Just when you think you’ve got a performer all figured out, they go out and surprise you with a sweet and sentimental story of love and loss and dogs.
Margaret Cho built her career on identity comedy — life as a Korean-American, complete with pidgin accented zingers that landed her a sitcom, way back when, and when that well went dry, life as an edgy lesbian famed for her tattoos and pantomimed “fisting,” among other shtick.
In “All That We Love,” we meet her comforting a beloved dog’s last hours. Cho doesn’t even sound like the “herself” we’ve become used to over the decades as she whispers, “You can go, Mommy’s here.“
In the narrative that follows, we learn that Emma is a catalog editor for a high-end home furnishings company, that her actor-husband left her to raise daughter Maggie (Alice Lee) herself and that her cliched “gay best friend” (Jesse Tyler Ferguson of “Modern Family”) is into “throuples” now.
But every now and then Emma shakes a dogfood bag or rattles a leash, expecting her beloved Tanner to trot up to her. He was that ingrained in her life.
Director and co-writer Yen Tan’s narrative follows Emma’s vulnerable journey through that grief, the realization that her ex (Kenneth Choi) is back in town after losing his gig on a popular Indonesian TV show and that her daughter’s Australian beau (Devon Bostick) may be taking her to Oz for more than just a vacation.
We glimpse Emma’s exacting catalog-editing work life and hear a subordinate (Missi Pyle, terrific as always) confess that she’s eager to be laid off and take the next buyout. Why?
“To better serve the Lord!”
Kayla is also a dog foster parent, and tries to place the cutest Jack Russell, “Sal,” with the boss.
“Too soon.”
The ex husband’s return brings up old hurts and thoughts of a second chance. Naturally, the gay BFF gets all judgy and testy over that.
The plot may be so predictable that you can guess the outcome of all those first act “complications.” But the sweetness and gentle touch — even with tired character “types” — put this one over.
Cho may still be a walking tattoo advert, but she auditions for a broader range of later midlife parts with this subdued, touchy and touching turn. Pyle, Ferguson, Lee and Choi (of TV’s “9-1-1”) shine in support.
And our director and co-writer sensitively taps into an experience beyond the gay melodramas (“1985,” “Pit Stop”) that have been his niche. Cho fans and Ferguson “fam” will want to see this. But no dog lover should miss “All That You Love.”
Rating: TV-16, sex, profanity
Cast: Margaret Cho, Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Alice Lee, Devon Bostick, Kenneth Choi and Missi Pyle.
Credits: Directed by Yen Tan, scripted by Clay Liford and Yen Tan. A Vertical release on Amazon Prime.
Running time: 1:30
