Joely Richardson

New Line Cinema founder Robert Shaye's directorial debut, the family-friendly science-fiction tale The Last Mimzy is an adaptation of a short story by Lewis Padgett. The story concerns a young brother and sister, Noah and Emma Wilder (Chris O'Neil and Rhiannon Leigh Wryn), who discover a strange box of artifacts one day while vacationing at the family's summer cottage. When the objects in the box begin to act in strange and mysterious ways, the pair decides to hide it from their mother (Joely Richardson) and workaholic father (Timothy Hutton). When Noah begins to display a previously unknown flair for advanced scientific concepts, the boy's teacher (Rainn Wilson) takes an interest in him. The two youngsters soon become the object of much interest from the government after their new discovery causes a large blackout. Eventually, the duo discovers that they are responsible for helping save the future of humankind, and Emma's precious stuffed rabbit might be something much more than it appears to be. ~ Perry Seibert, All Movie Guide

Tom Berenger and Joely Richardson star in this live-action adaptation of Susan Wojciechowski's beloved children's tome, The Christmas Miracle of Jonathan Toomey. The fable centers around two lonely, broken people. Jonathan Toomey (Berenger) is a woodcutter who buried his ability to love when he lost his wife and child in a horrid accident, and thus earned the nickname Gloomy at the hands of misunderstanding local children. Thomas McDowell (newcomer Luke Ward-Wilkinson) watched quietly as the death of his father ripped away his childhood innocence - and destroyed his world. Now, Thomas's single mother, Susan (Richardson) must sell their urban home and move, son-in-tow, into the countryside to live with her sister. When Thomas grows virtually inconsolable over the loss of a wooden manger scene bequeathed to him by his dad, Susan asks Jonathan to carve a new one for the young boy. In time, a most unexpected friendship blossoms between Thomas and the old woodcutter, that heals the wounds and melts the heart of each broken soul. ~ Nathan Southern, All Movie Guide

The owners of Miami's trendy McNamara-Troy cosmetic surgery clinic face multiple midlife (and other) crises as the FX comedy drama series Nip/Tuck enters its second season. Now that they have both reached the age of 40, longtime business partners Sean McNamara (Dylan Walsh) and Christian Troy (Julian McMahon) must make some crucial decisions that will affect their future lives, to say nothing of their professional futures as expert surgical face-lifters. For Sean, the big four-oh means that he will no longer allow himself to be bullied and cowed by his demanding wife Julia (Joely Richardson) and his insolent teenage son Matt (John Hensley) -- at least not as much as he used to be. One aspect of Sean's newer, bolder outlook on life is his brief romantic fling with a self-reliant blind woman, played by guest star Rebecca Gayheart.
As for Christian, he remains as avaricious as ever when it comes to money and creature comforts, but he is also beginning to exhibit a hitherto well-hidden streak of responsibility, as manifested in his desire to adopt the son of his girlfriend Gina (Jessalyn Gilsig). Major developments this season include the revelation of a devastating secret about Sean's son Matt, one that not only threatens to destroy his marriage, but also to permanently split up the firm of McNamara-Troy. Also, Sean invites New Age life coach Ava Moore (Famke Janssen) into his home to help deal with the personal travails of his wife Julia, only to stand by in shock and awe as Ava inaugurates a romance with Matt. Figuring into this delicate situation is Ava's own son Adrian (Seth Gabel), who has some serious issues of his own. And weaving throughout the proceedings is an elusive serial rapist known only as The Carver, who disfigures the faces of his victims -- and who is willing to slash up both women and men, as both Sean and Christian discover to their horror. Among the more fascinating clients passing through the doors of McNamara-Troy during season two are Julia's mother, played by Joely Richardson's real-life mom Vanessa Redgrave; Jill Clayburgh as a dissatisfied customer who is willing to make a public spectacle of herself to ruin Sean and Chris; Lori and Reba Schappell as a pair of conjoined twins who wish to be separated; and in the season finale, Joan Rivers as herself, insisting upon having her multitudinous face lifts "revoked" for the sake of her grandson! ~ All Movie Guide

Successful LA attorney Terry McQuinn (Gary Sinise) returns to his Maine home town, intent upon settling the estate of his late, long-estranged father Mac (Michael Rhoades), then returning home as soon as possible. But once he has arrived, Terry finds that he is inexorably bound to his old house by vague and fragmentary memories of a horrendous tragedy in his childhood. Figuring into Terry's plight is Katherine Wentworth (Joely Richardson), a girl from his past who, unbeknownst to either one of them, is also a key player in that tragedy. The story then takes a number of surprising turns, especially with the arrival of a "dead" man who isn't, and a wintertime pilgrimage to a most unusual parking garage (where, incidentally, the viewer finally learns the significance of the film's title. Adapted by Don Snyder from his own novel, Fallen Angel was produced for the CBS "Hallmark Hall of Fame" TV series, and was originally telecast on November 23, 2003. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this romantic comedy, a man loses the love of his life, only to find her heart beating in the body of someone new. Architect Bob Rueland (David Duchovny) is happily married until his wife Elizabeth (Joely Richardson), a zoologist, dies in an auto accident. A year later, Bob is still dealing with his loss when he meets Grace Briggs (Minnie Driver), a shy woman who waits tables in an Irish/Italian restaurant run by her grandfather Marty (Carroll O'Connor). Bob falls for Grace at first sight, and she's attracted to him as well, but what he doesn't know is that a year ago Grace was the recipient of a heart transplant -- and that Elizabeth was the donor. Return to Me was directed and co-written by actress Bonnie Hunt, who also appears in a supporting role as Grace's best friend Megan; the cast also includes Robert Loggia, James Belushi, and David Alan Grier. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

