Brenda Blethyn Movies

A mischievous girl accuses her older sister's lover of a crime he did not commit, only to find that her words have irrevocably and permanently changed the lives of all involved in a film that re-teams the filmmakers behind Pride & Prejudice to adapt the best-selling 2002 novel by author Ian McEwan. The year is 1935, and as the summer heat takes hold, 13-year-old fledgling writer Briony Tallis watches her older sister, Cecilia (Keira Knightley), get undressed and go frolicking in the garden fountain on her family's country estate. The housekeeper's son, Robbie (James McAvoy), a childhood friend and recent Cambridge graduate, also witnesses the innocent act. When Robbie and Cecilia subsequently cross a particularly sensitive boundary and the scheming Briony accuses Robbie of an unspeakable transgression for which the boy is wholly innocent, the repercussions of her unfounded claim threaten to affect all three for decades to come. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

Brenda Blethyn and Timothy Spall headline this family drama inspired by the true story of two parents whose adult daughter suffers from an unknown ailment that makes her behavior highly erratic, and occasionally destructive. Bill and Wendy Ainscow love their daughter Lisa (Rebekah Staton) unconditionally, but that doesn't mean that she's easy to live with. Lisa suffers from an undetermined mental illness that leaves her prone to emotional outburst, compulsive spending, and open hostility, all of which have made life excruciatingly difficult for her increasingly desperate parents. When Britain's mental health services declare that Lisa is well enough to live at home, her parents are forced to resort to desperate measures in order to ensure that their troubled daughter is given the best care possible. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

Jane Austen's perennially popular story of the game of love among the British upper classes returns to the screen in this polished film adaptation. The Bennets (Brenda Blethyn and Donald Sutherland) are the parents of five daughters near the close of the 18th century. Comfortable within their means but well short of rich, Mr. and Mrs. Bennet are looking for suitable husbands for their girls, and they are encouraged to learn that an eligible young bachelor from a wealthy family, Charles Bingley (Simon Woods), has moved into a nearby estate. Eager to see if a match can be made, the Bennets bring their daughters Elizabeth (Keira Knightley) and Jane (Rosamund Pike) to a ball thrown by their new neighbor to see if sparks will fly. Jane seems to like Charles, and he appears to feel the same, but Elizabeth takes an immediate dislike to Darcy (Matthew MacFadyen), Charles' egocentric best friend. While Elizabeth is infatuated with military man Lt. Wickham (Rupert Friend) and finds herself courted by William Collins (Tom Hollander), a well-meaning but drab man of the cloth, fate causes Elizabeth and Darcy to frequently cross paths, and while they don't care for one another, they can't stop thinking about each other, either. Pride & Prejudice also stars Jena Malone, Judi Dench, and Penelope Wilton. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

A middle-aged man gives himself the challenge of a lifetime in this comedy drama from the U.K. Frank (Peter Mullan) has spent most of his 55 years working the same job in the shipyards of Glasgow until he's fired after business tapers off and technology makes his position unnecessary. While Frank tries to put on a brave face, he has no idea of what to do next or what sort of work he should find. Frank's embarrassment gets much worse when he applies for unemployment benefits, only to discover his sister-in-law Angela (Jodhi May) is working behind the corner. As Frank's anxiety grows worse, he begins having panic attacks, leading to sympathy from his wife, Joan (Brenda Blethyn), and son, Rob (Jamie Sives), which only makes him feel more humiliated. One of Frank's few respites from his troubles are his regular visits to a nearby community swimming pool, where he does laps with his pals Eddie (Sean McGinley), Norman (Ron Cook), and Danny (Billy Boyd). One day, one of them jokes about the possibility of swimming the English Channel, which is only 21 miles across at its narrowest point near Dover. However, Frank doesn't think the idea is so silly, and begins training to make the journey; while at first his family and friends think he's gone mad, his plans give him a drive and a sense of purpose he hasn't had since losing his job. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

