One True Thing

R

Released Sep 18, 1998

2 hr. 7 min.

Drama

List

88%

60 Reviews

Tomatometer

71%

5,000+ Ratings

Audience Score

Kate (Meryl Streep), the undervalued matriarch of the Gulden family, is diagnosed with cancer. Daughter and journalist Ellen (Renée Zellweger) returns from New York City to care for her mother at the request of her father (William Hurt). During the time Kate spends with her parents, she discovers secrets that she was never privy to in her childhood. Though Ellen has always idolized her father, she learns that her mother has had a much more difficult life than she knew.

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Critics Consensus

Solid performances lift this drama to a higher level.

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Jerod S

Solid acting and a gritty subject, One True Thing tells of Streep's journey through cancer and how it affects her family. When the pain became too much, her life was ended short and the framework for the film is Zellweger's interview with the investigator.

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

01/26/24

Full Review

Hannah B

Exceptional performances. Such a moving topic and definitely made me reflect on how much I take my own mother for granted and all she does for EVERYONE

Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars

11/01/23

Full Review

Audience Member

There’s one true thing and that’s family Carl Franklin directs Renee Zelwegger, the late William Hurt, and Meryl Streep Zelwegger plays Ellen and Streep plays Kate Gulden, her mother Ellen was never close to her yet Kate was the matriarch Ellen’s a successful journalist in NYC but has to drop everything after her mother is diagnosed with cancer Her father doesn’t see her for what she is and Ellen has no idea how to be the mother of the house Secrets and revelations start popping up the more time she spends with her parents There’s truly some solid performances by everyone But this is so depressing it’ll make you feel not so blissful after it’s over It’s also 2 hours too long so 90 min would’ve sufficed It’s tough to sit through so have the tissues ready to wipe your eyes

Rated 1.5 out of 5 stars

09/19/23

Full Review

Nisha Y

Little more than a made for tv movie on a low budget with a bad script. What were these actors thinking when they took the job? The plot has big holes and the interview with the lawyer that enables Renee Z extra screen time in close-ups has no narrative use. It's agenda to give voice to unappreciated house wives is extremely dated and drenched in cliches.

Rated 1 out of 5 stars

05/25/23

Full Review

Audience Member

Ellen Gulden (Renée Zellweger) is a career woman writing for a magazine who can't understand her mother (Meryl Streep) while looking up toher father, George (William Hurt), a fellow writer and literature professor. Yet when her mother gets sick with cancer, she must come home and learn to love her. This will force her to evaluate how she sees her father, as she discovers several long buried secrets from her mother. It also means giving up her life, a fact that she resents. The film was directed by Carl Franklin and written by Karen Croner, whose script was based on One True Thing by Anna Quindlen, a book based on her real life experiences. I usually avoid dramas like this, but I can recognize when a movie is well made.

Rated 2 out of 5 stars

02/06/23

Full Review

john e

Meryl Streep has received an unprecedented 21 Oscar nominations. That's 9 more than any other actor has ever received. It was for this reason that I set my 2022 goal of viewing all her performances that I hadn't already seen. One of her Oscar nominated acting performances was in 1998's "One True Thing". And very deservedly so. Ellen Gulden (Renee Zellweger) is a writer in New York City. She follows in the footsteps of the father she idolizes, George Gulden (William Hurt), who is a published novelist and now a professor at Princeton University. When her mother, Kate (Meryl Streep), is diagnosed with cancer, Ellen is asked by her father to move back home to help take care of her. Reluctantly Kate agrees to do so, but her decision is more about pleasing her father than actually helping her mother. Ellen's mother is an individual who seeks to bring joy, companionship, and empathy to others. When Ellen grew up, she saw her mother's existence as silly and one undeserving of respect or appreciation. But as Ellen spends more time with her mother Kate (and with Kate's close friends), her understanding of life, and what is truly important, begins to change. Ellen begins to learn all her mother is, as she simultaneously comes to understand all her father isn't. This film is not perfect. It relies much too much on exposition as it opens to establish its characters and starting point. But that's easily forgiven once the story starts unfolding. The acting is superb. Streep radiates the human experience throughout her character's decline, just as Zellweger portrays the anguish of having to re-evaluate all her character had previously determined were examples of a successful life. Hurt has the unenviable job of playing a character that, without Kate's light, is quite frankly a loser. I am not ashamed to say that I cried often during the second half of this movie. It brilliantly expresses the universal experience of when a child comes to understand that her parents are just as human and fallible as she is. Huge kudos to the film's Director Hal Franklin and the amazing cast for such a moving experience.

Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars

03/31/23

Full Review

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Carl Franklin

Director

Meryl Streep

Kate Gulden

Renée Zellweger

Ellen Gulden

William Hurt

George Gulden

Tom Everett Scott

Brian Gulden

Lauren Graham

Jules

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Nell Minow

Common Sense Media

Probably won't appeal to teens.

Rated: 4/5

Dec 26, 2010

Full Review

Time Out

The script shifts audience sympathies about quite adroitly, though it's a pity all the men had to be such humbugs.

Jan 26, 2006

Full Review

Rick Groen

Globe and Mail

A well-oiled machine manufactured to tap our welled-up ducts.

Rated: 3/4

Apr 12, 2002

Full Review

Maitland McDonagh

TV Guide

Carl Franklin's understated direction keeps the tears and life-affirming revelations from congealing into chicken shmaltz for the soul.

Rated: 3.5/4

Jun 18, 2008

Full Review

Film4

There isn't one schmaltzy moment in the entire film, and any tears the viewer sobs into their hankies are well-earned.

Rated: 3/5

Jun 18, 2008

Full Review

Tom Meek

Film Threat

There's a lot of Oscar timber here...

Rated: 3/5

Dec 6, 2005

Full Review

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Synopsis

Kate (Meryl Streep), the undervalued matriarch of the Gulden family, is diagnosed with cancer. Daughter and journalist Ellen (Renée Zellweger) returns from New York City to care for her mother at the request of her father (William Hurt). During the time Kate spends with her parents, she discovers secrets that she was never privy to in her childhood. Though Ellen has always idolized her father, she learns that her mother has had a much more difficult life than she knew.

Director: Carl Franklin
Executive Producer: William W. Wilson III
Screenwriter: Anna Quindlen, Karen Croner
Distributor: Universal Pictures, MCA/Universal Pictures [us]
Production Co: Universal Pictures, Monarch Pictures
Rating: R
Genre: Drama
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Sep 18, 1998, Original
Release Date (Streaming): Feb 12, 2014
Box Office (Gross USA): $23.3M
Sound Mix: Surround, Dolby Digital, DTS, SDDS
Aspect Ratio: Flat (1.85:1)

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