Sheila Kelley Movies

A nomadic country musician returns to his estranged family in Tennessee after 40 years on the road, and finds that the damage he did by leaving is nothing compared to the chaos he's stirred up by returning. Four decades ago, E.F. Bloodworth (Kris Kristofferson) walked away from his wife and three sons, and never looked back. Today, his ex-wife, Julia (Frances Conroy), has suffered a mental collapse, and his three sons, Brady (W. Earl Brown), Boyd (Dwight Yoakam), and Warren (Val Kilmer), have been consumed by rage. In the midst of this familial storm, E.F. forges an unlikely bond with his good-hearted grandson Fleming (Reece Daniel Thompson), who refuses to be defined by his grandfather's mistake, and resists the festering anger that has destroyed his family. But when Fleming falls in love with Raven (Hilary Duff), the mere presence of the boy's reviled grandfather threatens to cast a dark shadow of dysfunction over a whole new generation. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

Ridley Scott directs the crime comedy Matchstick Men, based on the novel of the same name by Eric Garcia. Neurotic con man Roy (Nicolas Cage) suffers from several emotional problems, including obsessive-compulsive disorder. He and his partner Frank (Sam Rockwell) swindle people out of money by posing as money collectors who promise things like tax refunds, package vacations, and other fabulous prizes (which they never get). Frank wants to pull a really big job, but Roy is too consumed with fear and panic attacks to join him. Only cigarettes and his trusty illegal prescription drugs seem to keep him going. When Roy finds himself in desperate need of more pills, he is forced to see legitimate psychotherapist Dr. Klein (Bruce Altman). Roy ends up talking about his emotional damage from a troubled marriage and divorce, which results in the discovery of a child whom he has never met. Dr. Klein suggests that he spend a weekend with the kid, so in walks teenaged Angela (played by twentysomething Alison Lohman). Reluctant to develop his role as a father, Roy also gets heavily involved in Frank's ambitious swindle. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, Rovi

The personal lives of five exotic dancers go under the microscope in this drama, the first American feature from director Michael Radford. Eddie (Robert Wisdom) is the manager of a strip club in suburban California known as the Blue Iguana, where he keeps an eye on the women who make their living dancing for his customers. Stormy (Sheila Kelley) is an attractive, thick-skinned woman who is getting old enough to realize her days as a dancer may be numbered. Jo (Jennifer Tilly) likes to think of herself as the Blue Iguana's star attraction, though her career may hit a detour now that she's learned she's pregnant. Angel (Daryl Hannah) is a sweet, but immature woman, who tries to deal with her fear of being unloved by adopting a child. Jasmine (Sandra Oh), an aspiring poet, tries not to get settled into a career as a stripper, while being encouraged in her writing by coffeehouse owner Dennis (Chris Hogan), who features spoken word performers. And Jesse (Charlotte Ayanna), the youngest of the performers, expresses her desperate need for approval in her desire to please the customers. Dancing at the Blue Iguana received its world premiere at the 2000 Toronto Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

Weaver (Laura Innes) tries to determine if elderly terminal patient Kathy Brennan (Connie Sawyer) is really her long-lost biological mother. In other developments, Carol (Julianna Margulies) wonders if she should keep her baby. And in his efforts to apply for chief residency, Carter (Noah Wyle) takes over Greene's 24-hour shift while Greene is off trying to prevent the deportation of Nigerian janitor Mobalage (Djimon Hounsou). ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Lucas Davenport, the wily (and very sexy) computer-programmer detective created by novelist John Sandford, comes to the small screen in the form of actor Eriq LaSalle) in this made-for-TV adaptation of Sandford's best-seller Mind Prey. A nutcase named John Mail (Titus Welliver) escapes from a mental institution and kidnaps his therapist (Sheila Kelley) and her two daughters. Though he intends to exact revenge against his captive for having him put away, Mail intends to prolong the agony by playing a cruel game of cat-and-mouse with the police, leaving behind a number of cryptic computer clues to his whereabouts. It is up to Lucas Davenport to make sense of these clues--and to figure out there is more to the story than a simple kidnapping. Fans of John Sandford were not entirely happy with the literary liberties taken in this adaptation, but since star Eriq La Salle was also one of the producers, it isn't surprising that the main character would be reshaped to suit his established TV persona. Reportedly the pilot for an unsold weekly series, John Sandford's Mind Prey originally aired March 22, 1999 on ABC. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

