Mother's Day: Movie Review

If you haven't deduced it by now, "Mother's Day" comes from the same guy and from the same mold of film's tagged with days of special occasions ("Valentine's Day" and "New Year's Eve"). Those films were more or less hit-or-miss with a penchant to force feed viewers with an interwoven tale that is light but trying to be deeper than it really is. While the films were fun to watch, the plots themselves left more to be desired. For "Mother's Day", this is still the same case and sadly, it sticks to the same formula too much and feels more of a cash grab more than anything else.

The film tells the interwoven tales of a group of "mothers" a week before the one day of the year when Mom comes first. Miranda (Julia Roberts) is the queen of a home shopping network. Sleekly coiffed and impeccably turned out, Miranda has a secret that will soon be revealed. The recently divorced Sandy (Jennifer Aniston) and her ex-husband, Henry (Timothy Olyphant), are on exceptionally good terms until he impulsively weds his much younger girlfriend. Sandy finds herself struggling with the idea that she’s replaceable. Jesse (Kate Hudson) is happily married but estranged from her own mother but when her parents decide to come to her house as a surprise, all hell break's loose. Finally, “Mister Mom” Bradley (Jason Sudeikis), the father of two girls is facing his first Mother’s Day without his wife, a Marine killed in combat. It has been almost a year since her passing and the kids are trying to move forward, but Bradley has only scratched the surface of his mourning.

We imagine the biggest question one would ask from "Mother's Day" is, "Is it a worthy gift for my mother on her special day?", sadly the answer is no. While the film turns out to be fun, funny and light-hearted, it fails to really make an impact in pretty much everything else. The worst culprit is its story. If you remember, it touts to be interwoven but it felt like it was forced into the technicality of the term rather than having any substance at all. Worse, it never really had any emotional oomph. As a film that's targeting the love between mother and child, we never really got that vibe from the film. Acting-wise, "Mother's Day" was good enough although you get a vibe that some of the actors were not into it. As the two other films before it, the film lacked depth, clarity and focus. Except for a few charming moments, "Mother's Day" feels more like a mediocre comedy than a tribute film fit for our moms.

Rating: 2 and a half reels





Why you should watch it:
- the film is light and had its fair share of funny moments

Why you shouldn't watch it:
- the story is insanely bad