Dianne Wiest Movies

The mythical, big-footed Pacific Northwest Sasquatch lives, and an irascible anthropologist and two feisty kids can prove it. This Disney adventure chronicles their interactions with the gentle giants and their attempts to save them from capture. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Bullets Over Broadway is a Woody Allen romp that, as the title suggests, combines gangsters with show business at the height of the Roaring Twenties. David Shayne (John Cusack) is a straight-arrow playwright who plans to stand firm against compromising his work, but quickly abandons that stance when his producer (Jack Warden) finds a backer to mount his show on Broadway. There's just one catch, however: the backer is a mobster (Joe Viterelli) who sees Shayne's play as a vehicle for his dizzy, talent-free girlfriend, Olive (Jennifer Tilly). Shayne also has to deal with the demands of veteran theatre diva Helen Sinclair (Dianne Wiest) and is shocked to discover that Olive's hitman bodyguard, Cheech (Chazz Palminteri), is probably a better playwright than he is, as he secretly revises Shayne's work when he sits in on rehearsals. ~ Don Kaye, All Movie Guide

Directed by Susan Seidelman and written by Alice Arlen and Nora Ephron, Cookie comes across as an inconsequential piece of fluff, bolstered by a quirky performance by Emily Lloyd. Lloyd is Cookie Capisco, the daughter of mobster Dino Capisco (Peter Falk), who has just finished thirteen years in prison. Dino wants to get out of jail, settle some old scores, and make up for lost time with his daughter. His illegitimate daughter, that is -- since Cookie's mother, Lenore (Dianne Wiest), has been Dino's longtime mistress. Dino's actual wife Bunny (Brenda Vaccaro) has, he thinks, been kept in the dark about Dino's mistress and his daughter. Dino decides that the best way to get to know Cookie is to hire her as his chauffeur. With her ears attuned to the conspiracies floating around Dino, she quickly discovers that her father's old crony, Carmine (Michael V. Gazzo), has been swindling him and that Dino's life is in jeopardy. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide

A widower and father of three who also writes a parenting advice column for his local newspaper falls for the girlfriend of his younger brother during a family vacation in director Peter Hedges' offbeat love-triangle laugher. Steve Carell stars as the writer who finds his widely known convictions put to the ultimate test, with Dane Cook and Juliette Binoche respectively assuming the roles of the younger sibling and his radiant girlfriend. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

An Alcoholics Anonymous meeting brings together a disparate group of people struggling with addiction to drugs and liquor in this film based on Gary Lennon's play "Blackout." Jim (Richard Lewis) is in a bad mood as he sits in on an AA meeting in the basement of a church in New York City; he's prodded into speaking in front of the group for the first time in seven months, and he confesses that he desperately wants to get drunk. Three years before, Jim gave up a decade of dependence on booze and heroin for the sake of his wife, who has just died unexpectedly of an aneurysm, and before long, Jim runs out in search of a bottle. Meanwhile, the other members of the group share their own stories about their problems with substance abuse, including Rachel (Dianne Wiest), a physician who tries to uses her job to fill the void in her life left by the departure of her husband and son; Joseph (Howard Rollins), whose drunk driving put his five-year-old son in the hospital; Debbie (Parker Posey), a young woman who wishes she could have been Janis Joplin; Shelly (Amanda Plummer), whose force of will is being tested by an upcoming visit from her mother; Becky (Faye Dunnaway), a divorcee who is not sure how she'll handle losing custody of her child; Brenda (Lisa Gay Hamilton), an HIV-positive former junkie who was stealing syringes from her diabetic mother; and Louis (Spalding Gray), who is actually looking for the choir practice at the church; he then goes into a rhapsodic ode to the pleasures of beer which suggests that he has his own problems with the bottle. Drunks was the first feature film for director/producer Peter Cohn. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Tim Burton's Edward Scissorhands opens as an eccentric inventor (Vincent Price) lovingly assembles a synthetic youth named Edward (Johnny Depp). Edward has all the essential ingredients for today's standard body, with the exception of a pair of hands. For what is initially thought to be a temporary period, he is fitted with long, scissor-like extremities that, while able to trim a mean hedge, are hardly conducive to day-to-day life. When the kindly inventor dies, however, Edward is left lonely and cursed with some very heavy metal for hands. He is eventually taken in by Peg Boggs (Dianne Weist), an Avon lady who takes pity on him after seeing his bleak existence. Edward, in spite of his inherent ability to slay anyone he comes across, is a gentle soul whose only wish is to be loved. His impromptu family has, at best, a limited understanding of Edward, but he finds himself drawn to Peg's weary but sympathetic daughter, Kim (Winona Ryder), who is dating Jim (Anthony Michael Hall), the neighborhood bully. Meanwhile, Edward finds himself a local celebrity after the town realizes that his talents include creative hedge trimming and an unrivaled ability to cut hair. His so-called friends are proven fair-weather when Edward is accused of a crime, after which his only supporters are Peg and Kim. ~ Tracie Cooper, All Movie Guide