A family is forced to confront the personal issues they've been avoiding for years in this powerful, realistic drama. Cynthia (Brenda Blethyn) is a working-class British woman whose life has been a long series of painful disappointments. She's single with no romantic prospects and a dead-end job at a box factory. Her daughter Roxanne (Claire Rushbrook) works as a street sweeper and is chronically bitter. Cynthia helped raise her brother, Maurice (Timothy Spall), who is doing well as a photographer, but she rarely sees him and usually blames his wife, Monica (Phyllis Logan). One day, Cynthia receives a phone call from a woman named Hortense (Marianne Jean-Baptiste), who claims to be the daughter Cynthia put up for adoption years ago. Cynthia initially reacts with panic, but she agrees to meet Hortense and is surprised to discover that she's a successful and soft-spoken eye doctor -- and that she's black. Cynthia is soon convinced that Hortense is just who she claims to be, and they quickly form a friendship that gives Cynthia a new source of emotional strength. However, when Cynthia decides to introduce the family to her new "friend," it forces them to confront the lies and evasions that have kept them apart all these years. Largely improvised by director Mike Leigh and his cast, Secrets & Lies features standout work by Brenda Blethyn (who earned an Academy Award nomination as Best Actress), Marianne Jean-Baptiste (who was nominated as Best Supporting Actress), and Timothy Spall. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

Life in the grungy Seattle alternative rock scene provides the framework of this drama that centers on Stevie, the gravelly voiced lead singer of the band Scuba Boy. Despite her affectations, Stevie is a spoiled, self-centered young women with plenty of attitude, but very little talent. Her rival is her Japanese cousin Yukari who comes to Seattle for a visit and ends up joining the band as a talented guitarist. Soon the charming and ambitious Yukari cons a promoter into a video deal, and horns in on Stevie's relationship with guitar-playing Wally. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

In the conclusion of a two-part story, Joe (Tim Daly) tries to come to grips with the news that he might be the father of Jason (Zachary Charles), the son of Joe's high school classmate Wendy (Lesley Boone) -- who, in turn, had been the girlfriend of Joe's brother Brian (Steven Weber). Overhearing this revelation, Roy (David Schramm) advises Joe to keep quiet and admit nothing -- but, to quote Hamlet, "conscience doth make cowards of us all." Meanwhile, Lowell (Thomas Haden Church) wonders if his life has taken the right direction after a momentous reunion with his former shop teacher. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

The sixth and final season of Sisters opens with the series' 100th episode, in which longtime regular Julianne Phillips is conspicuous by her absence. To compensate for Phillips' departure, the writers explain that her character, Frankie Reed, has left her hometown of Winnetka to pursue new business opportunities in Japan. However, Frankie's siblings, Alex (Swoosie Kurtz), Georgie (Patricia Kalember), and Teddy (Sela Ward), are still very much in evidence -- as is the ladies' half-sister, Dr. Charlotte "Charley" Bennett, played in previous seasons by Jo Anderson and now portrayed by Sheila Kelley. This season marks the first appearance of Noelle Parker as Alex's daughter, Reed, a role previously filled by Kathy Wagner and Ashley Judd. Returning to Winnetka minus her husband and her baby, the restless Reed adds to the already heavy emotional burdens of her family by setting up a local prostitution business! Elsewhere, Alex, who has held down a popular TV show for the last few seasons, endeavors to help her lesbian producer, Norma (Nora Dunn), regain custody of her daughter; she also endures a lengthy menopause, and survives an involuntary on-the-air teaming with compative newspaperman Pug Finnegan (Bruce Weitz).

