Rating: 
Summary: Hands Down Awful
Review: If you haven't read the book, and you like Meryl Streep, you might find this movie good. However, if you have read the book, than the characters in the movie seem flat and one-dimensional and Renee Zellweger seems like a whiny brat who is not worth my sympathy or my precious time. Meryl Streep was not meant for this role, I believe. She was way too melodramatic. I remember reading a review by someone once for a paper I was doing, and this person said that Meryl took up too much of the spotlight, considering the character of Kate was supposed to be someone who was pretty much ignored and lost in the background of Ellen's life. I agree. Also, the flashbacks were weak. They didn't add to the story, like the book flashbacks did. The character of Jeff, Ellen's other brother, was completely cut out, and he played a bigger role than Brian, but that is probably because they didn't care about anyone else but Ellen, her father and her mother. The second part of the book was the best, I think, and that was cut out of the movie as well. This type of story is meant to be experienced through a novel because on the screen it comes across as no more than your typical lifetime drama, with characters that aren't even as complex as those in movies such as The Lawrencia Bambenak Story and Deadly Vision. An utter waste of my good time.
Rating:
Summary: It Managed to Disappoint Me
Review: If you haven't read the book, and you like Meryl Streep, you might find this movie good. However, if you have read the book, then the characters in the movie seem flat and one-dimensional and Renee Zellweger seems like a whiny brat who is not worth my sympathy or my precious time. Meryl Streep was not meant for this role, I believe. She was way too melodramatic. I remember reading a review by someone once for a paper I was doing, and this person said that Meryl took up too much of the spotlight, considering the character of Kate was supposed to be someone who was pretty much ignored and lost in the background of Ellen's life. I agree. Also, the flashbacks were weak. They didn't add to the story, like the book flashbacks did. The character of Jeff, Ellen's other brother, was completely cut out, and he played a bigger role than Brian, but that is probably because they didn't care about anyone else but Ellen, her father and her mother. The second part of the book was the best, I think, and that was cut out of the movie as well. This type of story is meant to be experienced through a novel because on the screen it comes across as no more than your typical lifetime drama, with characters that aren't even as complex as those in movies such as The Lawrencia Bambenak Story and Deadly Vision. An utter waste of my good time.
Rating: 
Summary: One Great Movie
Review: The thought of seeing William Hurt and Meryl Streep together is why I rented this movie, and they do not disappoint. I, until recently, had always had reservations about Renee Zellwegger. But this film put those reservations to rest. The fact is that Ms. Zellwegger holds her own with acting heavy weights Streep and Hurt. Add to it Carl Franklin's obvious love of actors, and Anna Quindlen's story, and you have One Great Movie.
Rating:
Summary: Shifting Perceptions Lead to a "True" Understanding
Review: "One True Thing" beautifully and poignantly demonstrates that appearances can be deceiving, and that what one sees on the surface doesn't necessarily reflect the deeper truth. In this brilliantly acted film, Zellweger (the daughter), discovers that her notions about her parents (Streep and Hurt) and about marriage in general were illusions, and, in turn, comes to a greater understanding of both her parents and the realities of marriage.Zellweger's relationship with her mother was always strained. and she looked down upon her mother's life thinking it provincial and small. Her father, the college department head and National Book Award winner, however, was put on a pedestal, appearing larger than life to her. When Zellweger moves back home to nurse her dying mother, she painfully discovers that her father treats her accomplishments as "small" and irrelevant (comparable to her view of her mother), and that he is far removed from her idealized image of him. She, in turn, comes to a new admiration and appreciation for her mother's perserverance and wisdom about life. Streep, one of our greatest actresses, can communicate more with a look on her expressive face than most actresses can with hours of dialogue. Zellweger, another talented performer, more than holds her own with the formidable acting talents of Streep. The two of them together create scenes of enormous power and emotional energy. They make this perceptive and absorbing film an unforgettable experience.
