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The first few scenes introduce a lot of different people, and I found myself somewhat bewildered for the first twenty minutes or so. It wasn’t clear who, if anyone, was the ‘main’ character, nor what the plot was about. It was evidently all pointing towards a celebration of the US holiday ‘Mother’s Day’ (which is in May) and that turns out to be the tentative thread connecting the various groups.
Jennifer Aniston is excellent as Sandy, a woman with two sons. She is divorced from Henry, but they’re still quite amicable… until she learns that he’s married a much younger woman. And this younger woman is surprisingly good with their sons. Her jealousy and anger are sometimes a tad exaggerated, but this film isn't intended to be taken too seriously.
Sandy’s friend Jesse (Kate Hudson) is married to Russell (Aasif Mandvi) and they have a son called Tanner. Sandy’s parents are very bigoted and protective, and have no idea that she is married; they were horrified when they heard she was dating an Indian, and she pretended that they broke up. They also don’t know that their other daughter, Gabi, is married to a woman.
Then there’s Kristin (Britt Robertson) who lives with Zack (Jack Whitehall). They have a daughter, Katie, and Zack would love to get married. But she’s quite insecure, in part because she was adopted.
There’s also Miranda (Julia Roberts) who is a larger-than-life model promoting jewellery - I assume she was meant to be a caricature, as everything she does is exaggerated, even towards the end when it’s clear how she fits in with others in the cast.
Oh, and there’s Bradley (Jason Sudeikis). He was widowed a year before the story starts, and has two teenage daughters. They’re all struggling in different ways to come to terms with their tragic loss. Bradley wants to ignore Mother’s Day completely.
In addition to these (and I had to check an online synopsis to remember any of their names) there are a large number of friends, supporters etc, and of course the various offspring. Gradually I realised that there were three or four different stories happening alongside each other, but I never entirely sorted out who was whom. There are some quite moving moments, and some humour - this is, after all, technically a romantic comedy.
There are some well-done scenes scattered throughout, and we appreciated those. I liked Zack’s attempts at being a stand-up comic, particularly when he had to take his daughter on stage with him. I quite liked the scenes where Sandy messes up one thing after another; it’s exaggerated, but well done. And there’s a very nice scene on the morning of Mother’s Day, when she realises how much her sons love her.
I also liked the scenes involving Hector Elizondo, who is Miranda’s agent. It took me half the film to realise why I recognised the actor, and suddenly remembered that he had a big role in the ‘Princess Diaries’ films. I knew I recognised the actor playing Zach, as well. But I could not recall where I had seen him previously. Eventually I looked him up, and realised that he was in the excellent series ‘Good Omens’, which we watched earlier in the year.
The rating of ‘Mother’s Day’ is 12, which I think is about right, although there’s nothing overtly sexual, and no nudity. There are plenty of innuendos, but they would mostly go over the heads of younger children. There’s no violence or gore, and only mild swearing with one instance of ‘strong’ language. But the subject matter - divorce, adoption, parental loss, bigoted parents etc - isn’t really appropriate to young children. So I don’t think I would show this to anyone younger than about fifteen.
There are some gag reels and deleted scenes as ‘extras’ on our DVD, but no documentary about the film.
It made a good light evening’s entertainment, and no doubt we’ll watch it again in another decade or so. But it’s not exactly a memorable film.
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