Marvin's Room

Two sisters try to set their familial differences aside -- one in hopes of saving her own life -- in this drama with comic accents. Bessie (Diane Keaton) has lived in Florida for the past 20 years, where she's been caring for her chronically ill father Marvin (Hume Cronyn) and her Aunt Ruth (Gwen ...more

Based on a highly successful off-Broadway play by Scott McPherson, this respectable film adaptation overcomes its familiar, TV-movie terrain to eventually become a heartfelt tribute to family ties and the prospect of death. In a wonderfully reversed casting scenario, Meryl Streep plays the cigarette-smoking, brash sibling of Diane Keaton, who is beautifully restrained as the older, quieter caretaker figure. Actually, the film is superbly cast all around, with Leonardo DiCaprio quite affecting in ...more