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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.
All Critics (99) | Top Critics (24) | Fresh (86) | Rotten (13)
The script, inspired by Chomko's grandparents' marriage, throws up plenty of authentic-looking observations of life with Alzheimer's. Feb 28, 2019 | Rating: 3/5 | Full Review…
The script, inspired by Chomko's grandparents' marriage, throws up plenty of authentic-looking observations of life with Alzheimer's.
Cath Clarke
An affecting drama propped up by unexpected and humanizing moments of comedy. Nov 9, 2018 | Rating: B+ | Full Review…
An affecting drama propped up by unexpected and humanizing moments of comedy.
Adam Graham
There's an inherent longing in Elizabeth Chomko's stunning feature debut, What They Had. Oct 30, 2018 | Rating: 3.5/4 | Full Review…
There's an inherent longing in Elizabeth Chomko's stunning feature debut, What They Had.
Monica Castillo
Blythe Danner does a remarkable job of conveying Ruth's irreversible path into total memory loss without turning her into a movie-of-the-week cliché. Oct 26, 2018 | Rating: 3.5/4 | Full Review…
Blythe Danner does a remarkable job of conveying Ruth's irreversible path into total memory loss without turning her into a movie-of-the-week cliché.
Richard Roeper
You may feel as if you've seen this movie before: Ruth has Alzheimer's, her husband Burt is in denial and their grown children Nick and Bridget are at odds. But please, trust me, you haven't... Oct 25, 2018 | Full Review…
You may feel as if you've seen this movie before: Ruth has Alzheimer's, her husband Burt is in denial and their grown children Nick and Bridget are at odds. But please, trust me, you haven't...
Johanna Schneller
What sets the film apart is the literate and insightful script by Elizabeth Chomko, who also directs, and a cast of stellar performers. Oct 25, 2018 | Rating: 3.5/4 | Full Review…
What sets the film apart is the literate and insightful script by Elizabeth Chomko, who also directs, and a cast of stellar performers.
Bruce DeMara
What makes this such a moving family drama are the complicated characters that this talent cast creates, and the relationships between them it so effectively explores. Apr 19, 2019 | Full Review…
What makes this such a moving family drama are the complicated characters that this talent cast creates, and the relationships between them it so effectively explores.
Cate Marquis
One can say that it is incisive film from its apparent simplicity, which is magnified thanks to the excellent performances. [Full review in Spanish] Apr 15, 2019 | Rating: 4/5 | Full Review…
One can say that it is incisive film from its apparent simplicity, which is magnified thanks to the excellent performances. [Full review in Spanish]
William Venegas
It had moments of truth in it, but I didn't think that as a film it was particularly effective. Mar 5, 2019 | Full Review…
It had moments of truth in it, but I didn't think that as a film it was particularly effective.
Mark Kermode
The three-way excellence of Forster, Swank and Shannon is the throbbing, tumultuous heart of Chomko's debut. Top-notch dialogue, earthy characterisation, a rich score...and an authentic angle on a weighty theme do the rest. Mar 4, 2019 | Rating: 4/5 | Full Review…
The three-way excellence of Forster, Swank and Shannon is the throbbing, tumultuous heart of Chomko's debut. Top-notch dialogue, earthy characterisation, a rich score...and an authentic angle on a weighty theme do the rest.
Hilary A White
The film I found hardest to endure was this drama by Elizabeth Chomko, an especially dreary addition to the crowd of earnest American movies about families working through their issues. Mar 4, 2019 | Rating: 1/5 | Full Review…
The film I found hardest to endure was this drama by Elizabeth Chomko, an especially dreary addition to the crowd of earnest American movies about families working through their issues.
Edward Porter
What ensues is theatrical, trying and emotionally over-wrought, with actress- turned-writer-director Elizabeth Chomko struggling to say anything that the likes of Still Alice, Away From Her and The Leisure Seeker haven't said better already. Mar 4, 2019 | Rating: 2/5 | Full Review…
What ensues is theatrical, trying and emotionally over-wrought, with actress- turned-writer-director Elizabeth Chomko struggling to say anything that the likes of Still Alice, Away From Her and The Leisure Seeker haven't said better already.
Matthew Bond
The epitome of perfectly competent, appropriately moving, and decidedly routine What They Had attempts to break the monotony of the family drama, but despite a handful of strong performances from a rather stellar cast-Shannon and Forster stand-out, but it's Swank who holds this thing together-first-time filmmaker Elizabeth Chomko (who also has the sole writing credit) doesn't yet have the chops to execute the film in a way that makes this families tragedy rise above that of other, similarly-themed dramas.
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