Kevin Spacey serves as both director and star for this biopic based on the life and career of legendary entertainer Bobby Darin, which moves back and forth between his childhood and adult selves to tell the tale of his remarkable life. Born Bobby Cassotto and raised in the Bronx, young Bobby (played as a child by William Ullrich) was raised by his mother, Polly (Brenda Blethyn), his brother-in-law, Charlie (Bob Hoskins), and his sister, Nina (Caroline Aaron). At the age of 15, Bobby contracted a severe case of rheumatic fever, which was expected to take his life; while it left him with a weak heart, Bobby beat the odds and survived. Buoyed by a love of music passed along by his mother, Bobby learned to play several instruments and began singing as he recovered. Displaying a confidence and drive which stopped just short of arrogance, he adopted the stage name Bobby Darin and set his sights on becoming a star. After a string of hits as a rock & roll singer, Darin (played as an adult by Kevin Spacey) takes another gamble, and with the help of manager Steve Blauner (John Goodman) he reinvents himself as a supper-club vocalist in the manner of Frank Sinatra. All the more remarkably, he succeeds, and his swinging version of "Mack the Knife" tops the charts. Now a major singing star, Darin decides to take up acting; on the set of his first movie, he woos his female co-star Sandra Dee (Kate Bosworth), and despite the stern objections of her mother (Greta Scacchi), Bobby and Sandra wed. But after a string of successful movies for Dee and hit records and an Oscar nomination for Darin, the shifting tastes of the 1960s throw their careers off-track. Bobby cautiously embraces the new sounds of the day, but his old fans don't want to hear him cover Bob Dylan or the Rolling Stones, while the younger audience isn't interested in his new sound, leaving Darin in a difficult place to make his way back to stardom. Kevin Spacey did his own singing for Beyond the Sea, recreating Bobby Darin's vocal style with uncanny accuracy. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

A young girl still saddened by the decision of her best friend's family to move away learns an important life lesson about change from her eccentric aunt in this family-friendly holiday tale directed by LeVar Burton and starring Whoopi Goldberg, Kevin Pollak, Christopher Plummer, and Zoë Warner. When ten-year-old Jess' best friend Bobby moves to another town, Jess is inconsolable. Seeing the young girl's grief at the loss of her friend and hoping to offer some comfort, Jess' aunt Millie (Brenda Blethyn) tells her niece the story of a young girl named Katie (Warner) and her lifelong dream to become a world-famous ice skater. Befriended by former Olympic skating champion Otto Brewer while practicing at an outdoor rink near her home, Katie soon is soon transformed into a world-class skater thanks to the help of her newfound friend. As Katie's father breaks the news that he has lost his job and the family must move to a new home in a new town, a miracle occurs in the North Pole. It seems that reindeers Blitzen and Delphi have given birth to a new baby reindeer named Blizzard, and Blizzard possesses the three powers held by every famous reindeer: the power of flight, the power of invisibility, and the ability to navigate life with her heart. Immediately sensing the sadness of young Katie's loss, Blizzard sets out on her first mission, much to the dismay of Santa's disapproving task-master elf Archimedes. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

Film superstar Nicolas Cage's directing debut, Sonny follows a very unconventional family as they struggle to overcome personal and financial adversity. Young Sonny (James Franco) returns home to New Orleans from Army service to find his mother Jewel (Brenda Blethyn), a prostitute, in dire financial straits due to her marketability decreasing exponentially as her age increases. Jewel takes heart at her son's return, however, as she had raised him to be a male prostitute and his mid-'20s vitality should be able to provide a much-needed boost to her family's income -- which until now has primarily been based on Jewel's boyfriend Henry's (Harry Dean Stanton) small-time thievery, as well as the income generated by Jewel's new recruit, Carol (Mena Suvari). Sonny initially scoffs at the thought, having been offered a chance for a legitimate job from his Army buddy (Scott Caan), but when that possibility falls through, Sonny finds he has no choice but to work for his mother. ~ Ryan Shriver, Rovi

