Truly Dreadful Film

Good concept, poorly executed.

This is ultimately a movie about the very bad things that can happen when we don't address our unease, when we just try to brush it off, whether that's to fit in or to preserve our self-image.

There are moments in this movie where the great movie it could've been peek out... They're fleeting, here, but they're worth savoring, and they happen often enough to make it worth your while.

Ellen Gulden (Renée Zellweger) is a driven NY interview writer. Her father George (William Hurt) is a writer and professor. Her mother Kate (Meryl Streep) gets cancer and Ellen returns home to help out. Only she's not good at it, and has little in common with her housewife mother.The movie probably needs a bit of comedy to lighten the mood. The subject matter is fairly dark. There is cancer, family dysfunction, and a murder investigation. Renée Zellweger could have shined in comedy. Instead she and Hurt have such angry persona that they are hard to like. The great performance comes from Meryl Streep. This could have been a bad melodrama. Meryl Streep makes it infinitely more. She breathes life into this dying character. There are incredible scenes in this that verifies her as the most talent actresses working.

This is one of my favourite films of all time, no doubt about it. Everything about it is superb. While it may appear to be a film which mainly appeals to women, I think that the men should give it a chance too - a substantial part of the storyline is from George Gulden's (William Hurt) point of view, as the father of the family.Through 'One True Thing', we see how a family copes with disease - from everybody's point of view. Although we follow the story from Ellen Gulden's (Renee Zellweger) eyes, it never feels like we're missing out on anything.The strongest point of the film is the superb acting. Hurt and Zellweger give very strong, convincing performances, and the supporting cast are also very good; however, it's Meryl Streep who stands out here. I truly believe this to be not only one of her best performances to date, but one of the best ever. Her work in this film is absolutely astounding. She's everything and anything the film could require from her - and then so much more. What she brings to this role is truly magical; the woman is a genius. How she could have missed out on the Oscar that year, I have absolutely no idea.There isn't much more to say, except for SEE THIS FILM. It is all at once extremely insightful, moving, humorous and beautiful. You won't regret watching this one.

Merly Streep is a great actress She did a wonderful job .The movie hit home . My mother had throat cancer she died in 1999. Truly a great movie all of the charters were great. it took me awhile to watch it but i loved it. any movie she stars in is great. then 10 months and 5 days later i lost my father. to colon cancer. I have had breast cancer both breast removed. but doing real good i was very lucky God has blessed me. Keep up the good work. She has done wonders in every film she has been.i thought she did a great performance . i cried all the way through the movie.will she be making any new movies in the near furture.please let your fans keep seeing you in the movies.

Apart from the DA (James Eckhouse), and a brief appearing woman who is convincingly sympathetic to Ellen Gulden's (Renee Zellweger)plight, Ellen herself is the only convincing character--and likable character in the movie. She is the one, not her dying mother, who should be and is--the one true thing. it's not only in the role, in Zellweger's acting, but also in the plot itself.... Until, the plot turns against itself--and makes the mother the "one true thing" in the eyes of her weak willed, shallow husband who can do nothing right for his wife or daughter. The daughter perceives what the viewer perceives, but such intelligent perceptions must give way to the shallow sentiment of the husband who is blanked out on both the realities of his wife and daughter. To boot, the one powerful scene in this whole movie, when Ellen confronts her father's cruelty, is given the lie at the end. Ellen is just another young strong woman who must be tamed into conformity by a crybaby father. A very flawed movie--so flawed as to be called a bore and not worth the time.