There is going to be subtle debate for years as to which leading lady steals this film-Golden Globe Nominee Meryl Streep or Oscar Nominee Diane Keaton, playing unlikely sisters reunited after a long estrangement when Keaton discovers that she has leukemia and may need bone marrow. Streep vanished years before in order to prevent herself from being trapped by taking care of their ailing dad (Hume Cronyn), now bedridden, and suffering from all sorts of malady's including obvious dementia. All he does is groan and mumble, making this a very difficult role to watch the beloved Broadway veteran play.
Cronyn's "Cocoon" co-star, Broadway musical diva Gwen Verdon, steals every moment in which she is on screen as his equally ailing sister who has a mechanism implanted in her hip which causes the garage door to either open or close every time she twists it. She's a soap addict who wears a fur and tiara to the wedding of her two favorite characters, played by "All My Children's" Kelly Ripa and John Callahan. Ironically, "All My Children" was the only soap on which Verdon ever appeared. Streep's youngest kid, a bespeckled geek, shows an eerie talent for applying make-up as he prepares Verdon for "the wedding" with subtle hints of what he will grow up to be.
The oldest son, Leonardo DiCaprio, obviously despises his mother, and probably for good reason. Streep plays one of her most unsympathetic characters, and at times, doesn't fully seem comfortable playing this role. Even though she's a cosmetology student and very capable as to what she does, she's far too messed up emotionally to always look so physically well put together. Of course, the character is hiding behind a facade of bitterness, so as Streep pulls away these layers, the character becomes a bit more tolerable even though she's often inconsistent.
Getting away from the "La Dee Da" attitudes she's inhibited in most of the roles she's played since "Annie Hall", Diane Keaton for me make the film pull out its heart. She has given up her own life and romantic possibilities in order to take care of the pathetic Cronyn (who by the way they talk about him should have died years ago) and the dizzy Verdon, and it is obvious from the time she meets the troubled pyromaniac DiCaprio she wants to make up for lost time in getting to know her nephew. When he angrily smacks her hand away from his face during a light caress, you can see her invisible tears flowing, and it is heartbreaking. However, joy takes over when they bond with a wild ride on the beach, and even the lost child DiCaprio plays seems to return to humanity as his heart opens to the aunt he hadn't met until recently.
DiCaprio is a tough nut to crack here, showing an iron shield for long periods of time interrupted by the bleeding little boy inside, not understanding the resentments of his maternal family and aching for his unseen father, a race car driver who abandoned his mother years before. So while this is a very tough film to like, especially when it interrupts the family drama with the presence of the befuddled doctor played by Robert DeNiro, and his idiotic brother (Dan Heydara) who works as his receptionist (after the regular receptionists resigns simply by typing a note which says "I Quit!"), there's some truth in its dissection of the fall of families over the past few decades and how dysfunctions of earlier generations can carry on to the next.
Cronyn's "Cocoon" co-star, Broadway musical diva Gwen Verdon, steals every moment in which she is on screen as his equally ailing sister who has a mechanism implanted in her hip which causes the garage door to either open or close every time she twists it. She's a soap addict who wears a fur and tiara to the wedding of her two favorite characters, played by "All My Children's" Kelly Ripa and John Callahan. Ironically, "All My Children" was the only soap on which Verdon ever appeared. Streep's youngest kid, a bespeckled geek, shows an eerie talent for applying make-up as he prepares Verdon for "the wedding" with subtle hints of what he will grow up to be.
The oldest son, Leonardo DiCaprio, obviously despises his mother, and probably for good reason. Streep plays one of her most unsympathetic characters, and at times, doesn't fully seem comfortable playing this role. Even though she's a cosmetology student and very capable as to what she does, she's far too messed up emotionally to always look so physically well put together. Of course, the character is hiding behind a facade of bitterness, so as Streep pulls away these layers, the character becomes a bit more tolerable even though she's often inconsistent.
Getting away from the "La Dee Da" attitudes she's inhibited in most of the roles she's played since "Annie Hall", Diane Keaton for me make the film pull out its heart. She has given up her own life and romantic possibilities in order to take care of the pathetic Cronyn (who by the way they talk about him should have died years ago) and the dizzy Verdon, and it is obvious from the time she meets the troubled pyromaniac DiCaprio she wants to make up for lost time in getting to know her nephew. When he angrily smacks her hand away from his face during a light caress, you can see her invisible tears flowing, and it is heartbreaking. However, joy takes over when they bond with a wild ride on the beach, and even the lost child DiCaprio plays seems to return to humanity as his heart opens to the aunt he hadn't met until recently.
DiCaprio is a tough nut to crack here, showing an iron shield for long periods of time interrupted by the bleeding little boy inside, not understanding the resentments of his maternal family and aching for his unseen father, a race car driver who abandoned his mother years before. So while this is a very tough film to like, especially when it interrupts the family drama with the presence of the befuddled doctor played by Robert DeNiro, and his idiotic brother (Dan Heydara) who works as his receptionist (after the regular receptionists resigns simply by typing a note which says "I Quit!"), there's some truth in its dissection of the fall of families over the past few decades and how dysfunctions of earlier generations can carry on to the next.