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All I Wish
By Jeffrey Anderson,
Common Sense Media Reviewer
Common Sense Media Reviewers
Unlikable character in flat romance; sex, swearing.
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All I Wish
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What's the Story?
In ALL I WISH, Senna Berges (Sharon Stone) hopes to succeed as a fashion designer and to find a worthy relationship, but she can't seem to manage either one. The movie visits her on a single day -- her birthday -- every year. Career-wise, she starts out buying fashion items for Vanessa (Famke Janssen) and then getting fired over the poor choice of some orange boots. And on the love front, she picks up random men while never connecting with any of them. Her best friend, Darla (Liza Lapira), tries to set her up with Adam (Tony Goldwyn); it goes badly, but they still make a tentative connection. Over the years, Senna's birthday brunches with her mother (Ellen Burstyn) turn into hospital visits, while Darla gets married and, later, pregnant -- all while Senna still works to find happiness and success. And then one year, a fateful encounter with Adam changes the course of Senna's life.
Is It Any Good?
The one-day-per-year gimmick at the heart of this flat romance never really clicks, possibly because Senna isn't particularly appealing, staying shallow and unchanging throughout. Stone can be a potent actress, but she chose poorly with All I Wish (an ill-conceived replacement title for the original one, A Little Something for Your Birthday). Senna is a mature woman who behaves like a college-age girl, flighty and rudderless. It's difficult to believe that she would have made it this far in life.
The writing and directing by Susan Walter -- her debut -- has a nervous, twitchy quality, and though All I Wish is billed as a romantic comedy, it's not especially funny. Like Goldwyn's Adam, who's forced to sing a karaoke song in one scene, it's tone-deaf. Interstitial scenes between birthday visits feature "interviews" with some of the characters; weirdly, these contain some of the best, most soulful bits of writing, even if there's no reason for them to exist. The movie also tacks on a subplot about cancer, presumably to add tears to the laughter; it, too, fails. When Senna's happy ending eventually comes, it feels completely unearned.
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about how All I Wish portrays sex. What value does Senna put on sex and relationships? How does that compare to your own values around these topics?
Does Senna drink too much? Is her drinking played for laughs? Are there consequences? Why is that important?
Is Senna a role model? Is she responsible? What does she accomplish? How does she accomplish it?
One character talks about wishing for things and says that she's learned instead to say "thank you" for things she already has. What does this mean? What do you think of this?
Movie Details
- In theaters: March 30, 2018
- On DVD or streaming: May 1, 2018
- Cast: Sharon Stone , Ellen Burstyn , Tony Goldwyn
- Director: Susan Walter
- Inclusion Information: Female actors
- Studio: Paladin
- Genre: Romance
- Run time: 94 minutes
- MPAA rating: R
- MPAA explanation: some sexual content and partial nudity
- Last updated: July 16, 2022
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