I saw Mother in a theater and came away only partially impressed. Although I appreciated the witty script, I thought director/writer Albert Brooks missed making his point about the complicated relationships between mothers and sons. However, I've warmed to this film after seeing it over and over on cable. The dialogue is great, and the perpetually whining Brooks and a surprisingly droll Debbie Reynolds are a sharp comedy team. For example, I love the way Brooks wags a banana at Reynolds when she questions why women leave him. And when Brooks and his brother fight over Reynolds like she was their mistress. The ending is a little too pat -- I don't think sons ever resolve their conflicts with their mothers, or even understand them. But it's Brooks' best film after Lost in America. And that ain't bad.
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GEM-2022 February 2000This is a great movie that is a lot of fun. I really liked Debbie Reynolds, who I think deserved a Best Supporting Actress award for her performance. Her comic timing is perfect.
Albert Brooks is great too. He reminds somewhat of Woody Allen, playing a neurotic science fiction writer who gets writer's block. He moves back home with Mom (Reynolds) in hopes of breaking the block.
The interplay between these two great actors is marvelous, thanks to a wonderful Brooks script.
One other comment I will add is that there is practically nothing in this movie to find offensive or objectionable. Good, clean fun, with many laughs.
Brooks more recent movie, "The Muse" featured a similar theme of a writer whose talents are temporarily stifled. I wonder if there is any autobiography to Brooks' scripts, but I am sure there is not, for his stories are often full of wonderfully funny moments.
I really recommend "Mother". -
Movieguy-476 August 1999With "Mother," director Albert Brooks has given us another great comedic filmmaking triumph. The acting is terrific, the laughs come at a fairly steady pace, and, like all great comedies, it has an inner meaning underneath all the smirks and giggles.
Brooks co-wrote, directed, and starred in this one, playing the somewhat unsuccessful science-fiction novelist John Henderson (he's contstantly being compared to Stephen King) who blames his problems with women on Mom. Therefore, he decides to move back in with Mother (played by Debbie Reynolds, whom Brooks somehow lured back to the big screen) and figure out their problems. What ensues might have been sitcom-style laughs, but Brooks and co-writer Monica Johnson know better than that; the laughs are pretty fast-paced but their well-observed ranting as opposed to tasteless wisecracks.
The keys to the film, however, are Brooks and Reynolds, the latter which brings a special emotional undertone to a role that would have been played as all sap by any other actress. Check "Mother" out; if you want smart, funny humor and even a tad bit of drama, you should enjoy it immensely. Rated PG-13. 104 minutes. 8 out of 10. -
paul2001sw-19 December 2004Albert's Brooks' comedy 'Mother' is frequently hilarious, with some cracking dialogue, and highly perceptive: few viewers will fail to recognise some aspect of their relationships with their family in its portrayal of its eponymous central character and her middle-aged son, played by Brooks himself. But in taking their interaction as its principal subject, instead of using it as a backdrop to a wider story, the film chooses to pursue limited ambitions, and there's a level of contrivance necessary to support this narrow focus: while, at a micro-level, the film is perfect, the overall plot makes less sense, and the ending is a little pat. Not a great film; but one guaranteed to make you smile.
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vertigo_1427 July 2004I 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. -
capricorn92 July 2007Miss Reynolds came out of "semi-retirement", as she likes to say, to star in this Albert Brooks comedy. She is amazing - so underplayed - so deadpan - so funny. Brooks on the other hand can be a whiner at times and you almost want to slap him for what he says to his mother, but like a good mom, she takes it and realizes he loves her deep down and doesn't mean it. The two together in their scenes are right on with pacing and the snappy dialog Brooks has written. Rob Morrow is a hoot as the jealous brother who also wants the mother's attention as well as a young Lisa Kudrow in a small, but very funny, part of a girl he goes out with after his divorce. For anyone with a mother, this film is a must!
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kristian38 March 2000Sometimes, from the endless stream of average movies, comes a gem, this is one such film.
