Superlative work is rather expected from the likes of Davis, Stone (whom it is good to see show off her
dramatic chops in a high - profile film after her excellent work in the virtually unseen — and frankly overall forgettable — Paper Man), Howard, Sissy Spacek (as her lush of a mother), Allison Janney (as Stone's cancer - stricken mom) and Cicely Tyson (as Stone's family's former maid), so perhaps making an even
more memorable
impression is the work by two less familiar stars.