Rating: 
Summary: Not Exactly Type Casting
Review: I recall that when Meryl Streep was doing publicity for this film a few years ago, she cracked that when she first got the script, she assumed that she would be playing the daughter. In point of fact, if the film had been made twenty years before, she would have been perfect for the part of the ambitious young journalist, whose father virtually drafts her to return home and care for her deathly ill mother. Streep's patrician good-looks, her sharp features and cool air would have been perfect for the young Ellen Gulden. Not that's she's bad as a suburban matron--Streep can pretty much pull any role off with aplomb. As the dutiful wife of self-obsessed English professor with literary aspirations, she never rings a false note. And it's remarkable that when she complains about how female faculty members in her husband department often seem to look down their noses at a "mere" faculty wife, it rings true. Streep, of course, radiates intelligence, and there is a certain irony in the fact that her character is made to feel less than adequate, at least momentarily, when in fact she is likely the intellectual equal of any of them. As far as casting somewhat against type goes, there has been considerable discussion over the choice of Renee Zellweger to portray the ambitious journalist daughter. Well, aside from the fact that she looks nothing like Streep (though she could pass for William Hurt's child, I suppose), she is actually much better in the part than I would have guessed. We should not assume that all young women journalists are tough-as-nails dames who never betray an emotion. Zellweger actually reminds me a little of the author of the novel on which this film was based (and who also contributed to the screenplay). Anna Quindlen herself has always seemed to me to be an affable soul in many ways. Doesn't mean that she can't make a deadline or hold her own in a smoke filled room. A good word should be added for William Hurt's work here. He could easily have just come off as the villain in this piece. He is certainly capable of being an insensitive clod, but Hurt does bring a certain pathos to his character and certainly would have developed him more had he had just a little more screen time.
Rating:
Summary: DESTINY HITS HOME
Review: WELL, EVEN THOUGH MANY MIGHT NOT CARE ABOUT HOW WE CAME TO SEE THIS MOVIE, I THINK IT IS AN IMPORTANT PART OF HOW WE SAW IT. WELL GOING TO THE MOVIES ON A SATURDAY NIGHT WE DIDN'T KNOW WHAT TO SEE, SO WE CHOSE ONE TRUE THING NOT KNOWING WHAT WE WERE GOING TO SEE. AS THE MOVIE PROGRESSED AND WHEN WE REALIZED THAT KATHERINE GULDEN (MERYL STREEP)HAD CANCER, IT HIT HOME. MY HUSBAND JUST TURNED AND LOOKED AT ME AND I COULD SEE HIS TEARS. WE TOO HAVE A FAMILY MEMBER WITH CANCER. FROM THAT POINT ON WE PLACED OURSELVES IN THAT MOVIE THAT MADE US FEEL ALL. ANGER WHEN ELLEN GULDEN (RENEE ZELLWEGER)WAS SO COLD AND MEAN AND WHEN SHE WOULD ROLL HER EYES AT THE THINGS HER MOTHER WOULD SAY. HAPPY WHEN EVENTHOUGH SICK KATHERINE WOULD LIVE HER LIFE EVERDAY AS IF NOTHING WAS WRONG. SHE IS A VERY STRONG PERSON, THE FACT THAT SHE NEW THAT HER HUSBAND (WILLIAM HURT)WOULD RATHER BE OUT AND ABOUT THAN TO BE WITH HER UNTIL HE CAME HOME AT 4 OR 5 AM, THAT AND ALL HER HARD WORK AS MOTHER AND WIFE, SHE JUST NEVER QUIT. THAT WOULD BE MY FINAL THOUGHT ABOUT THIS GREAT AND BEAUTIFUL MOVIE, KATHERINE GULDEN NEVER QUIT!! IF THIS DOESN'T SEEM TO HELP YOU IN WANTING TO KNOW IF YOU SHOULD ORDER THIS OR NOT, ALL I CAN SAY IT PLEASE GIVE IT A TRY, AFTER WE SAW IT WE RENTED IT TWICE AND NOW WE BOUGHT IT AND HAVE SEEN IT TWICE MORE.
