One True Thing (1998)

User Rating:

6.9/10   

Director:

Carl Franklin

Writers (WGA):

Anna Quindlen (novel)
Karen Croner (screenplay)

Release Date:

18 September 1998 (USA)

Genre:

Drama

Tagline:

Love What You Have.

Plot:

A career woman reassesses her parents' lives after she is forced to care for her cancer-stricken mother.

Plot Keywords:

Cancer | New York | Job | Love | Professor

Awards:

Nominated for Oscar. Another 4 nominations

Cast

Meryl Streep	...	Kate Gulden
Renée Zellweger	...	Ellen Gulden
William Hurt	...	George Gulden
Tom Everett Scott	...	Brian Gulden
Lauren Graham	...	Jules
Nicky Katt	...	Jordan Belzer
James Eckhouse	...	District Attorney
Patrick Breen	...	G.A. Tweedy
Gerrit Graham	...	Oliver Most
David Byron	...	Senator Sullivan
Stephen Peabody	...	Harold
Lizbeth MacKay	...	Dr. Cohen
Mary Catherine Wright	...	Clarice
Sloane Shelton	...	Evelyn Best
Michele Shay	...	June

MPAA:

Rated R for language.

Runtime:

127 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

DTS | Dolby Digital | SDDS

Certification:

Canada:14A (Ontario) | Iceland:L | Finland:S | Argentina:13 | Australia:M | Canada:PG | Chile:14 | France:U | Germany:12 (w) | New Zealand:M | Peru:14 | Portugal:M/12 (video premiere) | South Korea:12 | Spain:13 | Switzerland:12 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:12 (canton of Vaud) | UK:15 | USA:R | Singapore:PG

Filming Locations:

Morristown, New Jersey, USA

Company:

Monarch Pictures

Goofs:

Continuity: In some birthday-party scenes, daylight is visible through some windows, and lighting on the staircase suggests daylight, although the action is supposed to be at night, and other windows show darkness outdoors.

Quotes:

[to Ellen]
George Gulden: Your mother needs you, Ellen! Jesus Christ, you got a Harvard education, but where is your heart?

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Fight Club (1999)

Soundtrack:

If I Only Had A Brain Heart and Nerve

Hip is overrated

If you are among the IMDB audience that put High Fidelity in the all-time top 200, then this movie probably is NOT for you. This film is as unhip as Steve Frears is self-consciously hip. Renee Zellweger is excellent as a hip urbane magazine writer who returns to her suburban Bucks County nest in order to care for mother Streep (who delivers yet another hall-of-fame performance). William Hurt is ideally cast and the feckless, faithless, and egotistical husband. If this movie doesn't move you to cry and laugh, then you are much too hip to enjoy it.