In this light comedy directed by British writer-comedian Ben Elton, Sam and Lucy Bell (Hugh Laurie and Joely Richardson) are an upwardly mobile London couple who are trying desperately to conceive a baby. Along for the ride, which is laden with sperm-count and hormone-injection jokes, is a cast that reads like a Who's Who in British comedy. Rowan Atkinson makes an appearance as an obstetrician, Dawn French and Joanna Lumley show up as an Australian nurse and Lucy's snooty boss, and Emma Thompson has a stint as a New Age health freak. Adrian Lester and Tom Hollander also co-star, the latter as a Brit-loathing Scottish director. ~ Rebecca Flint Marx, All Movie Guide

Laurie Weltz directed this period drama, set in 1959 at a seaside New Jersey town where former silent-screen actress Lulu Fraker (Claire Bloom) runs Lulu's Look Out, a women's rooming house. Teen Maddy Hawkins (Aleksa Palladino of Manny & Lo), employed at a local garage, feels abandoned after the wedding party for her best friend, Mary (Adrienne Shelly), who's moving to Colorado. However, Maddy's attention is soon directed toward carnival worker Will (Sam Trammell), and she also gets involved in the problem of Lulu's boarder Claire (Joely Richardson), a French war bride and widow now pregnant by gregarious garage owner Rick (Jay O. Sanders). The problem is that Claire doesn't love Rick, so Claire and Maddy set off on a journey to visit an abortionist. Shown at the 1998 Sundance Film Festival. ~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide

In this sci-fi/horror scarefest, Dr. William Weir (Sam Neill) is a scientist who has designed a spacecraft called Event Horizon which will explore the outer reaches of space past the planet Neptune; the ship employs a special transport mechanism that, in effect, creates a black hole that the ship can pass through, allowing it to travel tremendous distances in a few seconds. The Event Horizon mysteriously disappears in the midst of a mission with no trace of either the ship or its crew, but it reappears in Neptune's orbit after a seven year absence and it's sending out a distress signal. The spaceship Lewis and Clark, and Dr. Weir, are sent to investigate; the crew -- Captain Miller (Laurence Fishburne), pilot Smith (Sean Pertwee), engineer Justin (Jack Noseworthy), navigator Starck (Joely Richardson), physician D.J. (Jason Isaacs), and emergency technicians Peters (Kathleen Quinlan) and Cooper (Richard T. Jones) -- are already tired and unenthusiastic about this assignment, and somewhat confused by Weir's reports. The crew of the Lewis and Clark are convinced that Weir is not telling them something, and when they discover the Event Horizon, they find that things are not what they seem, and an evil presence has taken over the ship. Incidentally, the term "event horizon" describes the outer boundaries of a black hole. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

There are more puppies than you can shake a rolled up newspaper at in this live-action remake of the Disney animated favorite 101 Dalmatians. Roger (Jeff Daniels) is a designer of computer games who shares his home with his pet dalmatian, Pongo. One day, Roger takes Pongo for a walk in the park and the dog sets his eyes on a beautiful female dalmatian named Perdy. Perdy likes Pongo as much as he likes her, and thankfully Perdy's mistress, a fashion designer named Anita (Joely Richardson), is quite taken with Roger. Romance blooms between the human and canine couples, and Roger and Anita tie the knot (Pongo and Perdy are apparently still living in sin). Anita works for Cruella De Vil (Glenn Close), an intense fashion maven whose lust for fur doubtless places her high on PETA's hit list. Inspired by her dogs, Anita finds herself working up a design for a fur coat made with spotted fur, and Cruella leaps on the idea of making garments out of real dalmatians. But where to get the animals? Cruella has two nasty but not especially intelligent henchmen, Jasper (Hugh Laurie) and Horace (Mark Williams), who've been known to kill the odd endangered species at madame's request. Now they're sent on a mission to round up dalmatians, and when they fall a bit short of their goal, it comes to Cruella's attention that Perdy has just given birth to a litter of 15 pups. For this version, a number of real dalmatian puppies were combined with computer-generated animation and animatronic creatures from Jim Henson's Workshop, who respond better to direction (and are doubtless easier to clean up after) than the real thing. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

James L. Brooks' showbiz comedy I'll Do Anything is "The Musical That Almost Was" (after test screenings Brooks removed all the musical numbers in the film, turning the film into a songless romantic comedy). Matt Hobbs (Nick Nolte) is a hardly working actor who finds himself raising his 6-year-old daughter Jeannie (Whittni Wright) after her mother Beth (Tracey Ullman) is sent away to prison. Since Matt now has to support a daughter, he has to develop more regular work habits. As a result, he takes a job as a chauffeur for a William Castle-inspired schlockmeister named Burke Adler (Albert Brooks). As Adler develops a relationship with divorced test-marketing researcher Nan Mulhanney (Julie Kavner), Matt becomes romantically attached to beautiful development executive Cathy Breslow (Joely Richardson). ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide