Marvin's Room . Tucson Weekly . 01-30-97

Marvin's Room

DIRECTED BY: Jerry Zaks

REVIEWED: 01-30-97

This blatant tear-jerker features the highest number of sick and dying characters for your movie dollar. Marvin (Hume Cronyn), the father of two daughters, has been incapacitated for 20 years after suffering a stroke. The good daughter who cares for him, Bessie (Diane Keaton) comes down with leukemia and must bring her long-lost sister's family down to Florida to determine if any of them are suitable bone marrow donors. (Why they don't have the test done by their family doctor at home remains a mystery.) Meryl Streep, accent and all, plays the hard-nosed sister with a problem son, Hank (Leonardo DiCaprio). The illness proves to be redemptive, the family grows closer together, Streep and Keaton act their hearts out; the only ray of originality and light comes from DiCaprio, who gives a flawless, natural rendition of a bad boy with a heart that could hold a candle to any performance by James Dean.

--Stacey Richter

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