I loved this movie. To be very fair, the movie starts off very slowly, with none of the characters being terribly sympathetic. It continues in this way for a good half of the film.

But, if you're patient, you'll be greatly rewarded. What the first half of the movie lacks in character development and/or sympathy is adequately compensated for in the second half. It's a bit like riding a roller coaster - a slow, uphill climb to strat off with, and then speed, twists and turns, and a few surprises.

As usual, Meryl Streep is wonderful. She is the finest actress of our time. William Hurt is good, if a bit wooden in spots. Renee Zellweger does a very good job, showing that her performance in Jerry McGuire wasn't a fluke.

Meryl Streep has played lots of married women in her long and storied career. But none quite as radiant and loving as she does in this outstanding family drama. In fact, I wouldn't have thought this a part for Streep at all (this is Susan Sarandon territory). Streep is the total wife and mother to her English professor husband, and published author (William Hurt), and two adult children who have come home to celebrate their father's 55th birthday. I remember liking this movie a lot when it was first released in theaters. I found a copy of the DVD and bought it and last night watched it. I had an entirely different appreciation for Anna Quinlan's richly observed story of a family in crisis as the result of the mother's suffering from a harrowing illness. This is not a spoiler. You know the mother has cancer from the very first frame.

My recollection was that Streep was playing a tightly controlled Martha Stewart-type domestic perfectionist and of course, watching it the second time, I realized nothing could be further from the truth. At first you are lulled into thinking this might be the case. She throws a costume birthday party for her husband and seems ridiculous dressed as an aging Dorothy from The Wizard of Oz, complete with ruby red slippers and a toy Toto. When her daughter, played by Renee Zelwegger is in the kitchen with her mother, she finds herself corrected constantly but only because her daughter has rejected her mother's domesticity and in the family home, she is a stranger in a strange land--inept and uninterested. The day after the party, we learn that Streep's character is being kept in the hospital for surgery, and suddenly Dad is insisting that his daughter take leave from her job as a reporter for New York Magazine, and stay home to take care of her ailing mother. Bristling with resentment, she obeys her beloved father's demands, but this sets up the stage for many shifting changes in the family dynamic.

Tellingly, the daughter says at upfront that she was never close to her mother, and was the perfect Daddy's little girl. She emulated her father to the point where she also became a writer, and looks to him for approval, which he is rather stingy with and often with backhanded criticisms. Meanwhile, the daughter takes on the chores of running the household while taking on the duties of ministering to her mother. She makes lunch for her mother's club, The Minnie's, a group of the town's women who do lots of beautifying and other civic chores. She arrogantly assumes, it's not big deal to cook, but can't cook a lick and the badly prepared meal lays on the plates, mostly untouched. But her mother's praise for her daughter's effort is genuine and laced with love. As Daddy's feet of clay become more brittle, the mother's non-judgmental behavior and warmth and appreciation for her daughter begins to open the younger woman's eyes to the reality of her parent's marriage. Daddy's probable infidelities, his vanity, his literary snobbishness and willingness to kiss ass of a visiting writer he idolizes, show him to be less of a hero in his daughter's eyes. Worse, she see that he does nothing in the house to help make his wife more comfortable, and he increasingly stays away as her condition deteriorates. The daughter's resentment builds to confrontation that leaves her confused and more angry.

There's a telling scene near the end of the movie when Streep confronts her daughter about her anger at her father. It is in this beautifully staged scene with Streep and Zelwegger playing superbly together, that the mother reveals to her daughter that she knows everything her daughter knows about her father. She has made her accommodations because that is what you do in a long marriage. She neither asks for her daughter's sympathy, or the audience's indulgence. She's not one of those embarrassed politician's wives who have been humiliated in public and then made to feel shame for sticking it out. She has created a loving home for her family. The mother in this film simply plays her part--as does her husband in this relationship. Streep is absolutely at her subtle best here, never never sacrificing the dignity of this dying woman. There could have been plenty of opportunity to go for the emotionally-charged big moment, but Streep refuses to ask us to feel sorry for her. She is totally in the moment of this character's situation and she's utterly fabulous. Zelwegger, an often outstanding screen actress who has become a bit mannered and fussy in her recent roles, shows how this character has matured through grief and anger, and as she begins to see just how great a mother she's always had, we share those revelations.

William Hurt doesn't flinch from this unlikeable character, and the final revelation is cathartic. He's never been my favorite actor, often taking on roles that are hard to like. But his work is rich in characterization and he never overplays or reaches for a cheap emotional payoff either. The role of the brother is not very detailed here, nor is Zellweger rather caddish boyfriend. It was nice to see the young Lauren Graham, playing Zellweger's best friend--her delightful Lorelai Gilmore persona in chrysalis.

In many ways, ONE TRUE THING is a throwback--an absorbing family drama full of words and emotions, a throwback to the era of the "woman's pictures" of the 30s and 40s. The three main characters never lose their focus. A very fine movie, well worth your time.

One True Thing (1998): Dir: Carl Franklin / Cast: Meryl Streep, Renee Zellweger, William Hurt, Tom Everett Scott, Lauren Graham: Drama about sacrifice and hanging on even when your last breath hangs in balance. Meryl Streep plays an ambitious housewife busy preparing her husband's birthday. Renee Zellweger plays her daughter who arrives home to discover that her brother flunked out of college. When it is learned that Streep has cancer Zellweger reluctantly puts her job on hold. William Hurt plays Streep's husband, a university professor who acts as if nothing has changed. Zellweger distances herself when she catches him in the midst of an affair. Plot bares too many similarities to another Streep film Marvin's Room and it follows too many predictable developments. Fine directing by Carl Franklin who also made One False Move. Strong performances by Streep who focuses on family as oppose to her illness. Zellweger is excellent as the frustrated daughter trying to maintain emotions and sanity. Hurt is well cast as a husband fleeing from his emotions. Tom Everett Scott as the son who flunked out of college provides comic relief. Aside from the family, other roles are less interesting and limited at best. We all know where this is all going to end up but it examines trauma and the important things we often take for granted. Score: 7 ½ / 10