History YMMV / TheWhale

* AngstAversion: Although this film has been praised, there are still many people who find it too depressing to watch, with Charlie's severe health issues and interactions with Ellie being the biggest contributors.

* BaseBreakingCharacter: Ellie. While many have praised her for Creator/SadieSink's genuine performance, others found her too unbearable to stand out.

* AngstAversion: Although this film has been praised, there are still many people who found this film too depressing to watch, with Charlie's depression and Ellie's abusive behavior being the biggest contributors.

** While Creator/BrendanFraser and Creator/HongChau scored Academy Award nominations for their performances (the former won best actor) , Creator/SadieSink did not.

** Mary telling off Ellie at Charlie's apartment when she continues to lash out at Charlie.
** [[spoiler:Charlie slowly walking towards his daughter (despite his current state) while she reads her ''Literature/MobyDick'' essay from middle school to him. His satisfaction in seeing his daughter happy for once really seals it.]]

* NauseaFuel: Charlie binge-eating on pizza and other unhealthy foods to the point of having a VomitIndiscretionShot.

** "I need to know that I have done '''[[SuddenlyShouting ONE THING RIGHT WITH MY LIFE!]]'''" Even its usage in the trailer alone had viewers admitting to tearing up, especially because of how ''real'' the sadness appears [[FridgeHorror when taking into account]] the inner and external turmoil Brendan Fraser dealt with.

* AngstAversion: Although this film has been praised, there are still many people who found this film too depressing to watch, with Charlie's depression and Ellie's abuse being the biggest contributors.

* MemeticMutation: Only frame in the movie [[labelnote:Explanation]]For whatever reason, news outlets, journalist sites, and even the film's theatrical poster seem to only use [[https://static01.nyt.com/images/2022/12/09/multimedia/08whale1-1-fefc/08whale1-1-fefc-superJumbo.jpg this specific frame]], which led to people semi-ironically asking if that is the ''only'' frame in the whole film. This led to jokes that either the movie is absurdly short or is [[OverlyLongGag a hour and 50 minutes of that frame alone]], [[https://twitter.com/mailprivilege/status/1636949614413611009?s=20 such as this for the latter interpretation]].[[/labelnote]]

** While Creator/BrendanFraser and Creator/HongChau scored Academy Award nominations for their performances ( the former won best actor) , Creator/SadieSink did not.

** "I need to know that I have done '''[[SuddenlyShouting ONE RIGHT THING WITH MY LIFE!]]'''" Even its usage in the trailer alone had viewers admitting to tearing up, especially because of how ''real'' the sadness appears [[FridgeHorror when taking into account]] the inner and external turmoil Brendan Fraser dealt with.

** While Creator/BrendanFraser and Creator/HongChau scored Academy Award nominations for their performances, Creator/SadieSink did not.

** Charlie, who lost his partner Alan to suicide and has been estranged from his family for years, with his daughter openly harassing him at every opportunity.

* NauseaFuel: Charlie binge eating on pizza and other unhealthy foods to the point of having a VomitIndiscretionShot.

** Charlie, who lost his partner Alan from suicide, has been estranged from his family for years, and has a troubled relationship with his stern but well-intentioned nurse.

** Mary as well. She's not exactly a pleasant person to be around and drinks excessively, but she did have to deal with a man who married her just to have a child, and then left her for another man. She's also been the victim of cyber bullying from her own daughter, and sounds so hopeless as she describes how evil she thinks her daughter is.

* SugarWiki/MomentOfAwesome: After dealing with so much obstacles affecting his career and personal life, Creator/BrendanFraser not only returned to film with [[SugarWiki/HeReallyCanAct a critically acclaimed lead performance]] but managed to take home the 2023 Academy Award for Best Actor for this movie.

