User Reviews

Ann Devereaux, a Southern belle of a certain age, is married to Dan Devereaux, a philandering band leader. They have two sons, George and Robbie. While living large in the Manhattan of 1953, Ann is shocked when she returns home one day only to find her man in bed with another woman. Her revenge follows in getting all the money from her husband's and hitting the road in search of her long lost loves.

There are stops in Boston, where she meets with Wallace McAllister, a man that wants her money instead. Meeting Col. Harlan Williams, appears to fit her aspirations, only to find out this man is a disciplinarian who does not take kindly to her children. The next stop is Pittsburgh where a former beau has something else in mind.

With no prospects of ever making money, Ann and the boys land in St. Louis where her sister Hope lives. Ann goes through some horrible jobs until she is hired for a store that uses her personal taste to make unprecedented sales. The owner of the chain Gill Massey, likes Ann at first sight. He proposes marriage, something that makes her happy. The trouble is Bill Massey is already married and has married a few other women. The real wife of Massey offers Ann a cash settlement to compensate for her embarrassment.

George does not want to move to California with the rest. He has found a nice environment in St. Louis and stays with his aunt. That only lasts until Robbie calls him after they were robbed of all the money they possessed. George goes to the rescue immediately, deciding to stay with Ann and Robbie. The next stop is Los Angeles and the trio land jobs as extras in Hollywood. Ann pushes Robbie to be an actor, bur it is George the one that makes it, after all. At the end in his narration he informs the audience he got a contract in the movies as an actor and decided to change his name to Hamilton, like in George Hamilton, whose life the film is loosely based.

The film, directed by Richard Loncraine, is mildly amusing. It is basically a road film in which the characters get to experience quite a lot. Ann is the eternal optimist, even in her worst moments. Her motto is that things have a way to turn for the best. She was a resourceful lady who is modeled after the real mother of actor George Hamilton. The film takes a nostalgic look at the way we lived in that era, where things were less complicated in the country.

Renee Zelweger plays Ann with all her tics and mannerisms that are her trade mark. Logan Lerman is the real star of the film because he is a much original character. The supporting cast is not too shabby, any film with Kevin Bacon cannot be all that bad. Chris Noth, Steven Weber, Robin Weigert, Mark Rendall and the excellent David Koechner have good moments in the film.

Really enjoyed this story about an unusual family that got more interesting as the movie moved along on their journey from New York City to end eventually in Hollywood, California. To learn in the end that this may have been based on some real life adventures of actor George Hamilton was especially enjoyable; and, its not spoiling or taking away anything from this story to make that fact known here. You will enjoy watching how this story evolves whether or not you believe its really about George Hamilton. The separation of a middle age mother from her cheating husband has a familiar ring; but, how she and her two sons cope with her disconnection from her husband's money and support in 1953 is a sometimes funny and sad story to watch develop.

Fed up with moving from state to state, a young George Hamilton(played by Logan Lerman) decides that enough is enough, and chooses St. Louis over the open road. Unless his mother can prove her love by answering a few basic questions about himself, George will choose substance over style, the rural life over a metropolitan one. Anne Deveraux(Renee Zelwegger), an aging southern belle, who from the outset of "My One and Only", fails at motherhood(by early-fifties pre-feminist standards), and once again, proves her ignorance of the societal rules which dictate that a mother find her children endlessly fascinating. When put on the spot, she can neither name George's favorite color nor his favorite book. True to his word, while Anne and her other son, George's half-brother Robbie(Mark Rendall) are by then long-gone(having resumed their cross-country trip in a baby-blue Cadillac), George sits down for an old-fashioned midwestern dinner with his midwestern sponsors(Anne's sister Rose and her husband), looking fixedly at a midwestern life ahead of him. His mother, an ex-wife of a womanizing bandleader(played by Kevin Bacon), might not have been the ideal parent for most children, but he was the ideal parent for George(this wisdom would come much later in life), an aspiring novelist, who unknowingly endorses his alternative childhood during an oral report on what he did during the summer(by now he's in New York).