Albert Brooks is impossible to beat if you're looking for character driven comedy, and "Mother" comes second only to another Brooks film, "Modern Romance".
Here we have the story of a science-fiction writer, blocked and fresh from his second divorce. It's the break up with this woman that prompts John Henderson (Brooks) to move back in with his mother, in the hope that solving his life-long problems with her will lead to the solution of his myriad of other problems.
The comedy is brilliant throughout. The scene in his mother's kitchen (food talk) is a contender for the finest comedy scene ever written. And the small things, that other writers neglect, are what make this film a standout: One example is the scene when Brooks' character is attempting to make a start on his next novel; it's truly hilarious, and any telling of its humour hear wouldn't convey the true laugh-out-loud quality of the moment, so just watch the movie.
Albert Brooks and Debbie Reynolds both give perfect performances as the lost and insecure son, and the unsure and uninterested mother, and their chemistry is unique.
An absolute comedy gem, and my second favourite film of all time; second only to "Modern Romance" -
Tunica12 March 2000One of Albert Brooks' best efforts. I was impressed by Debbie Reynolds, who proves she is more than able to take on roles like the ones the older Ruth Gordon once excelled in. Rating: 8. Will appeal to males more than females, perhaps because it hits a bit close to home.
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jdollak4 May 2005Mother is a beautiful movie, in that it gives us an insight to our relationships with our parents. While I am not female, things might be a little different for daughters, but as a son, I can see the same behaviors that have cultivated in my mother. And she can see it in her mother. My girlfriend can see it in her mother, and her grandmother. While the comedy is a little dry, and actually slightly confusing on the initial viewing, if you return to the movie after a year or so, it will make complete sense. It only gets better after that. I can understand being underwhelmed by this movie the first time. Please don't judge it too harshly. I know I would have rated it a 6 or so when I first saw it, and now I've given it a 9. Maybe I should explain why it doesn't get a 10. There are a few sequences that should have been altered. I found the date scene to be a little too long, and the Mrs Robinson sequence should have been almost completely eliminated. It is a painfully bad gag, and the humor of it is something that can only be appreciated by those of a certain mind set. Don't worry, I'm not insulting you if you like it.
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ccthemovieman-131 October 2006I enjoy Albert Brooks' dry sense of humor so much I almost made this video a "keeper," but it fell just short of that status. His unique brand of humor, ultra-sarcastic at times but very low-key, is refreshing at times.
Although this film is almost all talk and there are some lulls, it still maintained my interest. What I didn't like was the worldly outlook on things, a little too much pro-feminist ending and about seven usages of the Lord's name in vain. The latter is too much for a comedy, especially co-starring a classic-era actress in Debbie Reynolds.
I enjoyed seeing the town of Sausolito again. I had done some sightseeing in the San Francisco area the year before I saw this film and was very impressed with Sausolito.
Outside of those Bay-area scenes and Brooks' humor, however, the movie is nothing special. It's worth a rental. -
gce230816 August 2016OMG. How did some people rate this movie highly? This old (1996) movie was shown on daytime TV today and since I'm home sick with flu I watched it. Maybe being sick has made me especially cranky, but I found this movie to be one of the most annoying things I have ever watched. It was nothing but a constant, unrelenting whinge-fest. And Albert Brooks - aaaaargh!! Just shut the hell up, ffs!!! I wanted to shout those words at the screen several times throughout. I kept hoping it would get better but it just got worse. And Debbie Reynolds, whom I have always liked in just about anything she has been in, had none of her usual warmth - in fact I found her character quite cold and, oddly, even a bit cruel. Maybe that's why the 2 sons were both so whiny. OK, I think I've said enough so I'll just finish by saying, please, please, please don't bother watching this pile of crap, find something else to do because it will just leave you feeling annoyed. A real dud of a movie.
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adam b1 February 1999This is one of those movies that's like watching a play on a movie screen, and what an enjoyable play it is. Through deft writing and flawless acting, this film manages to capture the subtle psychological warfare taking place b/t Brooks and his family. Also to his credit, the Brooks character is far from flawless or blameless that the relationship has become such an emotional wasteland. A gentle giant.
