Marvin's Room

A compassionate comedy about terminal illness, in which gallows humor is used to deflate the horror and the heartbreak of it all. This screen adaptation of Scott McPherson's award-winning play (which he completed before he succumbed to AIDS), dulls some of the pain, but lines like "He's been dying for 20 years--slowly, so that I won't miss anything," cut like a knife. The peerless ensemble includes Meryl Streep, Leonardo Di Caprio and, briefly, Robert De Niro. But in her Oscar-nominated performance, Diane Keaton is a revelation as Bessie, who has devoted her life to caring for her father. Now she has been diagnosed with leukemia and needs a bone marrow transplant from her long-estranged sister. This love-affirming film eschews for the most part cheap and manipulative sentiment. It earns its laughs and tears. Recommended. (K. Lee Benson)[Blu-ray Review—Mar. 26, 2013—Echo Bridge, 100 min., PG-13, $14.99—Making its first appearance on Blu-ray, 1996's Marvin's Room features a solid transfer and a 5.1 uncompressed soundtrack. Extras include a “Two Little Sisters” featurette on creating a song for the film (4 min.). Bottom line: a welcome Blu-ray debut of a winning dramedy.]