Following on the heels of the abortion-centric “Obvious Child,” this quiet drama digs into another taboo: assisted suicide. But writer/director Andrew Levitas needlessly pads this captivating theme with over-used tropes, like Garrett Hedlund’s angry prodigal son and a wise-beyond-her-years teen cancer patient (Jessica Barden).
Richard Jenkins (terrific, as always) is the terminally ill patriarch of a fractured family, who have united at his bedside. Hedlund’s chain-smoking musician and Jessica Brown Findlay, as his lawyer sister, argue about removing life support, while their mother (Anne Archer) remains weepy and wistful. Amy Adams appears briefly as Hedlund’s ex, Terrence Howard is the doctor who’s willing to help Jenkins die with dignity and Jennifer Hudson is a prickly night nurse.
Scenarios run from predictable (flashbacks to father/son screaming matches) to implausible (an impromptu, full seder dinner in the hospital chapel), though the family’s ultimate resolution is undeniably moving.