The Nickelodeon cartoon series The Wild Thornberrys gets its first feature-length animated film, directed by show creator Cathy Malkasian with a screenplay by Kate Boutilier (writer of Nickelodeon's Rugrats in Paris). The main character is 12-year-old Eliza Thornberry (voice of Lacey Chabert), a braces-and-glasses-wearing eccentric girl in an adventurous family of travelers. Due to an interaction with a shaman, she has been granted the special power of communication with animals, as long as she promises not to tell anyone about it. Her powers are challenged when her parents, Nigel (voice of Tim Curry) and Marianne (voice of Jodi Carlisle), decide to take the family on an African safari to make a nature documentary. Also along for the trip is snobby sister Debbie (voice of Danielle Harris), feral youngster Donnie (voice of Flea from the Red Hot Chili Peppers), and pet chimpanzee Darwin (voice of Tom Kane). After her new Cheetah cub friend is stolen by poachers, Eliza is determined to get involved. However, the stuffy Thornberry grandparents get in the way by sending her to boarding school. It's up to Eliza and Darwin to defeat the poachers and save the cub. Also featuring the voice talents of Brenda Blethyn and Lynn Redgrave. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, Rovi

Guy Jenkin directs this straight-to-video romantic drama shot on-location in Malaysia. In the rainforests of Boreno in the 1930s, English officer John Truscott (Hugh Dancy) accepts a position to colonize the native population of Sarawak at the request of the British government. In following with the native tradition, he is given the services of a servant, Selima (Jessica Alba). A position that British officers refer to as a "sleeping dictionary," she is a concubine to share his bed and teach him the local language. The tradition forbids romantic entanglements, so the relationship is watched over by superior officer Henry Bullard (Bob Hoskins) and his wife, Aggie (Brenda Blethyn). When Selima and John fall madly in love, they enrage both the colonizers and the colonized. Also starring Emily Mortimer and Noah Taylor. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, Rovi

Nicole Holofcener, writer/director of the critically acclaimed Walking and Talking, shifts her focus from New York to Los Angeles for her second feature, Lovely & Amazing. Jane Marks (Brenda Blethyn of Secrets and Lies) is a middle-aged woman who's about to undergo liposuction. She has three daughters. Michelle (Catherine Keener) is a cynical, self-involved, would-be artist in an unhappy marriage. Elizabeth is a struggling actress who constantly takes in stray dogs. Her insecurities about her attractiveness come to the fore when she blows a screen test with a big movie star, Kevin (Dermot Mulroney). The youngest of the Marks sisters, Annie (Raven Goodwin), is an overweight eight-year-old African-American girl whose birth mother was an addict. Jane has adopted Annie, and is determined to provide her with a better life. Jane has a crush on her suave surgeon (Michael Nouri of Flashdance), but her family is thrown into chaos when complications arise during her outpatient procedure, and she's forced to stay in the hospital. Michelle, pressured by her husband (Clark Gregg) to take some financial responsibility for raising their young daughter, eventually gets a part-time job working in a one-hour photo booth, where she meets Jordan (Jake Gyllenhaal), a misfit teen who awkwardly flirts with her. Elizabeth's boyfriend, Paul (James LeGros), who seems to disapprove of the entertainment industry, leaves her. Annie eats compulsively and misbehaves. When the family is faced with a series of crises, relationship patterns that had solidified over the years subtly begin to change. A festival favorite, Lovely & Amazing has been shown at the 2001 Telluride Film Festival, the 2001 Toronto International Film Festival, and the 2002 Tribeca Film Festival. ~ Josh Ralske, Rovi

Billy Bob Thornton wrote, directed, and starred in this serio-comic look at the trials (literally and figuratively) of an eccentric Arkansas family. Struggling musician Claude (Thornton) and his wife Ruby (Laura Dern) get the news that Claude's uncle Hazel (Jim Varney) has been accused of murder and is in jail awaiting trial. Claude and Ruby head for the Alabama town where they grew up, and, before long, there's a friendly (and sometimes not-so-friendly) war of words among the factions of the family, including Claude's mother Jewel (Diane Ladd), father O.T. (Andy Griffith), and sister Rose (Kelly Preston). Daddy and Them's supporting cast includes Jamie Lee Curtis and Ben Affleck as a pair of married attorneys, Brenda Blethyn as Hazel's wife Julia, and Jeff Bailey, and John Prine as Claude's brothers. While Daddy and Them was shot in 1999 -- and would have been his first directorial effort after his breakthough hit Sling Blade -- the film stayed in the editing room for several years, and wasn't released until after his third feature, All The Pretty Horses. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi