As soon as I saw the preview for the movie Mother’s Day, I knew I wanted to see it! After all, the movie stars some of my favorite comedic actresses, including Julia Roberts, Jennifer Aniston, and Kate Hudson, and also stars former Saturday Night Live funny man Jason Sudeikis.
Directed by Garry Marshall, who also directed one of my all time favorite chick flicks, Pretty Woman, Mother’s Day did not disappoint.
The film has a six degrees of separation theme, where it seems that most of the characters are somehow connected to one another even if they don’t necessarily realize it.
Aniston plays Sandy, a single divorcee and mother of two sons. While she and her ex-husband, played by the sexy Timothy Olyphant, have an amicable relationship, she struggles with the idea of her ex moving on. She’s not jealous of him having feelings for someone else, but worries about having to share her sons’ affection with another woman.
Hudson is cast in the role of Jesse, a mother who is hiding a huge secret from her parents and an equally huge, yet different secret from her husband. Her story line focuses on how important parental acceptance is even if someone is a grown up. Her sister Gabi, played by Scrubs actress Sarah Chalke, hides a completely different kind of secret from their parents, but her secret involves a lie that makes her significant other uncomfortable. The sisters’ secrets focus on the real life problems that some people, both males and females, face in society.
Roberts plays Miranda, a high-powered career woman who has no reason to celebrate Mother’s Day. Her haircut, incidentally, other than the color, looks just like the wig she wore in the beginning of Pretty Woman when her character Vivian covered her long, beautiful hair as she worked the streets as a prostitute. Roberts delivers the strongest performance in a scene that brought tears to my eyes.
Sudeikis delivers the most surprising performance as a widower trying to hold on to his wife’s memory while also trying to meet both of his daughters’ emotional needs. His entourage of female friends who are encouraging him to start dating again provide lighthearted and humorous moments to balance his sadness. While still making viewers laugh here and there as I expected Sudeikis would do, he also tugs at viewers’ heartstrings throughout his scenes.
Hector Elizondo plays the character Lance Wallace, who works with Julia Roberts’ character. It was touching to see Elizondo and Roberts work together again, just like the pair did in Pretty Woman when he played Barney Thompson, the concierge of the Beverly Wilshire Hotel, who guided Roberts’ character Vivian as she transitioned from a prostitute into a proper lady.
While other movie reviewers weren’t as kind in their reviews of Mother’s Day, my friend Amy, who attended the movie with me, also loved it just as much as I did. I heard her laughing frequently throughout the movie, and she told me at the end that she was annoyed with herself that she hadn’t thought to bring a tissue with her because she cried. Amy said, “I thought it was really good. I like how they interacted with one another, how you saw the different story lines paralleling each other, crisscrossing and coming together.” When asked if she would recommend it, she said, “Of course! I laughed. I cried. I did everything.”
The movie didn’t necessarily need to be called Mother’s Day because its plot would be just as enjoyable any other time of the year. If you like chick flicks, this movie is for you, and while it may not be a guys’ movie, I think it would make a great date night movie to watch together too. Happy Mother’s Day!
For movie times click here.
Genre: Comedy/Drama
Director: Garry Marshall
Actors: Jennifer Aniston, Kate Hudson, Julia Roberts, Jason Sudeikis, Shay Mitchell, Britt Robertson, Timothy Olyphant, Hector Elizondo
Rating: PG-13 for language and some suggestive material
Running Time: 1 hour 58 minutes
