Review: Katie Holmes’ makes feature directing debut with ho-hum ‘All We Had’

Katie Holmes’ directorial debut, “All We Had,” although well-acted and well-intended, offers little that’s new, exciting or meaty enough to warrant revisiting that subgenre of movies involving flighty single moms on the move with their steadier daughters (“Mermaids,” “Anywhere But Here,” “Tumbleweeds”).

Rita Carmichael (Holmes) is the Queen of Bad Decisions. Boozy, broke and underemployed, with a string of wrong boyfriends and crummy addresses, she’s ready once again to pack up her brainy, young teen daughter, Ruthie (Stefania Owen), pile into their hoopty and hit the open road. Next stop: Boston.

En route, however, the compatible Rita and Ruthie stop at a small-town diner and, after a complicated dine-and-ditch, end up working there alongside good-hearted owner Marty (Richard Kind) and his transgender niece, Pam (Eve Lindley). But when Rita starts dating a slick real estate agent (Mark Consuelos) who engineers her unlikely purchase of a cheapo house (it’s around 2008 so, it seems, anything goes), Rita decides to stay put.

As always, the good times are short-lived. But can a kindly, 12-stepping widower (Luke Wilson) stop Rita and Ruthie from taking off again?

The script by Josh Boone and Jill Killington, based on the novel by Annie Weatherwax, goes wide instead of deep, often skirting the darker details of Rita and Ruthie’s hardscrabble existence. Holmes’ helming is unremarkable — unlike her and Owens’ acting, which is excellent.

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‘All We Had’

Not rated.

Running time: 1 hour, 45 minutes

Playing: Sundance Sunset Cinemas, West Hollywood; also on VOD

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