other during their time together at home. One night the wife is raped, sending her into a depression that threatens to crumble the marriage. Elliott Gould and Cybil Shepherd portray the wife's parents. ~ Perry Seibert, All Movie Guide

Shortly after graduating from the University of California at Santa Barbara, filmmaker Tom Peosay and his wife Sue (an Asian Studies major) set out on a tour of Asia that culminated in an extended stay in the Chinese-occupied nation of Tibet. With that formative visit, the Peosays became actively interested in the small Himalayan nation's tempestuous history and, over the course of the next decade, made a number of return visits to document Tibet's story, as well as interview a number of its residents and higher-profile participants of the "Free Tibet" movement. Their completed documentary, entitled Tibet: Cry of the Snow Lion, encompasses a brief history of China's invasion and subsequent five decades of rule, as well as the various uprisings that have occurred over the years -- with particular emphasis on the 1987 riots. A number of high profile Hollywood actors lent their voices to this project, including Martin Sheen (who narrated the film), Tim Robbins, Susan Sarandon, and Ed Harris. ~ Ryan Shriver, All Movie Guide

Jimmy Zoole (Steve Guttenberg, also making his directing debut) has been having bad, bad day. Not only has his one-man version of Hamlet (performed with hand puppets) just tanked, his girlfriend has left him, his cat is gravely ill, and his unfinished novel has been stolen. Plus, it's New Year's Eve. So when Jimmy finds Eddie (Lombardo Boyar), a gay burglar, lurking in his apartment, he isn't exactly thrilled. On the verge of a major breakdown, he ties up Eddie and uses him as an outlet for his multitude of frustrations. Eddie, it turns out, has a few of his own, including an ex-wife who won't let him see his child. What follows is a New Year's celebration replete with party hats, rope, and some very, very deep emotional issues. Based on James Kirkwood's cult novel (Kirkwood also won a Pulitzer as the author of A Chorus Line), P.S. Your Cat is Dead was screened at the 2002 Philadelaphia Gay and Lesbian International Film Festival. ~ Rebecca Flint Marx, All Movie Guide

Anxious to get his hands on some Demerol, a frustrated patient pulls a gun in the ER waiting room and threatens dire consequences if he isn't serviced immediately. After this crisis passes, an outraged Carter (Noah Wyle) threatens a staff walkout unless efforts are made to step up security at County General. Meanwhile, Abby's (Maura Tierney) brother Eric (Tom Everett Scott), an Air Force traffic controller, drops in for a visit en route to his new assignment in Omaha. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Screenwriter Callie Khouri makes her directorial debut with this adaptation of a pair of popular novels by author Rebecca Wells, Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood and Little Altars Everywhere. Sandra Bullock stars as Sidda Lee Walker, a New York playwright who opens a can of emotional worms with her estranged, boozy mother, Vivi (Ellen Burstyn), when she discusses her painful childhood and particularly Vivi's less-than-enviable mothering skills in a Time magazine article. The eccentric Louisiana drama queen Vivi has already been barred from her daughter's oft-delayed wedding to her fiancé, Connor (Angus Macfadyen), so the article sends her into a rage. Coming to the rescue of the relationship are Necie (Shirley Knight), Caro (Maggie Smith), and Teensy (Fionnula Flanagan), a trio of bickering women, who, along with Vivi, formed a secret society of feminist empowerment and friendship 60 years earlier that they dubbed the "Ya-Ya Sisterhood." The Ya-Yas kidnap Sidda and bring her home to Louisiana, where they reveal to Sidda via a carefully maintained scrapbook her mother's painful past (with Vivi portrayed in flashback by Ashley Judd), effecting a rapprochement between mother and daughter. Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood also stars James Garner. ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide

Jennifer Lopez stars in this gritty, emotional drama as police officer Sharon Pogue, who covers up a painful past with an anger that fuels her job performance in one of Chicago's toughest precincts. Although her partner Robby (Terrence Howard) is concerned about Sharon, she won't confide even in her closest friend. Sharon's life takes a turn, however, when she's saved from a violent assault by Catch Lambert (James Caviezel), a haunted, enigmatic do-gooder whose guardian-angel deeds make him a hero to some, like disabled shut-in Elanora Davis (Shirley Knight). Sharon becomes romantically involved with Catch, with whom she has more in common than she imagines, as Catch is also tortured by a painful, traumatic event from his past. Angel Eyes, which is directed by Luis Mandoki and written by Gerald DiPego, co-stars Sonia Braga, Alfonso Arau, Jeremy Sisto, and Victor Argo. ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide

