I will begin by apologizing for using the word “infamous” incorrectly in my last column when describing Rudyard Kipling’s The Jungle Book. Infamous means something bad, and The Jungle Book is anything but that. Kipling’s book is famous, and the film is destined to be a classic. I encourage you to see it, movie fan or not, you will be glad you did.
I took a few minutes to research a list of 45 summer releases as we head into the “blockbuster” season. Too much chaff, very little wheat, but there were a couple that looked interesting, including the return of Matt Damon as Jason Bourne, and a new Tarzan epic that looked good. Money Monster with George Clooney will be out soon and looks like it might be worth seeing. I expect to be reporting on those three, not sure what else will be worthwhile, probably a few surprises in there somewhere. Let’s hope so.
Mother’s Day
Entertainment Rating: Zero stars
Rating: PG-13, a few intermittent profanities
Possible Oscar Nominations: None
Which brings me to this week’s film Mother’s Day. A careful scan of our nearby theater listings offered little that we haven’t already reported on, the remainder most of us wouldn’t walk across the street to see. (Apologies to those who disagree). That left Mother’s Day as the only new release that looked remotely viable for a column. Boy, was I WRONG. This is the third time in eight years of writing reviews that I have awarded “0” stars to a film. The other two I walked out on, as I probably should have done with this one.
To begin with there were only ten people in the theatre for the (local) opening of this movie, had I walked out they would have lost ten percent of their audience! A few of us stormed the box office afterward seeking a refund, but alas you know how that went. In my opinion, based on word of mouth, that may be the biggest crowd they draw.
With a great cast including Jennifer Aniston, Kate Hudson, Julia Roberts, Jason Sudelkis, Timothy Olyphant, Jennifer Garner and Hector Elizondo among others, and directed by Garry Marshall, you would expect better results. I’m not sure if the fault lies with the producers, (of which there were 30, believe it or not), the script writers who were probably in a tavern somewhere when they wrote it, or the film editors who tried to piece together a bunch of meaningless scenes into a story line. They all failed miserably.
The story is about a group of mothers, some single, some divorced, some lesbian, some estranged, and one who was adopted and has never met her mom. Mother’s Day is approaching and well, each one of our heroines has their “Waterloo” one way or another. The story line is so predictable you could win a ton of money betting on the outcome of each Mom’s story line. Since you most likely won’t be going to see this one, I can tell you everyone has a happy ending of one sort or another, not that you would care the least bit if you were there to see it. The writers try to stuff some redeeming value into the last ten minutes or so, which did nothing to improve this viewer’s impression or feeling about this lemon.
