All Together Now Review: A Shaky Drama That Got Lost in Itself

Starring: Auli Cravalho, Justina Machado, Rhenzy Feliz, Carol Burnett, Judy Reyes

Director: Brett Haley

Written by: Matthew Quick

All Together Now is a testament to the power of community in the midst of a personal crisis. While poignant, the film lacks strength and direction.

Brett Hayley’s All Together Now is a teen drama about a teenage girl named Amber Appleton with musical aspirations.

All Together Now, Let’s Proceed

Behind Amber’s smile lies a heavy heart. More often than we care to admit it’s the ones who do the most for others that need the most help although they themselves hate to admit it.

Amber appeared to be positive and optimistic in the midst of adversity until she could no longer keep on the act after she was faced with even more adversity. Just when she’s ready to give up on herself she realizes she has a strong support system who is not ready to give up on her.

Upon meeting Amber you just can’t help it but smile however that smile fades quickly when we see her go home or lack thereof to her mother who’s in a losing battle with her fair share of demons. This certainly puts a lot into perspective because we realize that Amber is putting herself out there providing for others to actually provide for her mother who is struggling to provide for her.

No one knew about her troubles until tragedy struck after a confrontation with her mother escalated. Around a quarter way to halfway through of the movie you just get this sense that Life was definitely out to break Amber’s spirit because when you think things cannot get any worse it gets worse.

All Together Now Did Not Have It All Together

Now you’re probably asking where I am going with this or what happens next. While I was watching this I found myself asking Brett that question many times. In all honesty, there really is not much of a story other than Amber’s tragic family life and her receiving generous support in the end.

While the introduction was strong and promising the body was weak with very few compelling moments. The acting was good throughout the film, the same unfortunately cannot be said for the writing because the dialogue was quite boring and it seemed like Brett was just trying to make time. Then he just rushed to the final act which was the best part of the movie with some of the most acting we get to see from the supporting cast.

I find it very ironic that the name of the film is All Together Now because Amber dominated the entire film. In every single scene, she was present, there was very little room for the supporting cast. There were scenes of Amber doing absolutely nothing, I have no clue how Brett thought those were necessary.

The Cast Who Held It All Together

Auli Cravalho gave a wonderful performance as Amber, she did a terrific job sharing her joy with the audience as well as her sorrow. Justina Machado captured the energy of a mother who’s battling many demons, it’s quite conflicting because you can sympathize with her but be ashamed of her because she’s made so many horrible decisions.

Carol Burnett was fantastic in the two or three scenes she had as an elderly person Amber visits who ends up being a “Grandma” figure to her, it was nice seeing their relationship develop. Judy Reyes was great, from her little screen time it became clear that she was a better mom to Amber than her actual mom.

Finally, Rhenzy Feliz who played Amber’s love interest in the movie was excellent, he made it clear that he will go to great lengths to make Amber happy but he always spoke his mind and is ready to say what Amber needs to hear.

All Together Now, Let’s Read My Final Words

Do you need to watch this movie? Absolutely not, you can watch the introduction, fast forward to the middle of the film, and fast forward to the end and not miss anything. All Together Now was off to a strong start then went all over the place, found somewhere to land, went all over the place again, until finally finding where it needed to go then rushed to get there at the last minute.

As you can tell I am disappointed, All Together Now had its moments, but it was not a good film, it was not necessarily bad either just loudly mediocre.

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