Brian Dannelly Movies
Is the grass really greener on the other side? Yes, and it smells better, too! So when Nancy Botwin (Golden Globe winner Mary-Louise Parker) faces both sudden widowhood and poverty, she's determined to do anything to keep her kids in suburbia, including taking a job as the neighborhood pot dealer. Subversive, satirical and hilarious, the first season of this groundbreaking Showtime hit is guaranteed to spark laughter!
- Starring:
- Mary-Louise Parker, Elizabeth Perkins, (more)
- 2005
Outside Isabelle's (Allie Grant) dance class, the gossip about Dean's (Andy Milder) affair with the local tennis pro, Helen Kim (Michelle Krusiec of Saving Face), are reaching fever pitch, and Nancy (Mary-Louise Parker) also overhears Celia (Elizabeth Perkins) telling Isabelle that Quinn has been sent off to boarding school in Mexico. A bounced check sends a distraught Nancy on a visit to Doug (Kevin Nealon), who suggests that Nancy needs a front business in order to maintain a checking account without leaving a paper trail. Nancy's money woes are creating problems at home and at work. The phone's been turned off, and Nancy gets an amused reaction when she asks Heylia (Tonye Patano) about her "credit policy." Nancy has buyers lined up, but doesn't have the cash for the weed, so she has to leave the family car as collateral, and drives off in Conrad's (Romany Malco) beloved "hooptie." Meanwhile, Celia has gone on the offensive in her house, shaving Dean's head while he sleeps. "Did your hair go to boarding school in Mexico, too?" a bemused Isabelle asks her father over breakfast the next morning. Confronted by Silas (Hunter Parrish) about Quinn's sudden disappearance, Celia points out that Quinn had a day and a half to "put her affairs in order," and didn't bother to call Silas, so it hits home when she calls Silas "a fun and sweaty diversion" for her daughter. Later on, Celia visits the tennis club, and goes for a drink and a not-so-friendly chat with Helen Kim. Shane (Alexander Gould) seems to be spending all of his free time watching old home movies of his dearly departed father, Judah (Jeffrey Dean Morgan). ~ Josh Ralske, All Movie Guide
- 2005
Nancy's (Mary-Louise Parker) PTA proposal to remove sodas from the school's vending machines and replace them with bottled water and fruit juice is shot down by Celia (Elizabeth Perkins), who insists that preteens who are watching their weight have access to diet soda. Nancy overhears her fellow moms gossiping about her finances, and later visits her suppliers and learns about Heylia's (Tonye Patano) uncanny ability to eyeball an ounce. Conrad (Romany Malco) lets Nancy know that their relationship could be more than just business, if she wanted. Nancy's problems with her budding business include a customer, Doug (Kevin Nealon), who is also her accountant and a member of the city council, and is a bit too public about his fondness for her product. Doug's teen son Josh (Justin Chatwin of War of the Worlds) is a fellow dealer, and when Nancy helps him out when his supplier is out of town, she asks him to follow two simple rules: "Stay away from my customer base" and "Don't deal to kids." Josh agrees, but Nancy later hears that a ten year-old at Shane's (Alexander Gould) school has been busted. At home, Celia's daughter Quinn (Haley Hudson) has been spending a lot of time with Silas (Hunter Parrish), but Nancy is still a little taken aback when the teens ask her for permission to have sex in her home. Celia makes her own counter-plea to Nancy, admitting that she reads Quinn's diary. Meanwhile, Shane plots revenge against a bully (Adam Taylor Gordon) mean enough to mock his fatherless status. ~ Josh Ralske, All Movie Guide
- 2005
Produced for cable's Showtime service, the half-hour Weeds starred Mary-Louise Parker as suburban housewife Nancy Botwin, whose comfy, affluent existence was shattered by the unexpected death of her husband. With no other readily available source of income, Nancy decided to service an ever-growing consumer demand -- by selling marijuana to other white-bread suburbanites. Purchasing her pot from streetwise dealer Conrad Shepard (Romany Malco) and his aunt, supplier Heylia James (Tonye Patano), Nancy set up her new business enterprise using a bakery as a front, with the assistance of city councilman Doug Wilson (Kevin Nealon) -- all the while keeping her activities a secret from her snooty, traditionalist best friend, PTA president Celia Hodes (Elizabeth Perkins). Also in the cast were Alexander Gould and Hunter Parrish as Nancy's sons, Shane and Silas; Justin Kirk as her overgrown-slacker brother-in-law, Andy; Andy Milder as Celia's feeble husband, Dean Hodes; Allie Grant as the Hodes' overweight daughter, Isabelle; and Martin Donovan as Peter, a single dad whom Nancy fell for -- and who turned out to be a DEA agent. The series' ironic theme music was the Womenfolk's "Little Boxes," a satiric paean to split-level conformity. One of those series invariably described as "smart and sexy" by in-the-know critics, the Golden Globe-winning Weeds debuted August 7, 2005. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Mary (Jena Malone) is entering her senior year at American Eagle Christian High School. She seems to be in an ideal social position as one of the "Christian Jewels," the most devout and popular clique of girls in the school, led by the aggressively cheerful Hilary Faye (Mandy Moore). But things take an unexpected turn when Mary's boyfriend, Dean (Chad Faust), tells her he may be gay. Mary hits her head and has a vision, in which Jesus tells her how to help "cure" Dean of his unnatural urges. Mary does everything in her power to sway Dean, but when his parents find out about his "problem," they send him away just before the school year starts, leaving Mary alone, confused, and, she soon finds out, pregnant. Mary's new situation causes her to question everything, including her friendship with the judgmental Hilary Faye and her faith. Her mother (Mary-Louise Parker) is too preoccupied with her flirtatious relationship with the school's married principal, Pastor Skip (Martin Donovan), to notice Mary's problem. Pastor Skip's dreamboat skateboarder son, Patrick (Patrick Fugit), has returned from missionary work and is attracted to Mary, but she already has too much to deal with. Just when she thinks her situation is hopeless, she finds a pair of unlikely allies in Hilary Faye's cynical wheelchair-bound brother, Roland (Macaulay Culkin), and wild, muscle car-driving provocateur Cassandra Edelstein (Eva Amurri), the school's only Jewish student. Saved! marks the feature debut of director Brian Dannelly, who co-wrote the script with Michael Urban. ~ Josh Ralske, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jena Malone, Mandy Moore, (more)