Rating:
Summary: Serious drama, luminous Streep
Review: This adaptation of Anna Quindlen's novel of a daughter coming to terms with her mother's fatal illness is boosted immeasurably by Meryl Streep. As a wife and mother dying slowly, agonizingly of cancer, she turns in her by now expected superb performance; even so, there are scenes that amaze. When Streep, whose entire identity has been formed around her skills at running a household, instructs daughter Renee Zellweger on how to have a wedding that she will never have the chance to organize or preside over, her words, delivered without an ounce of false sentiment, will draw tears from the hardest-hearted viewer. The film is fortunate to have Streep on hand, as she does much to alleviate weaknesses elsewhere. The structure and tone of Quindlen's book has been somewhat altered, not to its advantage. Hurt, playing the philandering father, comes off as more of a weakling and charlatan in the film script, thus skewing the emotional balance toward the women in the family. The mystery of whether someone in the family committed a mercy killing is clumsily handled, dealt with in segments showing Zellweger being interviewed by a police official that interrupt the flow of the drama. Finally, Zellweger herself, though sympathetic and a worthy foil for Streep, is not altogether convincing as a driven career woman. Still, the underlying truths about life, death and family, as brought forth by Meryl Streep's luminous performance, make this a drama worth savoring.
Rating: 
Summary: DISAPPOINTING AND OVERLY LONG
Review: I expected something more from this film. Meryl Streep is always good, so she cannot be faulted. She plays a housewife and mother who adores happiness and doing things that are kind and good and loves to be the housewife. She becomes ill with cancer, and her semi-distant daughter, played by Renée Zellweger, comes home to take care of her. The problem here is that Zellweger is not believable in this role. She is supposed to be a hard-hearted and aggressive New York magazine reporter. She supposedly has a reputation as being very cold and heartless, but she does not give this character any convincing hardness. It is hard to picture Zellweger in any kind of role like that. She is just too sweet. She sometimes rolls her eyes and gets impatient with things, but she just looks too sweet and compassionate to make us believe that she could ever be an aggressive go-getter. William Hurt is Streep's husband and Zellweger's father. She idolised him and during her tenure as her mother's nurse, she learns a lot of unsavoury things about him. The film is very much about her coming to terms with her illusions about the family and what she felt about them. It also is about her coming to terms with who she is, but it is just so mushy. There are no clear cut lines of where this film is trying to go. Naturally Streep dies and all is basically ironed out, but the film is just so... unmoving. Surprising considering that it was probably made to be a tearjerker, but it fails to be so.
Rating:
Summary: ONE TRUE CLASSIC
Review: Im not a renoun movie critic, but I think this film is a unique treasure. I thought the acting was great, and hollywood finally found a story about real people. Each cast member played their part wonderfully. Renee Zellweger proves that she is a real dramatic actress.
Rating:
Summary: Perceptive & Provoking--Get Your Tissues Ready
Review: Dying of an extended illness is never easy, either for the patients or those around them. Playing a 47-year-old housewife who is losing a battle with cancer in One True Thing, Streep nails perfectly the querulousness that comes with serious illness. Weakened by pain, unable to perform everyday tasks and dependent upon others, she is often irritable with those she loves the most, especially when they treat her more like a patient than a person. "I'm still a mother," she snaps at her oversolicitous daughter (Zellweger), who has reluctantly given up a hotshot reporter's job in Manhattan to come home and take care of Mom. Their imperfect mother-daughter relationship is at the center of, and the main reason to see, One True Thing, a perceptive and extremely well-acted drama based on Anna Quindlen's 1995 novel of the same name. Early on, Streep flutters about as a suburban über-mom, whipping up perfect meals, putting up holiday decorations and keeping life running smoothly for her husband (Hurt), a pompous professor of English literature. None of this impresses Zellweger, though she will come to see, during the course of Streep's illness, that she has for years valued her mother too little and her father possibly too much. This amazing film shows that as difficult as drawn-out death may be, its very length affords the time to say goodbye, to say whatever else has to be said, and for a grown child to come to a better understanding of just who her mother really is and, as importantly, isn't.
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