''As They Made Us'' is a 2022 American

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super ...

written, directed, and produced by

Mayim Bialik Mayim Chaya Bialik ( ; born December 12, 1975) is an American actress, game show host, and author. From 1991 to 1995, she played the title character of the NBC sitcom ''Blossom''. From 2010 to 2019, she played neuroscientist Amy Farrah Fowler on ...

in her feature directorial debut. The film stars

Dianna Agron Dianna Elise Agron ( ; born April 30, 1986) is an American actress and singer. After primarily dancing and starring in small musical theater productions in her youth, Agron made her screen debut in 2006, and in 2007, she played recurring charac ...

Simon Helberg Simon Maxwell Helberg (born December 9, 1980) is an American actor and comedian. He is known for playing Howard Wolowitz in the CBS sitcom ''The Big Bang Theory'' (2007–2019), for which he won the Critics' Choice Television Award for Best Su ...

Candice Bergen Candice Patricia Bergen (born May 9, 1946) is an American actress. She won five Primetime Emmy Awards and two Golden Globe Awards for her portrayal of the title character on the CBS sitcom '' Murphy Brown'' (1988–1998, 2018). She is also kn ...

Dustin Hoffman Dustin Lee Hoffman (born August 8, 1937) is an American actor and filmmaker. As one of the key actors in the formation of New Hollywood, Hoffman is known for his versatile portrayals of antiheroes and emotionally vulnerable characters. He is ...

, Julian Gant, Charlie Weber, and Justin Chu Cary. The plot follows Abigail (Agron) and the last moments she and her family spend with her dying father (Hoffman). It was released in theaters and on VOD by

Quiver Distribution Quiver Distribution is an American-Canadian film production and film distribution company founded in 2019 by Berry Meyerowitz and Jeff Sackman. The company is best known for releasing films '' The Fanatic'', ''Running with the Devil ''Running wi ...

on April 8, 2022. It received positive reviews from critics.

Synopsis

A series of flashbacks showcase Abigail's upbringing. In the present, Abigail is a divorced mother of two. A specialist recommends she hire a caregiver for her parents, Barbara and Eugene when the latter loses his ability to walk. Another doctor puts Eugene on hospice and says he has six months to live, devastating Barbara. Abigail visits her estranged brother, Nathan. Nathan talks to Eugene but refuses to visit Barbara. Abigail begins a relationship with Jay, a landscaper. Eugene confesses his love for Barbara before passing away a few days later. Abigail and Barbara attend his funeral but Nathan is emotionally unable to. Abigail argues with Nathan for leaving her alone during this emotional time. Six months later, Nathan invites Abigail to his daughter’s graduation party and they reconnect.

Cast

as Abigail, a harried and struggling divorcee and mother of two sons *

as Nathan, Abigail's estranged brother *

as Barbara, Abigail's difficult mother *

as Eugene, Abigail's father whose health is failing * Justin Chu Cary as Jay, a landscaper who Abigail is attracted to * Charlie Weber as Peter, Abigail's unsupportive ex-husband * Julian Gant as Garrick, Eugene's full-time in-home care nurse * John Wollman as Dr. Ashkenazy, Eugene's original physician * Sweta Keswani as Dr. Patel, a neurologist that Barbara goes to for a second opinion

Production

In September 2019, it was reported that actress

would make her feature writing and directing debut with the drama film ''As Sick as They Made Us''. In November 2019, it was announced that

and Olivia Thirlby would star. In a December 2020 interview, Bialik said it will be filmed after the COVID-19 pandemic. In April 2021, it was reported that

had replaced Thirlby due to schedule disruption caused by the pandemic. In June 2021, Justin Chu Cary and Charlie Weber joined the cast as filming commenced in

New Jersey New Jersey is a U.S. state, state in the Mid-Atlantic States, Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern United States, Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York (state), New York; on the ea ...

Release

In February 2022, the film was acquired by

, which released it in theaters and on

video on demand Video on demand (VOD) is a media distribution system that allows users to access videos without a traditional video playback device and the constraints of a typical static broadcasting schedule. In the 20th century, broadcasting in the form of ...

on April 8, 2022.

Reception

On the review aggregator website

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wan ...

, 81% of 21 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 6.9/10.

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc ...

, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 61 out of 100 based on 8 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".

References

External links

* {{IMDb title, 10949028 2020s English-language films 2022 drama films 2022 directorial debut films 2022 films American drama films Films impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic Films shot in New Jersey Quiver Distribution films 2020s American films