** "I need to know that I have done '''[[SuddenlyShouting ONE RIGHT THING WITH MY LIFE!]]'''"

** "I need to know that I have done '''[[SuddenlyShouting ONE THING RIGHT WITH MY LIFE!]]'''"

** "I need to know that I did '''[[SuddenlyShouting ONE THING RIGHT WITH MY LIFE!]]'''"

** "I need to know that I have done '''[[SuddenlyShouting ONE THING RIGHT WITH MY LIFE!]]'''"

* SugarWiki/FunnyMoments:
** Liz threatens to stab Charlie for apologizing so much, to which he replies [[SelfDeprecation "Go ahead. What's it gonna do? My internal organs are two feet in at least."]] She then jokingly jabs her hand into his stomach, which tickles him to the point of laughter.
** Before looking up his blood pressure, Charlie checks his drawers, only to find them full of junk food. Also doubles as BlackComedy, [[SelfHarm knowing what's next]].
** Liz gives Charlie a sub which he begins chowing down on. [[spoiler:He begins choking on it... to which she jumps to action and gives him a Heimlich. Rather than checking on him to see if he's okay, she chews him out for not chewing his food "like a normal human being".]] While the circumstances behind this are ''very'' depressing, the moment itself does make for a good moment of BlackComedy.

* SugarWiki/HeartwarmingMoments:
** [[spoiler:Thomas receiving forgiveness towards his family for his actions, regardless of [[AmbiguousSituation the intentions Ellie may or may not have had when exposing him]].]]
** [[spoiler:Charlie walking towards Ellie when the latter reads her ''Literature/MobyDick'' essay to him, to which Ellie finally seems to reconcile with Charlie. And right before he passes, Charlie happily reminisces about his time at the beach with her as a child.]]
** When one thinks of it, the movie's BittersweetEnding is surprisingly far more on the "sweet" end. [[spoiler:Thomas has reconciled with his family and has earned their forgiveness. Ellie has a more clear understanding of who her father is and his struggles, but also how gifted he is at writing and his passion. And while it's not made explicitly clear Charlie dies or not... even if he does die, he proved himself to his daughter, succeeded in his goal of reconciling with her, and above all else, is finally TogetherInDeath with his boyfriend Alan. Additionally, he clearly didn't go to his grave with resentment, his outlook towards people being positive to the end.]]

* SugarWiki/CrowningMomentOfAwesome: After dealing with so much obstacles affecting his career and personal life, Creator/BrendanFraser not only returned to film with [[SugarWiki/HeReallyCanAct a critically acclaimed lead performance]] but managed to take home the 2023 Academy Award for Best Actor for this movie.

* JerkassWoobie: Ellie. She may be unpleasant, possibly sociopathic, but she was abandoned by Charlie at a very young age and has struggled ever since, feeling undeserving of love.

** Speaking of [[spoiler:Thomas and family's forgiveness]], were they being genuine? Or were they trying to [[spoiler:lure him back home in order to exact punishment on him?]]

* HarsherInHindsight: Charlie firmly tells Thomas that he's "read every bit of writing New Life has published" when the latter tries to preach to him. At first, it seems like he's just dealt with a lot of missionaries before. However, the movie later reveals that New Life doesn't have any missionaries and Charlie's late boyfriend, Alan, was a member before he died by suicide. It's likely that Charlie read everything New Life published in an attempt to understand why Alan took his own life.

* JustHereForGodzilla: The main reason why the film was highly anticipated was because it was Brendan Fraser's first leading role in a theatrical film in more than a decade.
* MemeticMutation: Only frame in the movie [[labelnote:Explanation]]For whatever reason, news outlets, journalist sites, and even the main page for the film [[Website/TVTropes on our site]] seem to only use [[https://static01.nyt.com/images/2022/12/09/multimedia/08whale1-1-fefc/08whale1-1-fefc-superJumbo.jpg this specific frame]], which led to people semi-ironically asking if that is the ''only'' frame in the whole film. This led to jokes that either the movie is absurdly short or is [[OverlyLongGag a hour and 50 minutes of that frame alone]], [[https://twitter.com/mailprivilege/status/1636949614413611009?s=20 such as this for the latter interpretation]].[[/labelnote]]

** "[[WhamLine I need to know that I have done]] '''[[SuddenlyShouting ONE THING RIGHT WITH MY LIFE!]]'''"

** "I need to know that I have done '''[[SuddenlyShouting ONE THING RIGHT WITH MY LIFE!]]'''"