Mother (1996)

Sorry, this movie sucks

I wanted to but couldn't!

Excellent adaptation.

Captivating movie !

When a middle aged man goes through a mid life crisis, what else is he going to do but return home to mother? In another one of his fun satirical pieces on life as he sees it, Brooks returns home to try to find himself through establishing a different kind of relationship with the woman who gave him birth. But there's a difference between mothering somebody under the age of 20 and being there for somebody over 40, and as I have found out in my own personal experience, sometimes going home for long periods of time, whether out of a financial need or to take care of someone on their own, can have a variety of effects on both parties.Being Debbie Reynolds' first leading role in two decades on screen, there was a lot of excitement from her large cult following, and she delivered the goods. She's basically a quiet woman, dignified yet set in her ways. She has a chunk of cheese in her refrigerator that son Albert Brooks tells her tastes like an old boot, and serves him the protective ice on the top of the sherbet which gives him another minor flaw to make fun of as he gets to know his mom all over again. They are very respectful to each other, and at times, the niceness becomes quietly deafening. They go shopping, and unknowingly treating him like a child causes Brooks to react in a way that brought up laughs on screen but in reflection, I could never imagine doing to my own mother.There will be mixed reactions to each of the incidents that occur in their hopefully temporary reunion, especially when Brooks learns that mom has a friend with benefits. I think that Brooks went above and beyond reality in his spoof of middle aged sons and their still vibrant widowed moms, and this is his view of that type of relationship that not many people will identify with. I had thought of sharing this with my own mother when I came home to stay with her through the winter after my father died, as knowing she was a fan of Ms. Reynolds' thought she might enjoy it. But considering the circumstances, I changed my mind, and put on "Molly Brown" instead. Debbie's "Mother" here is not of the June Cleaver/Carol Brady school of parenting, but indeed Debbie was certainly unforgettable playing this part, deserving all the accolades she received for the role.

Debbie Reynolds is terrific as the Mother who is part of Albert Brooks moving home experiment. Trying to understand his women problems leads the 40 year old, twice divorced, writer to conclude that answers lie in his old room. Though it is light weight in concept, there are many moments that anyone can easily relate to. "Mother" is not as uproariously funny as "Lost in America" or "Defending Your Life", but it is the misunderstandings between Mother and Son that eventually leads to bettering their relationship. This is one that the entire family can enjoy and relate to. ...................... Recommended - MERK

I normally don't like Albert Brooks comedies because his humor is subtle, and sometimes, so sarcastic that it seems to me, that he tries too hard. He often comes off like a gigantic dufus who's every character, is always the over-looked, but honest and quite nice guy (see Broadcast News). Here, he is once again, the same character. However, in watching this movie with my folks, I found it to be quite a funny little comedy about a grown man who tries to connect with his mother. Brooks plays John, a writer who is recently divorced. Suffering from writer's block, probably due to his recent 'problems,' he decides that he needs some sort of emotionally reinvigorating experience. One in which he is in search of "something," but he doesn't really know what it is. Sort of like, he'll know it when it happens.He goes to spend some time with his widowed mother, Beatrice, played by the lovely Debbie Reynolds. They seem like exact opposites, she is timid, and somewhat flaky. He is rather pushy, and often, sarcastic. She appears more provincial; he comes off as more modern. It doesn't seem like they're related at first, because they're so different. What might've started as a desire to find some inspriation to write by cooling off from a divorce, becomes a 360 drive to reconnect with his mother, and work out their innocuous differences in personality, outlook, humor, and so forth, until mother and son finally understand one another. This may not be clear to either intially that this will eventually be the ends to the vacation.Rob Morrow plays John's equally annoying brother, a "mama's boy" type who frequently contacts Beatrice, trying to get her to be more modern and everything else like John does, but at the same time, not trying so hard to force it on her, and also, not trying like John to resolve anything laden in their relationship that may be troubling them. Though, it seems to be suggested that there is a slight "Oedepis Complex." But, Rob Morrow is only a subplot, and kind of an aggravating character at that. Beatrice seems so pleasant, and so well...motherly. The strange reformations that John and his mother take on are quite amusing. The bit, for example, in the beginning when John first arrives at his mother's house, and she doesn't seem to have anything he likes to eat. Or, when they go to the mall together, and he tries to stop her from always feeling obligated to explain everything to strangers (like her son is a middle aged divorced man with writer's block). It's really cute. According to the trivia, Nancy Reagan was considered for Debbie Renynolds' role, which would've probably been played wonderfully by her. Some of things that Reynolds's (like the restaurant scene) is hilarious with the cursing and all of that as she becomes impatient with her son John's wanting to change her every moment. Basically, the whole movie is Albert Brooks and Debbie Reynolds. John McGinnley and Lisa Kudrow show up for a minute role as the best friend and blind date (respectively). It might be worth watching for older audiences. I watched it with my folks, and they really seemd to enjoy it (they usually don't like Albert Brooks movies, either). It's worth a try.

Albert Brooks has made a lot of money (and a couple of pretty good movies) by whining. He may not like being called the "West Coast Woody Allen", but these neurotics who keep returning to the same neurotic themes are certainly not worlds apart. I'm a big fan of the writer/director's 'Real Life' & 'Lost In America' and I expected his mid-life crisis mama's boy movie, 'Mother', would delight me in the same ways. Nah. Brooks is not very enjoyable this time and Debbie Reynolds (as the cold-fish title character) is merely acceptable.In a creaky contrivance, two-time divorcee John Henderson (Brooks) decides to move back in with his unenthused mom to solve his woman dilemma. If he can find out what's wrong with this screwed-up relationship, then he might be able to find Mrs. Right Enough To Marry. It's a curious theory and I wonder if Freudian shrinks in the audience kept themselves from falling over in Hamlet-like convulsions. Most of the film is stuffed with the grating, quirky bickering of two complainers who weren't as fascinating as they might have seemed on paper. They weren't even interesting enough to keep me from thinking about my grocery list.This comedy ended 30 minutes ago and I can't remember one funny joke. Brooks' script (with frequent collaborator, Monica Mcgowan Johnson) has Debbie Reynolds uttering a few dirty words and the filmmakers seems to think this can carry minutes of limp comedy at a stretch. Sure, there are no invented melodramas (unless you count the awkward scenes with Rob Morrow, as the fortunate son who clings to his madre like a total wuss) and the film could have been even more annoying. What we have is a flimsy, psycho-babble kvetchfest with ho-hum revelations and a plot resolution that seems incredibly obvious from the opening credits. 'Mother' is too much 'Muse', not enough...well, anything other than 'The Muse'.