64 reviews

Format: Anamorphic, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, Dvd-video, Widescreen, Ntsc
Languages: English (Original Language), French (Original Language), English (Subtitled), Spanish (Subtitled)
Rating: R (Restricted)
Region: 1
Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
DVD Layers: 2
DVD Sides: 1
Picture Format: Anamorphic Widescreen
Number Of Discs: 1
Running Time: 127 Minutes
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.1
Dimensions (in): 7.4 x 5.2 x 0.6

MPN: MCAD20440D
ISBN: 0783230583
UPC: 025192044021
EAN: 9780783230580

Theatrical Release Date: September 18, 1998
Release Date: March 16, 1999
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Editorial Reviews:

Amazon.com essential video
Based on Anna Quindlen's bestselling novel, this is a mother-daughter and father-daughter story, two for the price of one. But director Carl Franklin also tries to inject a police-mystery angle that it neither needs nor will support. Renee Zellweger plays a young writer on the rise, who has finally gotten her break for a New York magazine. While home for a birthday party for her nearly famous writer father (William Hurt), she learns that her mother (Meryl Streep) has been diagnosed with cancer. Then her father does the unthinkable: He all but commands her to put her career on hold to take care of her mother and nurse her through her illness. Dad, a popular college professor who has never gotten the literary acclaim he always believed he deserved, essentially checks out--and daughter must play parent to her mother. Strong performances by Streep and Zellweger give this parent-child relationship the heart--and the anger--of the real thing, while Hurt seems slightly disembodied as the self-involved father whose needs have dominated both women. Still, the detective-story aspect (the film is told in flashback, as the cops try to discover whether someone slipped Mom a fatal dose of morphine) is a construct that could have been done without. --Marshall Fine

Product Description
An engaging often humorous story of an ambitious young journalist who returns to her family only to find that rediscovering her parents mean redefining herself in ways she never expected. Insightful inspiring and unforgettable one true thing is truly a film that touches the heart. Studio: Uni Dist Corp. (mca) Release Date: 02/27/2007 Starring: Meryl Streep William Hurt Run time: 128 minutes Rating: R Director: Carl Franklin

Customer Reviews: Read 59 more reviews...

5 out of 5 stars

a moving film that you won't soon forget... November 29, 2008
Matthew G. Sherwin
2 out of 7 found this review helpful

One True Thing tells the touching and sensitive story of how a young woman (Ellen Gulden, played by Renee Zellweger) comes to understand her parents and their relationship with each other when a crisis strikes the family. The acting is superb; and the cast is full of top-notch actors: Ellen's mother Kate Gulden is played by Meryl Streep; and Kate's father George Gulden is played by William Hurt. Look also for a fine performance by Tom Everett Scott as Ellen's brother Brian Gulden.

When the action starts, a tough as nails and ambitious Ellen Gulden comes home for her father's surprise birthday party. Despite the fact that she looks up to her father as a great writer, the fact remains that Ellen doesn't truly value her parent's lifestyle. In fact, Ellen even acts ambivalently at best without apologies toward her mother Kate who is clearly cherishing traditional values of motherhood that clash sharply with Ellen's values of climbing the corporate ladder as a single woman in a world where it's "dog-eat-dog."

Although Ellen returns to her high pressure job in New York City after the party, it is not long before her father George calls her back home--and this time George wants Ellen to stay a while. Sadly, Ellen's mother Kate has been stricken with an incurable form of cancer and George is too selfish to take nay responsibility for his wife's care. Ellen resents being "stuck with" her sick mother; and she slowly comes to realize that her father George doesn't exactly deserve to be on that pedestal she put him on. Ellen must deal with realizations and the truth about her parents and their marriage that she never dreamed of--for example, her father's endless "flings" with younger woman at the college where he teaches understandably upset Ellen. Moreover, Ellen finally breaks down just enough to ask her ailing mother just how she (Kate, her mother) manages to do all the household work. Ellen comes to realize that household work is truly a challenge in certain ways. The scene in which Kate talks to her daughter Ellen about the understanding, work and compromise that make a marriage successful is particularly powerful.

What happens when Ellen's mother Kate is in her final days? Can Ellen and George take the stress or do they fail to rise to the occasion? Moreover, throughout the movie Ellen is seen talking with the local District Attorney about exactly how her mother died--it seems that Kate died of a morphine overdose. This, of course, creates a "flashback" type of movie. Did Ellen or George intentionally give Kate an overdose to help her end her suffering? The answer may surprise you.

The DVD comes with a few extras; I really enjoyed the featurette in which the principle actors discuss their feelings about the film and working with each other. We get information about the careers of the actors and producer Carl Franklin gives his thoughts about the movie as well.

Overall, One True Thing is a movie with brilliant performances by all the actors and the movie thoughtfully examines the relationship dynamics within the Gulden family. We learn that in many families, not just the Gulden family, things are not what they always seem to be; and we learn how Ellen slowly but surely becomes a better person for having had a chance to truly get to know her parents, especially the mother she used to devalue so much.

5 out of 5 stars

A good one July 31, 2008
Love2Read (Campbell, CA)
I drag this out whenever I need a good cry. I don't know why it just hits me so hard, EVERY time. I guess I see myself in the daughter and the appreciation that grows for her mother, who reminds me of my own who passed a few years ago. The story, characters, acting... all amazing. My absolute favorite tear-jerker of all time.

5 out of 5 stars

One True Thing - great movie! February 22, 2008
P. M. Quinn (Omaha, NE)
I teach a Death & Dying Class at a University and I use this film. It gives a different perspective on "suicide" and the family dynamics of a person who is dying.

4 out of 5 stars

One True Thing February 12, 2008
got film?
Meryl Streep's character was real. I was not impressed with Renee Zellweger's performance at times. I saw too many "Bridget Jones' Diaryisms" in her facial expressions when dealing with serious issues. I would still (very much) recommend this movie. A serious role played by Meryl Streep is generally a beautiful thing to witness.

5 out of 5 stars

REVIEW ON FAMILY MEMBER WITH CANCER October 22, 2007
SARAH (boise, idaho)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful

One True Thing THIS IS A MOVIE ABOUT THE VERY REAL ANGER IN A FAMILY TRYING TO COPE WITH THE CANCER THAT A MOTHER HAS BEEN DIAGNOSED WITH. SAD, BUT VERY POINENT , A VERY TRUE AND HEARTBREAKING STORY THAT A LOT OF FAMALIES GO THRU .