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What They Had

R Released Oct 19, 2018 1h 40m Drama TRAILER for List
87% Tomatometer 121 Reviews 82% Popcornmeter 500+ Ratings
After her ailing mother wanders off during a blizzard, Bridget returns to her childhood home in Chicago, accompanied by her rebellious daughter. Forced to referee between her father's stubborn insistence that his wife remains at home and her equally determined brother's efforts to place her in a "memory care" facility, Bridget struggles to make sense of a lifetime of family conflict. With her mother's decline becoming increasingly obvious, long-simmering resentments bubble to the surface.
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What They Had

What They Had

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Critics Consensus

What They Had finds laughter and tears in its portrait of a family at a crossroads, with writer-director Elizabeth Chomko getting outstanding performances out of a talented cast.

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Critics Reviews

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Nell Minow AWFJ.org Writer/director Elizabeth Chomko's first film is remarkably assured and beautifully performed, richly human, and deeply moving. Nov 23, 2021 Full Review Bilge Ebiri Spirituality & Health Terrific performances and an authentic portrait of a heartbreaking illness mark the touching drama What They Had. Mar 23, 2020 Full Review Ben Sachs Chicago Reader This middling snoozefest demonstrates that good performances, a plausible story line, and relatable emotional content are not enough to make a movie interesting. Feb 29, 2020 Full Review Denise Pieniazek Puesta en Escena (AR) What They Had is a deep but bearable drama, in which cinema once again shows us that the main thing in it is a good story. In addition, it has very successful small touches of humor, even in the ending with a metaphor of a turkey. Rated: 8/10 Jan 27, 2024 Full Review Keith Garlington Keith & the Movies Chomko pulls from her personal experience of having a grandmother diagnosed with dementia and being part of the family struggling to deal with it. Rated: 3.5/5 Aug 21, 2022 Full Review Cate Marquis AWFJ.org What They Had draws a moving and remarkably accurate picture of the challenges grown children face when a parent has Alzheimers. Nov 23, 2021 Full Review Read all reviews

Audience Reviews

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Anthony P Very good family drama set during a cold Chicago winter. Rated 4 out of 5 stars 04/04/23 Full Review David S Just watched this movie for the first time. The parallels between this movie and my life at the moment is shockingly similar. The difference is my mam and dad both have dementia. The director and writer does the movie so beautifully and true to the reality of this horrific disease. As I say to people dementia is the only disease the affects the carers more than the sufferer. Not everyone will understand my way of thinking but the ones who do know what I mean. Beautiful absolutely beautiful film. God bless Mam and dad. Rated 4 out of 5 stars 01/16/23 Full Review isla s This is a sad family based drama about facing your parents vulnerabilities in older age and trying to do the right thing for them and to convince the rest of the family that you have their best interests at heart. Its about perserverance and dealing with difficult family dynamics. I like that it doesn't sugar coat things for the most part (it is perhaps a little cheesy towards the end) and I felt Hilary Swank gave a good performance. It may be a bit hard to watch if you've dealt with aging family relations with dementia related issues but its certainly a good, thoughtful watch. I'm not sure I'd say its an especially great film but its certainly good and I would recommend it to others. Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 03/31/23 Full Review michale j Great balance of emotions. Rated 4 out of 5 stars 03/31/23 Full Review Audience Member Spoilers: This is an ensemble gem. Double Oscar-winner Hilary is surely versatile, but this may be her best performance, as the go-along, get-along daughter, wife who never really self-fulfilled or even worked at it. Shannon, too, always worth a look, as the angry, combative, I do the work, let's get Mom settled in a memory care home son, brother, tavern owner with a failed marriage. This coulda been a mom's declining mentally, Dad and grown kids deal with the sorrow, pain and memories, and all move on after saying oh well, a fuzzy Hallmark TV special. But it went so much further, and painted five portraits of people including assertive, stay-the-course Robert, losing-it Blythe and unhappy granddaughter and college student, or not, Taissa, giving this a whole family layer past that oldies decline. When Robert gave only-part-there Blythe the locket with the two of them young, and she said, "I'm sorry," sorry she had slipped away, in a moment of lucidity, Robert gave an audible gasp and said, "It's OK, honey," and they hugged, I fought mightily to keep tears in my eyes from rolling down my cheeks, and I'm an old guy. When the stunner of who died first occurs, other big family changes occur. Hilary decides to follow her heart and drop the hubby and bring Mom from Chicago out to California, giving Michael a break from holding hands and running errands. The siblings go from reminiscing to laughing to arguing. Dad, Robert, ever the demanding hard charger, kids take the brunt, won't budge from keeping Mom home even though she likes to walk off in the snow in her robe -- until he does budge. Granddaughter Taissa, Hilary's kid, is alienated from Mom and Dad and college, but bends to go back. Dad and son make up a bit over Michael's award winning Manhattan at his bar. Blythe is touching as the can't remember much Mom. Life goes on, and the detail of each interaction in his piece is spot on. Bravo! Rated 5 out of 5 stars 02/07/23 Full Review Audience Member A beautiful film that deals with heartbreaking themes in a way that still gives the viewer hope. Rated 5 out of 5 stars 02/09/23 Full Review Read all reviews
What They Had

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Movie Info

Synopsis After her ailing mother wanders off during a blizzard, Bridget returns to her childhood home in Chicago, accompanied by her rebellious daughter. Forced to referee between her father's stubborn insistence that his wife remains at home and her equally determined brother's efforts to place her in a "memory care" facility, Bridget struggles to make sense of a lifetime of family conflict. With her mother's decline becoming increasingly obvious, long-simmering resentments bubble to the surface.
Director
Elizabeth Chomko
Producer
Keith Kjarval, Bill Holderman, Albert Berger, Ron Yerxa, Alex Saks, Sefton Fincham, Tyler Jackson
Screenwriter
Elizabeth Chomko
Distributor
Bleecker Street Media
Production Co
The Fyzz Facility, Unified Pictures, Look to the Sky Films, Bona Fide Productions
Rating
R (Language|A Brief Sexual Reference)
Genre
Drama
Original Language
English
Release Date (Theaters)
Oct 19, 2018, Limited
Release Date (Streaming)
Jan 8, 2019
Box Office (Gross USA)
$254.4K
Runtime
1h 40m
Aspect Ratio
Scope (2.35:1)
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