Amy Brenneman Movies

NYPD Blue seemed destined to end before it began, with leading character Det. Andy Sipowicz (Dennis Franz) being gunned down in the very first episode. Andy would recover, but the person responsible for his wounds, mob boss Alfornse Giardella (Robert Costanzo), would prove to be the catalyst of many of the series' initial plot lines and subplots. Attorney Laura Michaels (Sherry Stringfield), ex-wife of Andy's partner, Det. John Kelly (David Caruso), turned out to be the sole eyewitness when Giardella was himself slain by his enemies. And, rather than do the bidding of Giardella crony Angelo Marino (Joe Santos), uniformed officer Janice Licalsi (Amy Brenneman), who had been forced into collusion with the Mob because of her on-the-take policeman father, cold-bloodedly murdered Marino -- a fact that would lead to grief and professional disgrace for Janice's erstwhile lover John Kelly. Other first-season NYPD Blue developments: The contentious Sipowicz almost begrudgingly entered into a romance with Assistant DA Sylvia Costas (Sharon Lawrence), who like Andy, had a serious problem with booze; the drug-addicted brother of Det. James Martinez (Nicholas Turturro) died of a drug overdose; precinct skipper Arthur Fancy (James McDaniel) had problems at home due to a custody battle over a foster child and Mrs. Fancy's difficult pregnancy; and unhappily married Det. Medavoy (Gordon Clapp) began an affair with sexy new administrative assistant Donna Abandando (Gail O'Grady). (Clapp and O'Grady were merely recurring characters this season, but would graduate to full "regular" status for season two). NYPD Blue closed out the 1993-1994 season by winning five Emmy awards, for best lead actor (Dennis Franz), best writer (Ann Biderman), best director (Daniel Sackheim), best art direction (Paul Eads, Mary Ann Biddle) and best casting (Junie Lowry-Johnson, Alexa L. Fogel). The series also endured the first of many cast defections, when Sherry Stringfield relinquished the role of Laura Michaels in order to accept a job on the new medical drama series ER. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The jury reaches a verdict in the murder trial of Janice Licalsi (Amy Brenneman, in her final NYPD Blue appearance). Internal Affairs wants answers from Kelly (David Caruso) regarding his involvement in Janice's defense and Detective Medavoy's (Gordon Clapp) ledger. Kelly and Sipowicz (Dennis Franz) investigate a series of robberies targeting drug dealers and also a double murder. And Andy and Sylvia (Sharon Lawrence) renew their relationship over dinner. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

A successful career criminal considers getting out of the business after one last score, while an obsessive cop desperately tries to put him behind bars in this intelligent thriller written and directed by Michael Mann. Neil McCauley (Robert De Niro) is a thief who specializes in big, risky jobs, such as banks and armored cars. He's very good at what he does; he's bright, methodical, and has honed his skills as a thief at the expense of his personal life, vowing never to get involved in a relationship from which he couldn't walk away in 30 seconds. Vincent Hanna (Al Pacino) is an L.A.P.D. detective determined to catch McCauley, but while McCauley's personal code has forced him to do without a wife and children, Hanna's dedication has made a wreck of the home he's tried to have; he's been divorced twice, he's all but a stranger to his third wife, and he has no idea how to reach out to his troubled step-daughter. While McCauley has enough money to retire and is planning to move to New Zealand, he loves the thrill of robbery as much as the profit, and is blocking out plans for one more job; meanwhile, he's met a woman, Eady (Amy Brenneman), whom he's not so sure he can walk away from. The supporting cast includes Val Kilmer as Chris, one of McCauley's partners; Ashley Judd as his wife Charlene; Jon Voight as Nate; Hank Azaria as Alan Marciano; and Henry Rollins as Hugh, who is beaten up by Hanna. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Mark Wahlberg stars in one of his first features as a hoodlum drug dealer from the wrong side of the trackswho falls in love with Nicole Walker, an upper-middle-class high school girl (Reese Witherspoon). In this psycho-drama (with the emphasis on psycho), Nicole happily loses her virginity to her first love, but, when she begins to doubt the relationship, his tenderness turns to violence, as he stalks and terrorizes her and her friends and family. The girl's father never trusted him in the first place, but his reservations about his daughter's first serious boyfriend are interpreted as Oedipal paranoia, until the boy and his drug-dealing, date-raping buddies besiege the overly fortified house in a twisted attempt to win back Nicole's love. The Seattle setting juxtaposes a grunge rock underworld with an over-privileged suburban household, and includes a very sexual ride on a roller-coaster. And yes, former underwear model Wahlberg appears shirtless several times. ~ Laura Abraham, All Movie Guide

A woman fleeing the man in her life discovers a city of women in this revisionist western. Chrysty (Amy Brenneman) is passing through the Nevada desert when she happens upon the small town of Silver, currently populated entirely by women and children, while the men in the community are gone -- working on a dam building project. When Chrysty discovers June (Bridgette Wilson) alone and in labor, she helps her as she gives birth; Chrysty opts to stay around, and she takes a job delivering milk. Silver is ruled by McGill (Kirstie Alley), the village's self-appointed sheriff who doesn't trust Chrysty; McGill discovers that Chrysty is actually an Idaho housewife running away from her husband, West (Angus MacFadyen). However, June's husband Rip (James Wilder), back in town after the birth of a child that may not be his and troubled by his wife's chronic infidelity, has fallen in love with Chrysty, and when West arrives to Silver to retrieve his spouse, Rip opts to fight for her hand. Nevada also features Saffron Burrows as June's sister-in-law, and Dee Wallace Stone and Kathy Najimy as a rough-and-tumble lesbian couple. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

