All That We Love

Why Isn't Margaret Cho in More Things?

Here’s the great thing when you write about movies…people like to recommend great little gems to you! This one comes courtesy of my big sis! I had to actually type the title into Amazon’s search bar to find it, so I’m grateful for the recommendation. I hope you will give it a watch and let me know what you think.

When Emma (Margaret Cho) loses her beloved dog, Tanner, she finds herself unmoored in her current life. Her adult daughter, Maggie (Alice Lee), talks about moving to Australia with her boyfriend, with no set date to return. Stan (Jesse Tyler Ferguson), her longtime best friend, is ready to jump back into the dating pool after the death of his husband. Emma, however, has never really let anyone new into her life since her husband left her to raise their young daughter alone while he pursued an acting career in Singapore.

Although Emma thrives in her job as a catalog editor for a high-end furniture company, she is distant with her co-workers. She leads a small life filled with her dog, her daughter, and her best friend. Now that her dog is gone, her daughter is moving away, and her friend is dating, Emma doesn’t see a place for herself in this new world.

As Emma continues to alienate those around her, she receives a condolence card from her ex-husband. She knows this signals he is back in town and wonders if seeing him would be healing, or further damage her fragile state.

Emma has spent a long time setting up walls around herself, and now those walls keep her from moving on to the next stage of her life. She needs to grow and change a bit if she wants to follow her daughter and best friend into the next phase. This makes her wonder if people can really change and if you can forgive someone who hurt you.

In the hands of the talented comedic actors, the film never gets bogged down in a heavy-handed approach to life’s challenges. Instead, viewers can find a very relatable character in Cho. We really root for her, and when she asks Tanner’s spirit for direction, all pet owners can feel the tug at our heartstrings. The film does a wonderful job of showing how important our pets are, not only for companionship, but in our life’s purpose.

Rated R

Streaming on Amazon Prime