Omaha Review – Poignant Drama Delivers Powerhouse Performances
- Details
- Category: Haute This Issue
- Created on Thursday, 23 April 2026 11:07
- Published on Thursday, 23 April 2026 11:07
- Written by Janet Walker
Omaha, from Greenwich Entertainment, brings to the screen a heart-wrenching contemporary domestic drama, as circumstances disintegrate the stability of the family, a widower unable to cope and without wherewithal is forced to make impossible sacrifices.
The film begins as we see a man, Dad, played by John Magaro, picking up his son, Charlie, played by Wyatt Solis, and put him in the car. He then wakes up Ella, played by Molly Belle Wright, and asks her if the house was on fire what would you grab first to take with you. The picture of her mom was the first choice. He tells her to get Rex, the family Labrador retriever, and put him in the car.
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At this time, we get a long shot of the house and see the documents tapes to the door as the local sheriff pulls up. We understand immediately, the family is being evicted, and their mother has passed. As they are preparing to leave, he is sitting on the bed looking at his wife’s belongings and repeating, like a mantra, “what should I do.” This happens throughout the trip, and it is obvious even with little dialogue that he is tormented, and the closer they get to Nebraska, the more tortured he becomes.
During the beginning of this unexpected road trip, it still rings of a family forced to make changes, and the dad has lined up his second choice. Finances are extremely limited, and the family is receiving subsidies. Ella, at ten, is curious, and looks in the envelop, she was given before they left home and discovers two social security cards and birth certificates. So, when Charlie asks her where they are doing, she replies, “I think we are moving.”
As the journey to Omaha begins, the trip has light moments, Ella plays the CD of mom’s favorite songs, and stories, which has a cover jacket that is hand drawn, and looks like it was made to help her children remember her, later.
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They stop at the salt flats and son, daughter, and dog, have a great memorable moment together, flying a kite and being a family. The family dog, Rex, whom they all love, and even though is not designated as a service dog, serves them all in these moments, as a comfort. During the stop at a fast food restaurant, dad feeds Rex a hamburger, and he is admonished by Ella, who continues to press the point, until he explains enough.
With barely enough money to feed them, buying dog food and caring for the family pet is too much stress on him. Before they return to the highway, he stops at a local ASPCA, and we begin to understand the gravity of the situation and his intent, as he leaves Rex with the animal services. Ella runs over to him, crying, apologizing for admonishing him about people food, begging him not to do this and Charlie is yelling at him to go get Rex.
We can see he is peeling off layers of his life, the foreclosure removes the family home and all its possessions, memories, and remembrances of better times and happier days, and leaving Rex with those who could properly care for him, during this dark moment seems like a loving choice.
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When they arrive in Omaha, which throughout the trip we are thinking maybe he has family in Nebraska, and will be able to stay with them and regroup, we expect him to arrive at relatives or somewhere where they are known. Without a hint of his plans, they spend the day at the zoo, and again, it is a fun-filled family time, filled with memories they can cherish. What follows is a shocking, unnerving, dramatic, and totally unexpected, ending.
Like many states, as we see, Nebraska instituted a law that allowed parents to leave their children, without fear of prosecution, at certain locations. Before they could rewrite the law to read only newborns, more than 35 families drove to Nebraska to leave their children at designated points, in hopes of providing them a better life, and a stable home. None of the children were newborns.
Omaha is an absorbing impressive family drama.
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As a three-hander, as the cast is primarily John Magaro, Molly Belle Wright, and Wyatt Solis, and each delivers high emotional intensity. John Magaro’s character conveys the escalating tension, the inner turmoil, and with limited dialogue, he was necessary for him to translate this intensity with limited dialogue and more physicality. We can see the changes in his personality as they get closer to Omaha. Molly Belle Wright held her own against Magaro and the emotional impact of the character. Many of the brother-sister scenes, it appears, were elevated by her understanding of the required emotion necessary to heightened the emotional cost.
The cinematography, as they drive across the upper western plains, is gorgeous.
Tender, sad, and relatable, Omaha opens in theaters April 24, 2026. See it.
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Country: US.
Language: English.
Runtime: 83 minutes.
Director: Cole Webley.
Producers: John Foss, Scott James, Preston Lee.
Executive Producers: Russ Kendall, Adam Thomas Anderegg, Micah Merrill, Nicholas Hill, Nick Warner.
Writer: Robert Machoian.
Cinematography by: Paul Meyers, ASC.
Cast: John Magaro, Molly Belle Wright, Wyatt Solis, Talia Balsam.
Janet Walker is the publisher, founder, and sole owner of Haute-Lifestyle.com. A graduate of New York University, she has been covering international news through the Beltway Insider, a weekly review of the nation’s top stories, for more than a decade. A general beat writer/reporter and entertainment/film critic, she is also an accomplished news/investigative news/crime reporter and submitted for Pulitzer Prize consideration "Cops Conspire to Deep Six Sex Assaults" in the Breaking News Category and was persuaded to withdraw the submission. Ms. Walker has completed five screenplays "The Six Sides of Truth," "The Assassins of Fifth Avenue," "The Wednesday Killer," "The Manhattan Project," and the sci-fi thriller "Project 13: The Last Day." She has also published “Unholy Alliances: A True Crime Story,” and “Days, Times, Seasons, and Events: A Collection of Poetry & Prose,” which can be purchased here. She is a member of the Los Angeles Press Club, the National Writers Union, and a member of the International Federation of Journalists.
