HOW SALLY FIELD MAKES DEATH AMUSING.

Byline: Evan Henerson Staff Writer

There may yet come a day when the motion picture academy carves out a separate category -- saints protect us -- for Best Depiction of a Character Wasting Away From a Terminal Disease.

Until that day arrives, performances like the one given by Sally Field in ``Two Weeks'' -- which, big surprise! opens a one-week awards qualifying run today -- are best left to Lifetime and the TV networks, which know best how to handle such animals.

It's not that writer/director Steve Stockman's feature film debut isn't earnest, heart tugging, poignant and all the things that films about dying selfless moms are supposed to be. Or that Field -- whose story arc as a bipolar mom on TV's ``ER'' is a lot more rattling -- can't carry this kind of material. It is, and she does. Let the tears flow.

Even so, Stockman's attempts to distinguish ``Two Weeks'' from the formulaic family drama weepies are largely in vain. Basically, you're looking at Anita Bergman (Field's character) expiring from ovarian cancer, and her grown children locating the pain and humor in coping in a repetitive 90-minute loop.

Our semi-comic prism, if you will, is eldest son Keith (Ben Chaplin), who puts a video camera on his mom after her diagnosis but before her decline, thereby getting her to talk about her life, her children, her regrets, etc.

Rounding out the family are stalwart and self-sacrificing daughter Emily (Julianne Nicholson), business-minded son Barry (Thomas Cavanagh) and youngest son Matthew (Glenn Howerton). Anita's second husband, Jim (James Murtaugh), is around but not doing much. A couple of adorable grandkids and a regular hospice worker also pay visits.

It's in the home-movie segments where a normal-looking Field -- always thinking, never giving anything dishonest -- does her most solid work. Once Anita is in serious decline and eventually all but comatose, Stockman shifts his interest to the survivors.

The conceit is that the younger Bergmans -- neither an estranged nor a particularly tight-knit bunch -- expected their mom to check out quickly. When she hangs on for the titular fortnight, the clan is forced to plan, cope, adjust and grieve together, all within the same four walls.

Stockman may see this as the stuff of bittersweet comedy, and indeed, there are some laughs, gallows-type and otherwise.

The bulk of ``Two Weeks,'' however, is a protracted death scene. If this is your cup of tea, and your tube listings don't offer a suitable alternative, ``Two Weeks'' -- with a convincingly expiring Sally Field -- may well be the way to go.

Evan Henerson, [phone]

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2 WEEKS - Two and one half stars

(R: adult themes, language)

Starring: Sally Field, Ben Chaplin, Thomas Cavanagh, Julianne Nicholson.

Director: Steve Stockman.

Running time: 1 hr. 30 min.

Playing: One-week awards qualifying run at AMC Century City.

In a nutshell: A cancer-stricken mom (Sally Field) brings her family together.