Meanwhile, the newly divorced Georgie has an affair with Brian Cordovas (Joe Flanigan) and finds time to get a graduate college degree, writing her master's thesis on the lives of herself and her sisters (though she prudently agrees not to publish it). Georgie's son Trevor (Ryan Francis), back home from the army, has a lot of trouble adjusting himself to Brian. Having recovered from her brutal rape two seasons earlier, Teddy's daughter, Cat (Heather McAdam), has decided to become a police officer, ending up as the only woman in her cadet class. Growing close to fellow cadet Billy Griffin (Eric Close), Cat tries to help him with his problems vis-à-vis his ex-convict father. Later, Cat's cousin Reed is arrested and her prostitution business broken up, and Reed bitterly holds Cat responsible for ratting her out -- but changes her mind, and her outlook on life, when she is sentenced to community service. And in another development, Cat personally hunts down the carjacker who attacked and nearly killed her mother, Teddy. It is during her recovery from this attack that Teddy falls in love with Dr. Gabriel Sorenson (Stephen Collins), who saved her life. Although she worries about making a full-term commitment to Sorenson upon learning that his daughter, Melissa (Anne Tremko), has a drinking problem, Teddy marries Sorenson, and later saves his career when he is unfairly accused of malpractice -- and, almost as an afterthought, Teddy becomes pregnant again. In the series' final episode, the sisters' mother, Bea (Elizabeth Hoffman), dies of heart failure -- and is everyone in for a surprise when they find out who has been named executor of Bea's will! ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

A friend's determination to uncover the truth is the basis for the made-for television drama. Sheila Kelley stars as Sarah Vincent, a woman who leads a bizarre double-life as a woman in business by day, and a sleazy bar-hopper by night. After Sarah is mysteriously killed, her best friend Elizabeth (Rachel Ticotin) goes on a quest to uncover the true story behind her friend's secretive life and untimely death. ~ Bernadette McCallion, Rovi

With his trademark emphasis on character development and dialogue, writer/director John Sayles tells the story of May-Alice Culhane (Mary McDonnell), a New York soap opera actress left paralyzed by a car accident. As the film opens, she lies in a hospital bed, confused and scared, watching her own show on TV and shrieking, "That was supposed to be my closeup!" With no other options, she returns to her family's old and empty Southern home, where she drinks hard, offends every caregiver, and wallows in self-pity. Her outlook begins to changes with the arrival of Chantelle (Alfre Woodard), a nurse with her own life problems. The two gradually find a heartfelt connection with one another, and, as a result, their lives subtly change. McDonnell's work in Passion Fish earned her an Oscar nomination as Best Actress. ~ Norm Schrager, Rovi

Set amidst the burgeoning Seattle alternative music scene of the early '90s, Singles follows a group of twentysomethings as they try to find love and try to come to terms with their passage into adulthood. Arranged as an episodic comedy, the film follows a group of friends who live in the same apartment building and hang out at the same coffee shop. The central couple is Steve Dunne (Campbell Scott) and Linda Powell (Kyra Sedgwick), a pair who meet at an Alice In Chains concert and eventually fall in love. Singles follows the tumultuous relationship between Steve and Linda and their friendship with Janet Livermore (Bridget Fonda), who is trying to win the affection of grunge-rocker Cliff Poncier (Matt Dillon). The film also has a number of cameos, including actors Eric Stoltz, Tom Skerritt, Peter Horton, director Tim Burton and the film's author/director, Cameron Crowe. From the musical side of the fence, Singles features appearances by Sub Pop executive Bruce Pavitt, musicians Chris Cornell (Soundgarden), Pat DiNizio (Smithereens), Tad (Tad), and Pearl Jam's Eddie Vedder, Jeff Ament, and Stone Gossard, who play Dillon's backing band, Citizen Dick. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, Rovi

This wacky buddy comedy was the fifth in a series of Hollywood remakes of films by French director Francis Veber, none of which were box office successes. Sheila Kelley is Valerie Highsmith, an heiress who, despite her family's wealth, suffers from horribly bad luck. On a vacation to Mexico, she takes a fall, causing amnesia, then is mugged and kidnapped for ransom. When her father (Sam Wanamaker) becomes frustrated with the failed attempts of a detective, Ray Campanella (Danny Glover) to find his daughter, he teams a very reluctant Ray with Eugene Proctor (Martin Short), an accountant whose bumbling bad luck is even worse than Valerie's. The theory is that perhaps two such incredibly unlucky people will act like magnets, with Eugene leading Ray to Valerie's location. Although Ray finds Eugene irritating, the unlikely partners eventually begin making surprising progress in the case, despite Eugene's never-ending screw-ups and pratfalls. ~ Karl Williams, Rovi