Television codifies us, and in the early-fifties, mothers like Dorothy Malone and Donna Reed ruled the airwaves, mother who stayed at home and tended to their husband and children. Instead of marrying an insurance salesman: a dependable man, a punch-the-clock man, she married a bandleader, a hepcat whom she could paint the town red with. Twice a divorcée, Anne is back in the game; a little bit older, but nevertheless beautiful, as her search for a husband takes the mother of two from one screwball comedy situation to another. Bearing a passing resemblance to Preston Sturges' "Sullivan's Travels"(the 1942 comedy classic which told the story of a Hollywood film director who tries to pass himself off as poor for veracity's sake after announcing his plans to mount an adaptation of "Oh, Brother Where Art Thou"), this impeccable period piece flips around the economical circumstances surrounding the protagonist(the fancy car gives people the impression that they're fabulously rich), in which the masquerade enables the artist(in this case, a writer) to record his first-hand experiences(for the ongoing story which would become an autobiography, and then this film) with a slant, created by the illusion of wealth that people gleam from Anne's glamorous persona and image-making car. As George recounts the story of his summer vacation, the moviegoer notes how the presentation of the details(in the genre's signature rat-a-tat delivery of words) have all the makings of a classic screwball comedy. As a collection of anecdotal moments as related by George to his classmates, Anne's travels, a Homer-like epic in which she gets picked up for prostitution in Pittsburgh, and almost marries a bigamist in St. Louis, doesn't suggest the dramatic reading of these seemingly absurd situations that the moviegoer witnesses in "My One and Only". To render Anne's disappointments in the language of screwball would demean her. The film serves as a correction to George's original presentation of these childhood vignettes, a time when the hasty chronicling of his mother's trials and tribulations were too contemporary for thoughtful evaluation. Removed from his adolescent anger, Anne's setbacks are presented as no laughing matter. Like all children who grow up and realize that their parents did the best they could, George Deveraux, otherwise known as George Hamilton, the guy with the tan, is also the guy who loved his mother, and in "My One and Only", the moviegoer can see how a generous spirit is the deciding factor that separates comedy from drama.

My One and Only definitely looks nice. The costumes and sets are sharp, there are lots of good looking actors, and there's a swell car. For the most part the film looks and feels like the era it's set in. The acting varies from adequate to mediocre (Kevin Bacon has been better in TV commercials than he is in this film) with a few bright performances (Robin Weigert's being the strongest of these) that have some depth.

My One and Only would be an OK film to come across on TV one Saturday afternoon while you're doing housework. Especially if that housework involves vacuuming or being out of the room as you could miss large sections of the dialog and plot and it wouldn't matter.

The reason it wouldn't matter if you missed dialog and plot is because My One and Only is an incredibly unimaginative and obvious film. The characters are so one dimensional they could have had descriptions instead of names (Sassy Black Maid, Flamboyant Gay Son, Brooding But Sensitive Son, Talkative Traveling Salesman...). Almost everything you think will happen does. (A slightly squirmy shifty eyed hitch hiker turns out to be dangerous? No!)

The film is "loosely" based on the life of George Hamilton and it's possible that Mr. Hamilton's life was filled with stock characters and some events that seemed like they'd make for a good movie. But more likely the reason for My One and Only being such a broad and obvious film can be found in the DVD's "making of" interviews with cast and crew where almost everyone talks about the characters and story with such typical clichés it begins to feel like a Christopher Guest spoof about movie making.

Renew Zellweger stars as actor George Hamilton's mother in the story of what happened when Hamilton 's parents divorced and she began what amounted to an extended road trip to find someone to take care of her and her two boys.

I'm kind of at a loss as to why I should care about this story. Yes I like George Hamilton and I've always been curious about his story, but for whatever reason the story as told here is less than compelling. I really didn't care. Personally I don't know what Merv Griffin saw in the story that he shepherded the film along over the several years before his death. In all honesty if it wasn't for the actors, Zellweger and the two young men playing her sons, I would have walked out. The performances are quite good and make the film seeing, though I'd wait for cable or DVD.

It seemed like an unlikely road trip on the surface. A mother taking her two teenage sons on the road across the country in search of a husband who is able to fund for her and her two sons. As the film begins, 15-year-old George Devarux (Logan Lerman) began to tell the story of how he would end up in a car showroom with his older half-brother Robbie (Mark Rendall) to the car salesmen.

It would turn out that his parents, band leader father Danny (Kevin Bacon) and mother Anne (Renee Zellweger) has gone their separate ways after Anne, who has never taken an interest in her sons' personal lives and interests, caught her husband in an affair with her taking the sons with her away along with the cash from her safe deposit box. The cash was to be used to buy a car to be on the road for both mother and sons, but the salesmen were initially suspicious of George's reasoning even after he had finished telling his story. That is where his mother came into the scene.

