Mel Jackson Movies

Amidst claims that the African-American family unit is slowly deteriorating, filmmaker Leslie Small sets out to explore how the role of black women in the family has evolved as the population of black males continues to diminish. Inspired by the musical stage play of the same name, Small's film follows three women as they battle temptation and contend with their personal demons while waging a valiant battle to maintain happy, healthy relationships. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

Three couples crowded into a Philadelphia brownstone attempt to live together without losing their minds in this filmed performance of David E. Talbert's popular stage play. It seems that the romance in all three couples' relationships has hit the skids, and Monique Graham's (Deborah Cox) displeasure with her commitment-phobic boyfriend Anthony (Mel Jackson) is only the beginning of the romantic woes. Single mother Epiphany (Joi Campbell) is hard-pressed when forced to make a choice between her current boyfriend, Reggie (Chico Benymon), or her precocious six-year-old son, Man Man (Robbie Lewis Jr). And speaking of epiphanies, Ms. Willanetta's (Cassi Davis) recent religious experience has forced her to question her relationship with Renzo (Buddy Lewis), a man with whom she has been romantically involved with for over a decade. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

Three men discover that meddling in their sister-in-law's love life only makes their own lives more complicated in this romantic comedy. Eva Dandridge (Gabrielle Union) developed a sense of responsibility early on in life, when after the death of her parents she was left to care for her three younger sisters, Kareenah (Essence Atkins), Bethany (Robinne Lee), and Jacqui (Meagan Good). All four of the Dandridge sisters have grown up to be attractive, intelligent, and successful; Kareenah is happily married to Tim (Mel Jackson), while Bethany is engaged to Michael (Duane Martin), and Jacqui is going steady with Darrell (Dartanyan Edmonds). However, Eva still watches over her siblings like a hawk, and while her sisters love Eva dearly, Tim, Michael, and Darrell wish their sister-in-law would stay out of their business. The guys decide that if Eva had a boyfriend, she might be less interested in running other people's lives, and they turn to Ray (LL Cool J), a notorious ladies' man, for help. Ray is short on cash, so the guys make him a deal -- they'll give him 5,000 dollars to romance Eva, sweep her off her feet, and then dump her a few weeks later. Ray agrees, and while getting past her no-nonsense demeanor takes some doing, before long she's head over heels for him. However, Ray unexpectedly finds himself falling in love with Eva, and Eva, when offered a job in another town, decides to stay on to be with Ray. Even worse, the other Dandridge sisters are so impressed with the romantic Ray that they start demanding a bit more TLC from their own men. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Reggie Rock Bythewood makes his directorial debut with this sharp comedy-drama about love, compromise, and TV. The film opens with the parallel childhoods of Tomasina "Tommy" Crawford (Nicole Ari Parker) and George Washington (Isaiah Washington). Both were utterly shaped by television -- watching Roots was one of the few times that Tommy's parents stopped fighting long enough to sit on the couch together, while George was traumatized by being banned from TV for a month after swiping some church donation cash. As adults, George is a programming executive at the WPX network where fledgling writer Tommy tries to pitch shows. On the strength of both her passion for her craft and her striking good looks, George decides to champion her show called "Just Us," a serio-comedy about a juvenile offender adopted by a judge. They shoot the pilot, the network greenlights the project, and eventually they fall in love. Even though Tommy longs to present her characters in an uncompromised, unvarnished manner, pressure from network execs and advertisers forces her to water down the plot. ~ Jonathan Crow, All Movie Guide

The troubled marital relationship between failed screenwriter Howard (Mel Jackson) and his comely wife Debbie (Mari Marrow) gets stressed even further when a sexy stranger named Silk (Mekhi Phifer) arrives at the door of their middle-class suburban home. Silk's car has broken down, it seems, and he needs to use the telephone. Howard goes back to work on the patio with his partners, and as they hammer out pages of Howard's latest script, Debbie and her significantly single, wisecracking friend Tammy (Malinda Williams) find Silk an interesting diversion. Before long, though, it's Debbie who is nude in the hot tub with Silk -- while Howard watches, bound and gagged from a kitchen window. As it happens, Silk is a deranged fugitive wanted for murder, and suddenly the household has been taken hostage. As the body count rises, not all is as it seems.
~ Buzz McClain, All Movie Guide

The fifth and final season of Living Single finds Manhattan-based magazine editor Khadijah (Queen Latifah) short one roommate when her cousin Synclaire (Kim Coles) gets married to her longtime fiancé Overton (John Henton). Moving in with Khadijah and her best friend Regine (Kim Fields Freeman) is Ira Lee "Tripp" Williams III, a composer of commercial jingles who aspires to bigger things. Meanwhile, Khadijah's former college roommate Max (Erika Williams) has decided not to move to London with her erstwhile sweetheart Kyle (T.C. Carson). Even so, Kyle is not completely out of her life, as Max learns to her amazement when, at season's end, she discovers the identity of the donor with whose sperm she has been artificially inseminated! In other developments, honeymooners Synclaire and Overton are briefly stranded on a desert island, and once rescued they move to Hollywood, the better for Synclaire to pursue her blossoming acting career. Gold-digging Regine finally marries her millionaire, a fellow named Dexter Knight (Don Franklin). And after a three-year absence, Khadijah's former beau Scooter (Cress Williams) returns to her life, hoping to pick up where he left off...and them's the conditions that prevail as Living Single concludes its five-year run. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

This made-for-TV sequel to the 1968 theatrical feature To Sir With Love stars Sidney Poitier, recreating his role as Mark Thackery, an American-born schoolteacher who in the original film had taken a post in a tough East Side London neighborhood. Thirty years have passed, and Thackery has been forcibly retired, much to the dismay of the thousands of underprivileged students both past and present who have grown to love him. Although he has received several offers to teach in America's most prestigious universities, Thackeray chooses instead to start his career all over again, teaching so-called "incorrigible" students at an inner-city Chicago school presided over by cynical, weak-willed principal Horace Weaver (Daniel J. Travanti). Anyone who has seen the original To Sir With Love can pretty much guess the outcome of the sequel, though a subplot involving Thackeray's search for a lost love is less easy to second-guess. In addition to Sidney Poitier, actresses Lulu and Judy Geeson appear in brief cameos as the now grown-up characters they played in the 1968 film. Directed by Peter Bogdanovich, To Sir, With Love II first aired April 7, 1996 on CBS. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide