My One and Only (Rhoades)

“My One and Only” Is George Hamilton’s Story
Reviewed by Shirrel Rhoades

Actor George Hamilton wasn’t always tall, toothy, and perpetually tanned. He was once a little boy.

“My One and Only” – the Renee Zellweger comedy now playing at the Tropic Cinema – tells the somewhat-true story of little Georgie, his brother, and their wacky mother.

This is an Auntie Mame-like tale about a real-life woman named Anne Potter Hamilton Hunt Spalding (but she’s called Anne Deveraux in the movie) and her picaresque life on the road with her two kids.

After being betrayed by her bandleader hubby, Anne sets off with her teenage children in tow to find a wealthy new breadwinner. But she chooses poorly time after time. These losers range from married men to thieves. But she pluckily continues in her pursuit of Mr. Right. But it all goes wrong.

This is supposed to be a comedy. And Renee Zellweger makes a pathetically funny mom. But here’s a case that would set Child Services on a four-alarm alert.

Logan Lerman plays 15-year-old George. Mark Rendall has the role as his older half-brother.
The not-so-great men who pass through their life are portrayed by a number of familiar faces: Kevin Bacon, Chris Noth, Nick Stahl, Steven Weber, and Eric McCormack.

“My One and Only” is based on stories of George Hamilton’s childhood that he told to the late Merv Griffin. His autobiography “Don’t Mind If I Do” was published last year.

Hamilton says, “Fame is interesting. If you get the kind of fame that maybe 10 actors have now, it’s exhausting because you don’t have a private moment. If you get kind of fame I’ve had — ‘Hey, George, how ya doin’?’ ‘Hi, garbage man, cab drivers, cops, how’s it going?’ That’s like being a mayor! It’s the greatest.”

His mom would be proud.

srhoades@aol.com
[from Solares Hill]