The road trip would eventually come to pass, with the 15-year-old George driving despite having no driving licence of his own. Mother and sons first arrived in Boston to try their luck before Pittsburgh. Both cities turned out to be disappointments at various levels for Anne as she tried to search for a husband, with her losing her money, being sexually assault at one time, being sent briefly into a jail, and nearly being engaged to a man who is already married.

One thing is for certain even if Anne and her sons would end up at her sister Hope's (Robin Weigert) residence in St. Louis when she had exhausted all options. Her younger son George has always wanted to lead a life of his own, but is angry at how his mother does not understand him well, to the extent of not knowing what was his favourite book which his aunt actually knew the answer. Getting frustrated, Anne slapped him and George left the house. He would eventually return and an incident which occurred when his mother and younger half-brother Robbie were on route to Los Angeles had him reuniting with them.

It is a film based on actor George Hamilton's early life on the road with his mother Ann and brother, as told to his friend Merv Griffin. What happened to the 15-year-old George Devarux in the end in the film mirrors the real George Hamilton's early days in acting in the early 50s, with a real sense of that decade shown in the cinematography and especially on Renee Zellweger who plays the mother Anne in the film. For those who recalled Zellweger's title role as Bridget Jones in 'The Bridget Jones's Diary' in 2001, there is a sense of déjà vu over a scene where she pretended to be living in the old Hollywood glamour as compared to this film in terms of the timing of when the events in 'My One and Only' took place.

In a sense, it feels like one is living in that period of time convincingly.

Here's a story of a lovely lady, with two boys, and both of them were special, just like their mother.

Such is the premise of this 1950s film, which chronicles the beginning of actor George Hamilton and his eccentric yet elegant mother, portrayed by Renee Zellweger. After she leaves their band leader father portrayed by Kevin Bacon, she goes searching for ex-beaus in search of a new father for her boys. The possibilities are Troy Garity (Jane Fonda's son), Eric McCormack, Steven Weber, Chris Noth and maybe a few others.

At first, I didn't quite know what to think of it. But, as they travel together in the quest for "The Perfect Father and Husband," everything seemed to fall into place. The lead characters were fascinating to watch, helped by some excellent acting by the boys, and Renee's determination made her a force to be reckoned with. During their travels, they go to see her sister as a last resort. The interactions and jealousies between them are so real, I'm still thinking about it.

The only critique of mine is Kevin Bacon, who seemed a bit weak in his role, but maybe that was what the director wanted.

With great use of time and place, this film needs to seen and appreciated more, especially by those who like 1950s-era movies. A pure joy!

Obviously a labor of love for executive producer George Hamilton and obviously a tribute to his mother who was quite a lady!

In the Genre it clearly says: Comedy, with all the letters. This is not a comedy. If this is a comedy, then i'm a skyscraper! This is a drama, a decent one, but i was going for a Comedy not a drama... I think that is bad for the producers or whoever is in charge to call this a comedy when in fact, is very far from that. As for the film itself, i kinda liked it. It tells a life story of a strong women and her growing children, as she tries to ensure their future as she separates from her cheating husband. In the way, they go through many trials which they try to overcome, as they grow stronger and more united as family. And i'm sorry to keep saying this, but not once during the film i laughed, cause it's NOT a COMEDY, which annoys me...

It is New York in the spring of 1953. Renée Zellweger as Anne Deveraux comes home to find her husband in his underwear and a young tart in the bed. She huffs off, pulls her two sons out of school, and leaves town. And thus begins the fateful summer that is this story.

Kevin Bacon is her philandering husband, Dan Devereaux, musician and band director, the type of band that plays in clubs in the 1950s, with a cute young female singer at the front. Dan is a boy inside that looks like a grown man.

One of the sons is Logan Lerman as George Devereaux. In a sense he is the narrator of the story. As he tells the audience, it all begins when he shows up at a Cadillac dealership with a wad of money to buy a car. The salesmen are flabbergasted, but it all makes sense when his mother shows up. They needed a new car to leave town.

Anne is one of those elegant 1950s women who doesn't think she should work, and therefore her road trip becomes one to find a suitable husband, one who can support her. The summer is filled with surprises, and that is what makes this movie so interesting, we never quite know what the next surprise is.

Really good, interesting movie, one of the better ones I have seen lately.

SPOILERS: Anne and the two sons end up in Los Angeles and, to make ends meet become extras in movie production. The "other" son gets a chance at acting but when George returns from his father's funeral, begins to show his brother how to read the lines in a more believable manner. He is noticed, and he gets the part, while the brother gets into costume design, what he really wants to do anyway. And, George decides to use his father's real last name, Hamilton. This is based on the real George Hamilton.