For the follow-up to In the Company of Men, the misogyny-on-parade debut that became an out of nowhere indie hit, auteur Neil LaBute wrote and directed a piece that gives more equal representation to the shortcomings of both genders than his earlier film. Three men stand on one side: Cary (Jason Patrick), a womanizing doctor who rehearses make-out lines and keeps his body almost grotesquely ripped; Jerry (Ben Stiller), a self-obsessed theater instructor who chews over every emotion like a morsel of dessert; and Barry (Aaron Eckhart), a man grown soft in his marriage to a woman who can't satisfy him sexually as well as he can himself. On the other side we have three equally well-defined women: Terri (Catherine Keener), a writer/editor whose prefers to keep words out of the bedroom, much to the chagrin of live-in beau Jerry; Mary (Amy Brenneman), a freelance writer whose attempts to find her own sexual fulfillment with both husband Barry and paramour Jerry meet with a similar lack of success; and Cheri (Nastassja Kinski), an art assistant who meets most of the other characters one by one at a gallery but directs her sylph-like affections in an unexpected direction. The lies, double-crosses, and confrontations between these characters resolve into a sinisterly comic indictment of the very idea of romantic fulfillment. ~ Brian J. Dillard, All Movie Guide

Answering the question of "Where have all the New Wavers gone?" is The Suburbans, a comedy from first-time director Donal Lardner Ward, who also stars and co-wrote the screenplay. In 1981, power pop band The Suburbans had it all -- big hair, skinny ties and a hit record. But they never followed up on their one chart success, and years later, most of the band's members have dropped out of the music business in favor of "real jobs." However, when one of the ex-Suburbans gets married, the four members are reunited at the reception and play their lone hit for old times sake. As fate would have it, one of the wedding guests is Cait (Jennifer Love Hewitt), a young A&R executive who loved the Suburbans as a kid and thinks they could have another shot at the big time. But does pushing-40 bandleader Danny (Ward) really want to put a stake in the heart of his marriage to Grace (Amy Brenneman) for another moment in the spotlight? The Suburbans features a period-appropraite cameo from A Flock Of Seagulls and supporting performances from Ben Stiller, Jerry Stiller, Will Ferrell and Robert Loggia. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

In the first half of Frasier's two-part season-six finale, Niles (David Hyde Pierce) remains depressed over the impending marriage of Daphne (Jane Leeves) and Donny (Saul Rubinek) -- at least until he meets an attractive stranger at Café Nervosa. Meanwhile, Frasier (Kelsey Grammer) thinks he has finally chosen between Cassandra (Virginia Madsen) and Faye (Amy Brenneman), and Roz (Peri Gilpin) finally gives Bulldog (Dan Tucker) what he wants. Originally telecast as a one-hour "special," this episode has since been re-edited as two separate half-hours for syndication. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Amy Brenneman and Virginia Madsen make return appearances as Fraiser's newest lady friends, Faye Moskowitz and Cassandra Stone. Romantically involved with both women, Frasier not only has difficulty choosing between them but also juggling his "date time." The more deeply committed our hero becomes to both Faye and Cassandra, the more ridiculous he and the whole situation becomes -- and the more impossible it seems that a solution will ever be reached. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Although Things You Can Tell Just by Looking at Her does bear some similarities to Short Cuts and Magnolia in its setting (Southern California) and mood (modern malaise), and its multiple story format, its focus is exclusively on female characters, and it's possible to view each story on its own. The film begins with a prologue: Police detectives are investigating the apparent suicide of a Hispanic woman (Elpidia Carillo). "This Is Dr. Keener" deals with Dr. Elaine Keener (Glenn Close), a single professional woman attempting to care for her aging and infirm mother and deal with her own loneliness. She invites Christine (Calista Flockhart), a tarot card reader, into her home to make some sense of her life. "Fantasies About Rebecca" profiles a successful bank manager (Holly Hunter) involved with a married man (Gregory Hines). When she learns that she is pregnant, he coldly advises her to take care of the "problem." Before she visits Dr. Keener to have an abortion, she impulsively has a fling with a colleague (Matt Craven). She is also confronted by a female street person in the bank's parking lot. "Someone for Rose" is about a single mother (Kathy Baker), a writer of children's books. She is attracted to a new neighbor, a dwarf (Danny Woodburn), and he catches her spying on him in his house. She's also amazed to find that her son is more sexually active than she knew -- and more than she is herself. "Good Night Lilly, Good Night Christine" details the relationship between the tarot card reader Christine and her lover, Lilly (Valeria Golino), who is critically ill with an unnamed disease. The final story, "Love Waits for Kathy," concerns two sisters, Carol (Cameron Diaz), a lovely blind woman with an active social life, and her police detective sibling, Kathy (Amy Brenneman), one of the detectives who appeared in the prologue. Kathy is attracted to the medical examiner in the suicide case, and her story ends with him taking her out on a date. In an epilogue, Dr. Keener drops in to a bar, where she meets a male character from one of the earlier stories. Debuting director Rodrigo Garcia, a noted cinematographer, is the son of writer Gabriel Garcia Marquez. Things You Can Tell made its debut on cable television, although it was originally intended to be a theatrical release. ~ Tom Wiener, All Movie Guide