Storyline

Estranged since their father's first stroke some 17 years earlier, Lee and Bessie lead separate lives in separate states. Lee's son, Hank, finds himself committed to a mental institution after setting fire to his mother's house. His younger brother, Charlie, seems unfazed by his brother's eccentricities or his mother's seeming disinterest. When Lee comes to the asylum to spring Hank for a week in Florida so that he can be tested as a possible bone marrow donor for Bessie, Hank is incredulous. "I didn't even know you had a sister," he says. "Remember, every Christmas, when I used to say 'Well, looks like Aunt Bessie didn't send us a card again this year?'" "Oh yeah," Hank says. Meanwhile, Marvin, the two women's bedridden father, has "been dying for the past twenty years." "He's doing it real slow so I don't miss anything," Bessie tells Dr. Wally. In Bessie's regular doctor's absence, it has fallen to Dr. Wally to inform Bessie that she has leukemia and will die without a bone marrow ...

Plot Keywords

cigarette smoking, automobile, garage, haircut, kitchen, medicine, ohio, orange, police station, aunt nephew relationship, sister sister relationship, character name in title, based on play, troubled teen, arson, old age, mother son relationship, soap, x rayed skeleton, sickness

Short Review

Zaks knows enough not to get in the way of his three superb stars, who put on a display of emotional fireworks that is lovely to behold.

Trailer

Streaming Service

1. Vudu : [SD - Buy: 5.99, Rent: 3.99] [HDX - Buy: 7.99, Rent: 3.99]

2. Microsoft Store : Rent From $3.99

3. Amazon Video : From $3.99 to rent, Or $0.00 with a Cinemax trial on Prime Video Channels