A young girl learns a difficult lesson about the bonds of family in this drama based on the novel for young adults by Kimberly Willis Holt. Tiger Ann Parker (Kelsey Keel) is a girl growing up in the small rural community of Saitter, LA, and she's not especially happy with her life. Her mother (Amelia Campbell) suffered brain damage after a childhood accident that significantly reduced her IQ, and her father (Chris Owens) is "slow" and has trouble reading and writing, which has made Tiger Ann the subject of a lot of cruel taunting from her classmates at school. When Tiger Ann's Aunt Dorie (Juliette Lewis) offers to let her stay with her in the "big city" of Baton Rouge, the young girl is eager to see what the world has to offer beyond the city limits of Saitter. But Tiger Ann soon discovers that leaving her home and family behind is not as simple as she imagined. My Louisiana Sky also features Shirley Knight; actor Adam Arkin directed, in what was his first feature-length project. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

This two-part TV miniseries, adapted from Dorothy West's novel The Wedding, takes a look at mid-century issues of race and class in well-to-do black society. On Martha's Vineyard in 1953, debutante Shelby Coles (Halle Berry) stirs discord in her social-climbing family when she chooses to marry impoverished white musician Meade Howell (Eric Thal). At the Shelby family estate, weeks prior to the wedding, Meade informs her parents, Corinne and Clark Coles (Lynn Whitfield, Michael Warren), that his family won't be attending the wedding, and the irony of upper-crust blacks being rejected by poor whites hangs heavy. In a later plot twist, the single black father (Carl Lumbly) of three mixed-race daughters takes a very strong interest in Shelby that quickly turns into an overly persistent pursuit. Filmed in Wilmington, North Carolina, the miniseries premiered February 22-23, 1998 on ABC. Also known as Oprah Winfrey Presents: The Wedding. ~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide

In this TV sitcom, Maggie Winters (Faith Ford), after a bitter divorce, returns home to Shelbyville, Indiana, where she was once voted "most likely to succeed." Minus husband and job, she spends time with her insensitive mom (Shirley Knight), and her high-school friends, including cynical boutique owner Lisa (Alex Kapp Horner). She finds former BMOC Tom (Brian Haley) is now a bartender with a case of arrested development, and her gal-pal Robin (Jenny Robertson) is busy filling cribs with babies. Maggie turns to her old high-school flame Bobby (Vincent Ventresca). Filmed in L.A., this series premiered September 30, 1998 on CBS. ~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide

James L. Brooks (Terms of Endearment, Broadcast News) directed this $50 million-plus romantic comedy, set in Manhattan. Dysfunctional, acid-tongued romance novelist Melvin Udall (Jack Nicholson), who suffers from an obsessive-compulsive disorder, takes pride in his ability to offend. At a nearby cafe, the only waitress willing to stand up to his sarcastic tirades is Carol Connelly (Helen Hunt), a single mother struggling to raise her chronically asthmatic son. In Melvin's West Village apartment building, talented contemporary artist Simon Nye (Greg Kinnear) lives across the hall from Melvin. Simon is the current darling of the New York art world, reason enough to draw Melvin's verbal fire, but Simon's gay lifestyle is further grist for the novelist's malicious mill. These three New Yorkers, none of whom appears to have a chance in hell at finding true happiness, discover their fates intertwined because of the fourth complicated character in the piece, Verdell, a tiny Brussels Griffon dog (played by newcomer Jill, after a 15-week training program). Melvin seems to have no friends or family, and he lives alone, working on his 62nd book.

When Simon goes into the hospital after a brutal mugging, Melvin has to take care of Verdell, and the dog actually warms Melvin's cold heart -- to the degree that he sets up unsolicited medical care for Carol's son. Eventually, Melvin is cornered into driving Simon and Carol to Baltimore, and during a hotel stopover, Melvin confesses to Carol, "You make me want to be a better man." The trip becomes an odyssey of self-realization for all three. Locations included Brooklyn's Prospect Park (Carol's neighborhood) and Greenwich Village (where Melvin's building is on 12th Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenues). Other exteriors were shot in downtown Los Angeles, where a dilapidated transient hotel at the corner of 4th Street and Main was transformed into the chic cafe where Carol works. Sets for the Simon/Melvin apartment interiors were erected on a soundstage at the Sony Pictures lot. Simon's paintings were created for the film by New York artist Billy Sullivan, whose work is part of the modern art collection at NYC's Metropolitan Museum of Art and the New Orleans Museum of Art. ~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide