Postcards from the Edge (1990)

Carrie Fisher adapted her own novel, loosely drawn from life with her mother Debbie Reynolds, and the result is the funniest film here about a grown daughter forced back under her mother's roof. Meryl Streep's actress is fresh out of rehab; Shirley MacLaine's mother is a showbiz star who competes with her without quite meaning to. Mike Nichols directs it as a comedy with real bruises: the drinking and the old jealousies are named, not smoothed over. It is a good pick for a pair who can laugh at their own patterns, and for anyone who knows what it is to love a parent who takes up the whole room.