In this lively adolescent-oriented musical, a city kid attempts to adapt to life in an ultra-conservative backwater Midwestern town. Once there, he ends up leading the repressed teenagers into a rebellion against the town fathers, who have outlawed rock & roll and dancing. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Sean Penn stars in this drama as Sam Dawson, a developmentally disabled adult who has been working at a coffee shop and raising his daughter Lucy (Dakota Fanning) for seven years. Sam receives help in his parenting duties from a circle of trusted confidantes, including his ADD-afflicted best friend Ifty (Doug Hutchison), the paranoid Robert (Stanley DeSantis), an agoraphobic neighbor (Dianne Wiest), and his other disabled pals, Brad and Joe (played by real-life developmentally challenged actors Brad Silverman and Joseph Rosenberg). Although he provides a structured and loving environment for Lucy that includes regular visits to IHOP, video nights, and karaoke, Sam's daughter is beginning to surpass him in mental acuity. When Lucy begins intentionally stunting her own growth so as not to hurt her beloved father, social worker Margaret (Loretta Devine) takes action, removing the girl from her home and placing her in the temporary care of a foster mother, Randy (Laura Dern). As the day of his hearing looms, Sam seeks out the aid of driven, obsessive lawyer Rita Harrison (Michelle Pfeiffer), who takes the case only to prove to her colleagues that she is willing to accept pro bono work. Opposed by county lawyer Turner (Richard Schiff) in court, Rita gradually comes to care for her client and his daughter, even as they force her to consider the limitations of her own abilities as a parent. The soundtrack for I Am Sam (2001) gained considerable critical attention, consisting entirely of Beatles cover songs by such contemporary artists as The Black Crowes, Eddie Vedder, the Wallflowers, and Aimee Mann, among others. ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide

Psychotherapy sessions are provocatively examined as Dr. Paul Weston (Gabriel Byrne) delves into the minds of his patients in this adaptation of a highly acclaimed Israeli series. Scheduled appointments include Mondays with Laura (Melissa George), an attractive anesthesiologist who wonders if her fiancé is the answer to happiness or if it lies in the arms of other men. Navy pilot Alex (Blair Underwood) relates his experiences in Iraq on Tuesdays but combats the analyst every step of the way. Midweek visits become complicated for teen Sophie (Mia Wasikowska) when Paul hesitates to sign an insurance document after a biking accident ruins her chances of joining the U.S. Olympic gymnastic team. Quarrelsome couple Amy and Jake (Embeth Davidtz, Josh Charles) seek help dealing with Amy's pregnancy but find that it is their compatibility that may be fruitless. Though the respected therapist offers them all insight, his perspective appears changed when summing up the week on Fridays with his own counselor, Gina (Dianne Wiest). Their professional history creates an open door to challenging each other's viewpoints. Paul's problems with his wife, Kate (Michelle Forbes), and children don't make things easier. But it's the doctors' opposing opinions that create the most friction, leading to a dissection of inner troubles that would otherwise never rise to the surface. ~ Mario DiMaio, All Movie Guide

In this run-of-the-mill romantic drama, the title Independence Day refers to the usual Fourth of July fireworks festival in the U.S. but also to the dilemma of Mary Ann Taylor (Kathleen Quinlan) who lives in a small town but has a big ambition to go to the city and study photography for a profession -- should she go, or should she stay in her hometown with the man she loves? Focus on Mary Ann's dilemma slips to other characters -- her boyfriend's suicidal sister (Dianne Wiest) who is abused by her husband, the abusive husband's equally nasty father, and Mary Ann's boyfriend himself who is preparing his Camaro for the annual Fourth of July race. With the story moving from here to there, hampered by some extraordinary leaps of imagination, the narrative is thinned considerably by the time the Fourth is at hand. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

Season ten of Law & Order had ended on a cliffhanger of sorts, with an international trial involving the son of a prominent diplomat casting serious doubt upon the reelection of DA Adam Schiff (Steven Hill). In the first episode of the series' 11th season, it was learned that Schiff had, indeed, left office -- not due to a lack of voter turnout, but because he had been appointed by the U.S. government to supervise an upcoming Holocaust memorial in Holland. Until Schiff's replacement could be elected, it was necessary to appoint an interim DA, former law school ethics professor Nora Lewin -- played by Oscar-winning actress Dianne Wiest, whose character's predetermined "temporary" status reflected Wiest's reluctance to tie herself down to a long-running weekly series. Seemingly softer and less curmudgeonly than Schiff, Lewin nonetheless possessed what Executive Producer Dick Wolf described as a "steely reserve," which surfaced whenever it was necessary to the story. Otherwise, the cast members from season ten were carried over into season 11, though it was fairly common knowledge that actress Angie Harmon, cast as ADA Abbie Carmichael, would be departing the series to seek out different projects once her contract was up. Harmon's predecessor, Carey Lowell, made another return appearance as former ADA Jamie Ross, again acting as a defense attorney in opposition to her former colleagues. In addition, acerbic writer Fran Lebowitz made the first of several cameo appearances as Arraignment Judge Goldberg. Among the hot-button issues touched upon during the series' 11th season were the potential dangers of prison budget cutbacks, TV "reality" shows, the loopholes inherent in Israel's "Law of Return" for Jewish citizens, the gay adoption controversy, and, perhaps inevitably, the hotly contested 2000 presidential election. One episode, "Sunday in the Park With Jorge," was attacked by a number of ethnic special-interest groups because it depicted a Central Park "wilding" incident during an Hispanic Pride Festival. Although producer Wolf would not categorically apologize for the story's content, citing the real-life incident on which it was based, he agreed to remove the offending episode from Law & Order's syndicated rerun package. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Jodie Foster made her directorial debut (with a script by Scott Frank) in this tale of a child prodigy's search for social acceptance. Fred Tate (Adam Hann-Byrd) is a precocious fourth grader who has no problem with the most complex mathematical problems or in banging out a Rachmaninoff concerto on the piano, but is totally inept at playing baseball or dealing with children his own age. His mother Dede (Jodie Foster) is a cocktail waitress who acts more like a child than Fred, but cares passionately about her son. Fred comes to the attention of child psychologist Jane Grierson (Dianne Wiest), who runs a summer camp for child prodigies called Odyssey of the Mind. She invites Fred to attend the summer session, creating a rift between Fred and Dede. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide