Kyra Harper Movies

Written by the author of Sarah, Plain and Tall, Baby was produced for the TNT cable service. Set in New England, this is the story of the Malones, a family nearly torn apart by the death of an infant son. While trying to cope with this tragedy, Lily and John Malone are surprised by the arrival of an abandoned baby girl, left on their doorstep. Though at first reluctant to welcome the child into their home, the Malones soon become inextricably attached to her -- no one more so than 12-year-old Larkin Malone who, in a pathetic effort to use the baby as a replacement for her lost little brother, hides the letter written by the child's now-repentant birth mother. Despite such lighthearted scenes as a drunken tap dance rendition of "Singin' In the Rain", Baby is rather heavy going for the most part, especially in the scenes with the family's dying grandmother. Co-produced by actress Glenn Close, Baby was first telecast on October 8, 2000. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

This made-for-cable docudrama stars Penelope Ann Miller as the infamous Mary Kay Letourneau, the married-with-children Seattle schoolteacher who made national headlines when she had an affair with one of her sixth-grade students, 13-year-old Vili Fualaau (Omar Anguiano). Landing in jail on a statutory rape charge, and ultimately bearing Fualaau's baby, Letourneau is released with a warning to stay away from her youthful inamorta. But she is unable to do so, and the result is another out-of-wedlock baby by the same young man. The teleplay, by Julie Herbert, suggests that Letourneau's inability to control her emotions and impules stemeed from her relationship with her mother, a woman who regarded any sign of affection as a form of weakness. Ultimately, however, Mary Kay Letourneau remains an enigma, and it is up to the viewer to determine whether her behavior was motivated by true love or by a psychotic need for "approval". The Mary Kay Letourneau Story: All American Girl debuted over the USA network on January 18, 2000. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

The price of fame is murder -- or at least it is in the mind of one woman in New Hampshire. Suzanne Stone (Nicole Kidman) has spent most of her life wanting to be famous; she's attractive, speaks well, and imagines herself to be intelligent ("imagines" is the key word here), so she has set her sights on becoming a TV anchorwoman. However, opportunities for female broadcasters are hard to come by in Little Hope, New Hampshire, and she's convinced that her husband, the once handsome but now flabby restaurant manager Larry Maretto (Matt Dillon), is just getting in her way. Suzanne gets herself a spot hosting a weather report on a local public access station, and is preparing a documentary called "Teens Speak Out," which puts her in touch with a trio of high school students -- Jimmy (Joaquin Phoenix), Russell (Casey Affleck), and Lydia (Alison Folland) -- who are even more desperate for attention than she is. When Suzanne hatches a plot to get Larry out of her life once and for all, she uses Jimmy, who has developed a serious crush on her, to do her dirty work, but Larry's sister Janice (Illeana Douglas), who has long believed there was something fishy about Suzanne, eventually begins to realize what happened to her brother. Nicole Kidman won a Golden Globe award for her work in this film, which represented something of a comeback for director Gus Van Sant after the commercial and critical disaster of Even Cowgirls Get the Blues. Screenwriter Buck Henry plays a small role as a high school teacher. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

This Canadian made-for-TV film stars Wendy Crewson as a Toronto woman who inherits the family ranch in Alberta. Ignoring the pleas of her mother (Malan Gilsenan) to sell the rundown place, Wendy opts for the life of a rancher. She soon finds herself over her head financially, and turns to an old friend, Alex (Paul Gross), to help her manage her land holdings. Alex proposes to Wendy for business reasons, thus launching a rocky relationship that ends inevitably in genuine love. Originally telecast over the CBC Network in 1990, Getting Married in Buffalo Jump was released directly to video in the States, where its title was pared down to Buffalo Jump. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

In this engaging drama about a conflicted priest, personal desires and convictions clash with the duty to obey the Catholic Church. Father Robert Dane (David Fox) is the rector of a boy's school and has been at odds with the Church because of his views on abortion and birth control, among several other issues. His crisis of faith is exacerbated after young Steven (Gerard Lepage) joins the school. When Claire (Kyra Harper) breaks up with her boyfriend in order to start dating Steven, trouble begins to brew on campus on a large scale. While Father Dane is trying to handle this and come to grips with his own turmoil, he has to face an added pressure; he and Steven's mother were lovers before he became a priest. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi