Elizabeth Perkins Movies

Director Bob Clark, whose previous cinematic endeavors ran the gamut from Porky's to A Christmas Story, called the shots on From the Hip. Fresh out of law school, Robin Weathers (Judd Nelson) is hired by a law firm not known for its ethics. Weathers' first client is a man who, up to trial time, was perfectly willing to cop a plea. Instead, the novice lawyer sharkishly secures a "not guilty" verdict--not to mention a public reputation as a live wire. His jealous older colleagues decide to get even with Weathers by assigning him a case that cannot possibly be won. Thus it is that Weathers is assigned to defend insufferable murder suspect Douglas Benoit (John Hurt), who refuses to cooperate with his attorney even though he's facing a death sentence. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

This gentle comedy drama explores aspects of love and relationships by featuring two parallel tales, both occurring in the same Vermont town. In one, the boredom faced by a married pair of high-school sweethearts leads to the destruction of their marriage. At the same time, their closest friend finally finds the love of his life. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Enid only looks like she's sleeping. In fact, she's dead. Shortly after Enid caught her husband Harry (Judge Reinhold) in bed with her sister June (Elizabeth Perkins), a row ensued, whereupon June accidently killed Enid. June's problem now is to hide the truth from the authorities--including her police-officer husband Floyd (Jeffrey Jones). Then she decides to reveal Enid's demise, albeit rearranging the damning evidence to make the whole thing look like the accident it really was. Widely praised when it was sneak-previewed for critics, the darkly hilarious Enid is Sleeping was timorously re-edited by its distributor for its general release. Lovingly and laboriously, star Elizabeth Perkins and director Maurice Phillips reassembled the film into its original form. That version currently exists on videotape under the title Over Her Dead Body. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

A doctor finds out the hard way that there's more to medicine than skill in the operating theater in this emotional drama. Jack McKee (William Hurt) is a gifted but arrogant surgeon who cares little about the emotional welfare of his patients and is little more than a benign stranger to his wife Anne (Christine Lahti) and his son Nicky (Charlie Korsmo). Jack has been suffering from a nagging cough for some time, and when he begins coughing up blood one morning, he finally allows another doctor to take a look at him. The doctor discovers that Jack has a malignant tumor in his throat that could rob him of the ability to speak, or even kill him. Suddenly, Jack is a patient instead of a doctor, and he learns first hand about the long stretches in the waiting room, the indignity of filling out pointless forms, and the callous attitude of the professional medical community. Jack also gets to know June (Elizabeth Perkins), a terminal cancer patient whose joyous embrace of life as her time draws to a close is an inspiration to him. Restored to health, Jack is determined to be a more caring healer and strives to be a better husband and father, but his new lease on life also earns him an enemy in fellow surgeon Murray (Mandy Patinkin), who wants Jack to lie under oath for him in a major malpractice case; and a new respect for Eli (Alan Arkin), an ear-nose-throat man he used to ridicule for his empathetic treatment of his patients. The Doctor was based on the memoir of real-life surgeon Ed Rosenbaum, entitled "A Taste of My Own Medicine." ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Corporate women launch a bitter courtroom battle when their avaricious employer tells them that they will lose their jobs if they do not get sterilized. The fight takes the women through a disillusioning jungle of government red tape. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

The good (if not fully evolved) citizens of Bedrock make their way to the big screen in this live-action adaptation of the popular animated series of the 1960s. Fred Flintstone (John Goodman) and his best friend Barney Rubble (Rick Moranis) work together at the Slate and Company Rock Quarry. When Fred loans Barney some money that allows him and his wife Betty (Rosie O'Donnell) to adopt a child, Barney is looking for a way to show his gratitude. Barney thinks he's found one when the executives at Slate and Company announce that they're giving all their employees intelligence tests to help determine future promotions. When Barney switches his high-scoring test with Fred's, his plan works -- but not quite the way he had hoped: Fred is deemed executive material and given a big promotion, complete with a sexy secretary (Halle Berry) who makes his wife Wilma (Elizabeth Perkins) jealous, while Barney is soon out of a job and can't pay his bills. Bill Hanna and Joseph Barbara, who created the original television series, make cameo appearances here; Elizabeth Taylor gives a fine comic performance as Wilma's nagging mother, and Harvey Korman provides the voice of the Dictabird. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

A woman dealing with an unexpected death has to help her friends with their own crises in this comedy-drama. Rebecca Lott (Elizabeth Perkins) gets an unpleasant surprise while waiting for her husband to return from his daily jog -- he was hit by a car and instantly killed. A handful of Rebecca's friends and relatives rally around her, including her close friend and neighbor Sylvie (Whoopi Goldberg), her former stepmother Alberta (Kathleen Turner), and her younger sister Lucy (Gwyneth Paltrow), but she has a hard time accepting the fact that she's now a widow (or, as she prefers to put it, "the 'W' word"). It also seems that the women trying to offer Rebecca emotional support could use some of their own; Sylvie's marriage is hanging by a thread, and Lucy is depressed and cynical owing to her inexperience with men. But romance begins to find its way back into Rebecca's life when a handsome younger man (Jon Bon Jovi) -- hired to paint the house -- takes a shine to her. Moonlight and Valentino was based on a play written by Ellen Simon, daughter of comic playwright Neil Simon. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

