MOTHER
A film review by Steve Rhodes
Copyright 1997 Steve Rhodes
RATING (0 TO ****): ***
"I like my cheese in ounces," middle-aged son John Henderson tells his mother Beatrice. "When they start weighing as much as a Fiat, I stop being interested." She has just taken an enormous and ancient mound of cheese from her freezer so she can slice him a piece with her electric carving knife. After gagging on this and other petrified pieces of food, he tells her in disgust, "You're running a food museum here."
The son, beautifully played for deadpan laughter and insight by Albert Brooks, has gone back to live with his mother, done with sweetness and determination by Debbie Reynolds. She has the delightful look of a geriatric pixie. As the press kit information says, the movie MOTHER is her first movie starring role in 27 years.
After two divorces and other failed relationships, John has decided he needs to conduct an "experiment." He figures that his lack of success with women must stem from the problems he has always had with his mother. If he can just go back and stay in his recreated bedroom, perhaps he will discover the root cause of his distress. That is, if he and his mother don't kill each other first.
The two seem as different as night and day. He loves to indulge himself whereas she will buy only the cheapest items to save money. She does not consume them immediately, but instead squirrels them away for some later date. When he suggests that they splurge together on some 91-cent extravagance from the grocery store, she is aghast.
Albert Brooks is one of the best comedic actors, directors and writers in America today. His brilliance in this picture shines through as he does all three roles with grace and perfect timing. Just as in his hilarious LOST IN AMERICA, his writing collaborator is Monica Johnson. Together they fashion an intelligent script so funny that a few times I laughed so hard that I almost made myself sick. I understand now why Janet Maslin of the New York Times had MOTHER on her best ten of the year list. Although it did not make mine, it is a comedic gem.
What I like even better than the humor in the story is the freshness of the character of the mother. Usually, strong mothers like Beatrice dissolve into Jewish mother cliches with lots of overbearing lines delivered with heavy overacting. This is not at all the character that Reynolds gives us. Reynolds's characterization of a mother is a senior citizen with a love interest, among others. "Dear, we're not intimate," she tells John about her friend Charles (Peter White). "We just have sex occasionally."
Beatrice is happily in control of her life so naturally she is sure she knows what her son needs: food, albeit cheap food, and plenty of it. This causes him to exclaim, "Stop. No more food. It's like FANTASIA."
John is a science fiction writer, but not a particularly successful one. His brother Jeff (Rob Morrow), however, is a wealthy sports agent. Jeff is also a "mama's boy," who obsesses about talking to his mother every day, and he hates the idea of sharing his mother now with John.
The movie is filled with great 60's style songs, but the best is the "Mrs. Robinson" song that plays as John drives up the coast to go to live with his mother. They have changed the words to match MOTHER's plot, but I will not reveal any of them. They are precious.
The biggest problem I had with the movie occurred 1:35 into the picture. I suddenly realized that the movie was about to end. I was upset. I had grown to like these people and did not want them to leave me.
Since I pride myself in warning my readers about shows that can prove troubling, let me do just the opposite with MOTHER. I want to allay your fears. The ads clearly and accurately reassure us that, "NO MOTHERS WERE HARMED DURING THE MAKING OF THIS MOTION PICTURE."
Some movies work best for certain audiences. I think this film has a wide appeal, but for those of us with mothers of Beatrice's age, it holds an extra fascination. My mother is not at all like Beatrice, but she has the same diminutive size and approximate age as Reynolds, so in the scenes with Beatrice just barely seeing over the steering wheel I got several extra chuckles.
Although I invited my wife to the press screening and she loved the movie too, I probably should have invited my mother instead. On the other hand, I still remember when I was twelve and invited my mother to this new Hitchcock film called PSYCHO. When the nude shower scene suddenly came up, I was really worried about what she would think of me for inviting her to see such as a show. It worked out fine, but I still remember my fear -- not of the scene, but of having lost face with someone I respected. Mothers are like that. Good ones and bad, they maintain an influence over your life forever.
MOTHER runs 1:45. It is rated PG-13 for the mature themes and some mild profanity. There is no sex, nudity, or violence. The show would be fine for kids say ten and up. I recommend this charming comedy to you and give it ***.
**** = One of the top few films of this or any year. A must see film. *** = Excellent show. Look for it. ** = Average movie. Kind of enjoyable. * = Poor show. Don't waste your money. 0 = One of the worst films of this or any year. Totally unbearable.
REVIEW WRITTEN ON: January 7, 1997
Opinions expressed are mine and not meant to reflect my employer's.
The review above was posted to the
rec.arts.movies.reviews newsgroup (de.rec.film.kritiken for German reviews).
The Internet Movie Database accepts no responsibility for the contents of the
review and has no editorial control. Unless stated otherwise, the copyright
belongs to the author.
Please direct comments/criticisms of the review to relevant newsgroups.
Broken URLs inthe reviews are the responsibility of the author.
The formatting of the review is likely to differ from the original due
to ASCII to HTML conversion.
Related links: index of all rec.arts.movies.reviews reviews