Conduct under pressure is the source of caustic humor and poignancy in "." Set primarily in a hospital room where a family awaits the results of the father's operation, the emotional battlefield is a series of zingers that touch sensitive nerves and tickle the funnybone. Shirley Cooperberg (Ellen Burstyn) is the strong-willed matriarch of a well-heeled Montreal Jewish family. While her husband is under the surgeon's scalpel, her children arrive at the hospital. Eli (Ted Levine) is an oft-divorced, failed writer; Susan (Amanda Plummer) has been pouring her myriad neuroses onto canvas but has yet to find an appreciative audience; and Edward (Mark Blum) is a successful producer of touring Broadway plays. They are the picture-perfect embodiment of a dysfunctional family.

Starring:

Amanda Plummer, Ellen Burstyn, Mark Blum, Ted Levine

Genre:

Comedy, Drama