Wonderful character development!

Good , But It Is Overrated By Some

This is a tender, generous movie that likes its characters and presents them as real people, full of flaws and strengths.

The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.

Rita (Katie Holmes) is a poor judge of character. She cares for her 14 year old daughter Ruthie (Stefania LaVie Owen) as they live on the road out of their dying car. Circumstances make it easy for them to stay in one place for a while, as she makes he life more complicated than it needs be and not trusting those who would help her. Eve Lindley plays a sympathetic cross dresser waitress who befriends Ruthie.The film is a basic drama about life and the folks who live at the bottom. Well directed. Well acted. Slightly emotional, but not a heavy tear-jerker.Guide: F-word. Sex. No nudity.

Have you ever watched a movie that started out with a lot of promise and then it became a boring drag? "All We Had" is one of those. The main characters are interesting in the beginning but very quickly I was anxious for this thing to get over with because I no longer cared how it turned out. The acting was top notch and Caties Holmes' directing was adequate but the story was very clichéd and would have played better as a comedy.

Katie Holmes, as Rita, and Stefania Owen, as Ruthie, are both excellent in their starring roles here as mother and daughter respectively. with Holmes making her feature film directorial debut as well. This is a dark and gritty drama, at times difficult to watch, as Rita proves to be just an awful mother in so many ways, as she drags Ruthie from town to town, ending one bad relationship with a man only to move onto the next one. Their odyssey comes to at least a temporary halt when Rita's car breaks down and they're forced to establish some roots in a town along the way.There's really a top notch cast here with Luke Wilson, Richard Kind, Eve Lindley, and Siobhan Fallon all enhancing the film in supporting roles. To note, there's raw and explicit language throughout the movie and some suggestive sexual scenes as well. Overall, one's rating of this film may hinge on how much the viewer can accept a mother's actions and behavior as part of a dramatic storyline and put one's "judgmental hats" aside. For me, the strong acting, the intensity of the plot elements, and finally the uplifting final parts of the movie made it a fairly decent indie watch.

I liked all the characters. The actors all acted very nicely. I think Katie turned her best performance yet. I wish it could have been longer. It was a mother daughter story and that is who we learned about the most. I loved the combination of actors you wanted to know more because the performances drew you to them. For a first time director Katie seemed to bring out some hidden talent in Mark Consuelos. Stefania LaVie Owen is believable as Katie's daughter. Richard Kind seems to always turn in really nice performance and Eve Lindley was perfect for her role. Luke Wilson's performance was probably why I gave it a 7 . He good but not as good as the others. I liked the music and the location went with the story. The editing seemed to flow I've watched some independent movies were it seemed choppy or timing between scenes was to slow or to fast. I did not get bored. I watched to the end.