Set during the worldwide financial crisis in 2008, the film follows a single mother as she struggles to make a better life for her daughter. Although she works hard to get their lives back on track, she and her child face even greater difficulties when the economy sours.
The movie doesn't do anything new with this subject matter, but it hangs together for a little while because of a warm, sympathetic performance by Stefania Owen.
Katie Holmes' impressive directorial debut is peppered with fine performances and stretches what could easily be run-of-the-mill drudgery into a touching, albeit inconsistent, portrayal of modern working class America.
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.
The movie is overloaded with capital-D drama, from Mark Consuelos ludicrous role as a Rita's bad boyfriend to the typical drug and discipline platitudes that face Ruth in high school.
