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Wendy (Laura Linney) and Jon Savage (Philip Seymour Hoffman) are siblings who have drifted apart over the years. Their ailing father Lenny (Philip Bosco) brings them together, as they have to deal with his dementia and his need to be in a nursing facility - the place he’s been staying belonged to his elderly girlfriend, who just passed away.
When they’re not dealing with Lenny, they have plenty of issues of their own. Wendy has a married man for a lover, but she seems more interested in his dog than in him. Jon had a live-in girlfriend, Kasia (Cara Seymour) but when her visa expires, he’s fine with sending her back to Poland. Wendy and Jon both write screenplays, so there’s some sibling rivalry going on that’s petty and bitter with lots of bickering. Will this family crisis bring them closer together or give them more excuses to keep their distance?
This is a heavy drama, with little added moments of humor, but much of
the time the material is too depressing to be really funny. They tackle
weighty issues with a light touch, so it doesn’t feel like they’re trying
too hard to manipulate our emotions (but they do).
The performances are great. You might not think of Laura Linney and Philip Seymour Hoffman as being brother and sister, but they’re both so good they make it work and make you care about them.
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