All kinds of mothers in Mother’s Day
MOTHERS of all kinds get their due in Mother’s Day, a romantic comedy about everyone’s first love.
Director and producer Garry Marshall once again brings together an all-star cast — including Jennifer Aniston, Kate Hudson, Julia Roberts, Jason Sudeikis, and Britt Robertson — for his new film which weaves several fractured family relationships into a story line that ultimately intersects on the day that celebrates being a mom.
“I think no matter where you go in the world somebody knows what a mother is because they had one,” said Marshall, 81. “So, everyone has gone through it and you have to understand that your mother is the first one that loves you and you hope it lasts and sometimes it does and sometimes it doesn’t. My mother had a great influence on me and that is why I wanted to do this movie.”
Roberts, marking her fourth appearance in a Garry Marshall film, was the first star on board, agreeing to play Miranda, the queen of a home shopping network. Sleekly coiffed and impeccably turned out, Miranda has a secret that will be revealed by the end of the film.
Aniston plays recently divorced Sandy with two sons. She and her ex-husband, Henry (Timothy Olyphant), are on exceptionally good terms until he impulsively weds his much younger girlfriend and Sandy finds herself struggling with the idea that she’s replaceable. “It comes out of the blue,” says Aniston. “She suddenly has to share her children with their new stepmom. It’s a complete game changer when another person comes in as a co-parent to your children.”
Shay Mitchell, from the television series Pretty Little Liars, plays Henry’s new wife, Tina. Tina is young and naive, but her affection for both Henry and his children is authentic, says the actress. “She really does care so much for the kids and is trying genuinely to play the role of being their other mom. She doesn’t think Sandy will be upset at all. They’re going to work as a team and raise these kids as best they can.”
Hudson plays Jesse, a happily married mom who is estranged from her own mother. “Jesse and her sister Gabi cut off their parents because they have both made lives they know their parents wouldn’t approve of. Gabi is married to a woman. Jesse married an Indian man and has a child with him.” Hudson explains.
The film also introduces a “Mister Mom” Bradley (Sudeikis), the father of two girls who 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.
Robertson plays Kristin, a new mom who has never met her birth mother. Her British boyfriend Zack (Jack Whitehall) wants very much to marry her, but she’s not sure. Adopted as an infant, She fears that because she’s never known her birth mother, she doesn’t know what kind of woman she’s going to be. “I immediately said yes to this project,” Robertson recalls. “I just loved all the different storylines and the different kinds of relationships between mothers and children. I think everyone will find a character they can relate to.” — with a report from Reuters
Mother’s Day is thoroughly despised by the critics: it got only seven “fresh” reviews to 81 “rotten” on review aggregate site Rotten Tomatoes which described the film as “the cinematic equivalent of a last-minute gift that only underscores its embarrassing lack of effort.” “Mother’s Day seems more like a contractual commitment than a creative exercise,” is the view of the Toronto Sun’s Jim Slotek. “Atrociously written, begrudgingly acted, haphazardly assembled and never more backward than when it thinks it’s being progressive …,” writes Andrew Barker of Variety. Several of the reviewers echo variations of this theme: “A movie not even a mother could love” — Jon Frosch, Hollywood Reporter.
MTRCB Rating: PG
