When the plot of a movie can be described succinctly as "Meryl Streep dies of cancer," it's probably going to be either really good or unbearable. One True Thing, in which Meryl Streep dies of cancer, is mostly the former, though its weaker second half prevents it from being the truly great film promised by its first. Adapted from the novel by Anna Quindlen and directed with care by Carl Franklin (One False Move, Devil In A Blue Dress), the film stars Renée Zellweger as a young writer who, just as her career begins to take off, unexpectedly discovers that her mother (Streep) has cancer. When her father, professor and essayist William Hurt, asks her to return home to care for Streep during the intensive radiation and chemotherapy that follows her operation, Zellweger agrees, not expecting the powerful re-evaluation of her mother's life (and her own) that follows. In an admirably understated manner, Franklin and the three principals capture the complexity of the family dynamic. Hurt plays a character as aloof and self-centered as the domestic Streep is selfless and giving, but the contrast between the two is never as simplistic as that description would indicate. Zellweger is good in a performance that nicely builds on the promise of Jerry Maguire. What weakens the film, but never does it in, is a second half that pushes too many of the compelling elements to the margins. As themes become more explicit, and too much time is spent on the actual process of Streep's dying, One True Thing loses its focus until its conclusion. Still, it's a film whose virtues—particularly its rare, intelligent portrayal of the relationship between two generations of women—outweigh its faults.