Suncoast

When a loved one is dying, when and how do we let go? After posing such complex questions, Suncoast acknowledges there are no easy answers.

This uneven drama ambitiously navigates tricky territory — specifically the ways in which grief can fracture a family — with compassion and heartfelt sincerity.

Yet it struggles to modulate its disparate tones while juggling a coming-of-age story about self-discovery, a melancholy exploration of parental anger and guilt, and a probe of political and medical ethics. The inability to cohesively mesh those elements limits the cumulative emotional impact.

It’s set in Florida circa 2005, centering on Doris (Nico Parker), a shy teenage girl forced to be the primary caretaker for her comatose brother while her widowed mother, Kristine (Laura Linney), works to pay the bills.

As his condition deteriorates, Kristine elects to have him transferred to a nearby hospice center. It also happens to be the same facility that houses Terri Schiavo, whose highly publicized and prolonged euthanasia debate fuels around-the-clock protests outside.

The volatile environment exacerbates Kristine’s distress, which evolves into berating Doris for not wanting to spend every minute at her brother’s bedside. While hostility overwhelms Kristine, Doris prefers to distance herself, causing more friction and bitterness with her overbearing mother.

She befriends an eccentric activist (Woody Harrelson) still distraught over losing his wife years earlier. “Every life is precious, even your mother’s,” he reasons. Meanwhile, Doris also gains favor with some popular classmates by hosting house parties while Christine is away — trying normalcy as a coping mechanism. Is she wrong for trying to have a social life while her brother is fading away?

As it funnels toward an inevitable catharsis, strong performances by the versatile Linney and the precocious Parker (Dumbo) create a convincing mother-daughter chemistry while conveying some intriguing dynamics.

Meanwhile, the semiautobiographical screenplay by rookie director Laura Chinn injects some lighthearted amusement amid the otherwise anguished circumstances. Unfortunately, it bogs down in melodramatic contrivances rather than tackling its central issues with more conviction.

Everybody seems uncertain how to process their feelings about mortality in Suncoast, including the film itself. We might laugh at their jokes and sympathize with their plight, but we rarely feel their pain.

Rated R, 109 minutes.