This speculative TV movie is set in the year 2008, as grief-stricken married couple Skye (Elizabeth Perkins) and Rick (Bradley Whitford) struggle bravely to overcome the death of their son. "Shock" is hardly the appropriate word to describe the couple's reaction when they meet another child who looks exactly like their own boy. It soon develops that Skye and Rick's son was the product of "Baby 2000," a top-secret -- and highly illegal -- cloning experiment conducted at a fertility clinic. Will the couple blow the whistle on the clinic's crooked activities, or will they be mollified into silence by being given an exact duplicate of the son they have lost? Refreshingly, the man responsible for the experiment, Dr. Wesley Kozak (Alan Rosenberg) is not portrayed as a Frankensteinish villain, but instead as a compassionate, concerned scientist who truly believes that "Baby 2000" has been conceived for the benefit of humankind. Cloned originally aired September 28, 1997, on ABC. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

President John F. Kennedy issued the challenge to America in a speech to Congress in 1961: Land a man on the moon within the decade. This HBO mini-series, produced by Tom Hanks, chronicles the story of NASA's efforts to carry out the vision. Episode 11 presents the story of the women behind the men in the space program. Profiles of the wives of astronauts give the viewer insight into the human cost of this dangerous and demanding occupation. Interviews with spouses reflect the joy, stress, and sacrifice involved in being a part of the rarefied atmosphere of astronauts. ~ Rose of Sharon Winter, All Movie Guide

Comedy and drama take turns in this period piece based on a novel by Mark Childress. Peejoe (Lucas Black), short for Peter Joseph, lives in a small Alabama town in 1965, at the height of the Civil Rights movement. He becomes involved with a group of black students protesting the town's racially segregated municipal swimming pool, leading to a protest that explodes into deadly violence. But Peejoe has gotten a crash course in standing your ground and following your own path from his free-spirited Aunt Lucille (Melanie Griffith), who has killed her abusive husband and is headed for Hollywood, where she's convinced that television stardom awaits her. Crazy in Alabama marked the directorial debut of actor Antonio Banderas; his supporting cast includes Cathy Moriarty, Elizabeth Perkins, Rod Steiger, Fannie Flagg, and Meat Loaf Aday. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

This three-part drama, produced for HBO, examines the changing tides of the lives of lesbians in America, both politically and personally, as we eavesdrop on three stories taking place in the same house over a span of five decades. In 1961, the house is home to Edith (Vanessa Redgrave) and Abby (Marian Seldes), an elderly lesbian couple whose lifestyle is not accepted or acknowledged by their families. When Abby suffers a serious stroke and is on the verge of death, her family rallies to her side, but not understanding the nature of her relationship with Edith, she is not included as her loved ones say their final good-byes. After Abby's death, her nephew (Paul Giamatti) and his wife (Elizabeth Perkins) arrive from out of state with plans to sell the house, without consulting Edith. In 1972, the house is now home to four college students, Michelle (Amy Carlson), Linda (Michelle Williams), Karen (Nia Long), and Jeanne (Natasha Lyonne), all of whom are actively involved in the women's movement and also happen to be lesbians. The four find themselves at odds with the campus women's group when they try to promote an all-women's dance, while the other members of the group feel that feminism, not lesbianism, should be the focus of the group. Similarly, Linda faces hostility from her friends when she becomes involved with Amy (Chloe Sevigny), a very butch townie; Linda's friends see Amy's masculine attire and attitude as a form of self-loathing against being a woman, and while Linda cares deeply for Amy, she's not always comfortable with her and isn't sure that she wants to be public with their relationship. In 2000, Fran (Sharon Stone) and Kal (Ellen DeGeneres), a happy and firmly committed couple, are sharing the house, and after much discussion, they decide that they want to take their relationship to the next level and have a baby. However, deciding that they want a child and dealing with the practicalities of getting pregnant are two different things; Fran and Kal first debate about going to a sperm bank as opposed to asking one of their male friends to help out, and later, either going to a doctor to perform the procedure or trying it at home. DeGeneres' significant other, Anne Heche, wrote and directed the final segment; the 1972 story was directed by Martha Coolidge, and the 1961 episode was directed by Jane Anderson. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

This talking-animal action comedy from Lawrence Guterman, the co-director of Antz (1998), follows on the heels of the Babe and Dr. Dolittle films. Unknown to humans, a secret war has been raging between cats and dogs for eons, but a fragile truce has long held the order of the animal kingdom in place. Now the balance of power has tipped, as a researcher, Professor Brody (Jeff Goldblum), is about to invent a vaccine that will erase all human allergies to dogs. This is too much for the autocratic Mr. Tinkles (Sean Hayes), a white Persian kitty bent on world domination. The Brody home becomes ground zero for the renewed conflict between feline and canine, with a young Beagle puppy named Lou (Tobey Maguire) caught in the middle as the new point man for his species' cause. Cats and Dogs co-stars Elizabeth Perkins and Alexander Pollock, as well as the vocal talents of Susan Sarandon, Alec Baldwin, Jon Lovitz, Michael Clarke Duncan, and Joe Pantoliano. ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide