Mother's Day

This review may contain spoilers!

This film has an incredible cast that did a great job with a less than perfect script. I would give Mother's Day a 4.5/10.

This was a really charming film with a multitude of individual storylines to get invested in, I found this to be a pretty interesting style because it meant the film was relatively well paced. I thought there was a great sense of humour throughout the film, but when the film isn't aiming to be funny it can land some pretty impactful emotional moments when it wants to. The soundtrack for this film works pretty well with the general tone, I thought Jason Sudeikis singing "The Humpty Dance" was a really fun use of musical comedy.

Jennifer Aniston, who played Sandy, did a great job of playing quite an erratic character; I think Aniston made a character who could have been very hard to like easier to connect with and quite funny. Timothy Olyphant, who played Henry, brought out the qualities of his character that made his character dislikeable quite easily; what spoke for Olyphant's character is that he displays a more charismatic and caring side as the film progresses. Shay Mitchell, who played Tina, was immediately quite likable and full of energy in this film; Mitchell refused to be written off as the 'young mistress' and molded a memorable character. Hector Elizondo, who played Lance Wallace, gave some great lines in this film; he built a strong relationship with Roberts and really brought some of the more inspirational messages behind this film to the forefront. Margo Martindale, who played Flo, is one of the few actresses capable of pulling off the character development her role went through; Martindale is fantastic at playing these kind and compassionate roles. Aasif Mandvi, who played Russell, had some great chemistry with Hudson in this film; I loved his comedic introduction to Jesse's parents. Sarah Chalke, who played Gabi, really bounced off Hudson well; she felt like a very natural choice to play her sister. Cameron Esposito, who played Max, had a lot of chemistry with Chalke in this film; I really appreciated this lesbian subplot it was very well done. Jason Sudeikis, who played Bradley, was a bit of a surprise for me in this film; I never expected to see Sudeikis do such great work with a dramatic role. Ella Anderson, who played Vicky, was one of the funniest performers in the film; I loved the scene between her, Sudeikis and the football ref.

However the best performance came from Kate Hudson, who played Jesse.Hudson gave a very laidback performance and I feel like that's exactly what this film needed, her character was able to make comedic asides and fun exchanges with other actors quite naturally. In saying that I liked her storyline about being in a bi-racial relationship; she portrayed her character's emotions on the matter extremely passionately.

This film didn't always seem to know what it was trying to say; for example the racist parents are still racist by the end of the film and Julia Roberts turns her daughter's wedding into a media circus. There's no real moral compass behind this film, everything feels up in the air and nothing concludes in a manner that's very satisfying. The film also failed to create convincing connections between characters, most of the time it stretched belief by saying characters knew each other through a flimsy excuse. The cinematography for this film wasn't very good, the framing was quite basic and nothing showed much creativity. The editing for this film was incredibly jarring, sometimes a scene would cut from one storyline to another at a really awkward moment.

Caleb Brown and Brandon Spink, who played Mikey and Peter respectively, weren't very funny in this film; they also shared a chemistry that felt a bit awkward. Julia Roberts, who played Miranda, presented a character who was very artificial; she became a hard character to connect with in this film and you never really empathised with her. Adreana Gonzalez, who played Publicist Inez, didn't have very much screen presence in this film; a big reason for this was because she had very little chemistry with Roberts and Elizondo. Robert Pine, who played Earl, felt like he was trying a little too hard to be funny in this film; ultimately his role was the weak link of the parents from Texas storyline. Owen Vaccaro, who played Charlie, wasn't a very good child actor; Vaccaro was quite a forgettable performer in this film. Anoush NeVart, who played Sonia, was a funny performer who could've been interesting with a little more screen time; her sudden relationship with Martindale wasn't very believable. Jessi Case, who played Rachel, didn't have much chemistry with Sudeikis in this film; her outbursts and awkward interactions with other performers made her character extremely hard to understand. Loni Love, who played Kimberly, was given far too much screen time in this film; I didn't understand why her role kept barging so forcefully into the lives of these other characters. Grayson Russell, who played Tommy, was pitched as a bit of a heart-throb in this film; I mean look him up on IMDB and you'll see why I found that so hard to buy. Britt Robertson, who played Kristin, started out as quite an aspiring actress but her roles seem to be getting progressively worse; Robertson's flippant role in this film isn't at all grounded. Jack Whitehall, who played Zack, has some great moments when he's doing stand up but doesn't have the acting talent to play a dramatic role; Whitehall has absolutely no chemistry at all with Robertson in this film which makes for a boring storyline. Gary Friedkin, who played Shorty, was a little person being the butt of little people jokes; I never get the need for roles like this.