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secondtake30 September 2013Mother (1996)
A mildly amusing and warm movie about a middle-aged man who returns to his old house to live with his mom. A jealous and over-achieving brother gets in the way a little, to some light comedy, but mostly it's the growing awkward relationship of mother and son that makes the movie.
In a way it is Debbie Reynolds (as the mother) and not Albert Brooks (as the main son) who dominates, and lifts it up a little. She's come a long way from the breakthrough 45 years earlier of "Singin' in the Rain" and other 1950s classics, and she still has a kind of innocent warmth on screen. In fact, you expect at first she might be a monster or a manipulator, but she's oddly straight forward and exactly the therapy the son needs.
There is a lack of real conflict to the plot, however. And any butting of heads or the big twist in the story (relating to their ambitions as authors) seem contrived. An opportunity was lost (or avoided) in trying to make something gel in dramatic, human terms. But it's all in an effort for some easygoing laughs, and some irony.
Faint praise here isn't mean to quite condemn the movie, but it's true, this isn't ever going to be a great one, nor a flop. It might be attractive mostly to people who like either of the main actors.
There is a weird (and fun) re-writing of the Paul Simon song "Mrs. Robinson" (and sung by some very good Simon and Garfunkel imitators). Add that to the Alfa Romeo driven by Brooks, and there is a slight reference to "The Graduate" built in, though I'm not sure it really is meant to go very far.
But then, nothing in this movie goes very far. Just perhaps for some far enough. -
Brooks, whose gentle and witty observations on life and people have given us some pretty decent movies in the past ("Defending Your Life", "Lost in America", etc.) here falls flat. This totally unbelievable premise - a twice-divorced man moving back in with his mother to get at the "Freudian root" of his problems - is not made any more credible by the lame script that follows. One keeps waiting expectantly for humor in the interplay between John and his mother; however, nothing funny arises from the tediously lame dialogue of their scenes together. None of the characters is engaging or funny. Mom is critical, insensitive, and ditzy; John is whiny and neurotic. Their unlikability, however, is eclipsed by John's brother (Rob Morrow), whose every scene raises 'obnoxiously annoying' to an art form. There is nothing funny in this movie; skip it.
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I wholeheartedly second the motions of all the above commentators who have raved about this movie, and can only scratch my head in puzzlement at those few who don't seem to get it. Debbie Reynolds gives the performance of her career and everyone else is equally brilliant. Your above commentators who have seen the movie many times and to whom the mother's character strikes home offer good testimony for the movie's emotional authenticity. If you've ever been a member of a family don't miss it!
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merklekranz18 July 2010Debbie 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
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btm115 September 2009Albert Brooks seems to have made a career out of writing, and starring in, successful small films about a man (played by Brooks) who has some self-esteem issues. By small films I mean they can be shot in any city, don't require special effects, and use very good actors but ones who are not fantastically expensive at the time of the filming. I usually find his movies enjoyable, but not "rolling in the aisles with laughter" funny. (Very few shows cause me to laugh out loud, and fewer crack me up the way some of Alec Guinness' classic comedies did.)
This film is no exception. It is not the funniest or wittiest film of our time, but it is funny, witty, insightful and points out the humor of the human condition. In this case the story is about a writer (Brooks) who has recently been divorced, again, and is trying to understand why his marriages, and relationships with women in general, have been so unsuccessful. He realizes that the common factor in his marriages is that he marries women who are not supportive of him; they don't see him as a successful author. He comes up with the idea that his problem with women stem from his relationship with his mother (played delightfully by multi-talented Debbie Reynolds), who always finds fault with him but dotes on his younger brother (played by Rob Morrow), a sports agent with a wife and children. So he decides to try an experiment of moving back into his old room in his mother's house to try to learn more about why they interact the way they do.
Woody Allen also writes comedies that are strong on character, but Allen seems to me to be on a higher tier, with more complex characters and deeper situations. I don't see Brooks as the West Coast Allen. -
shevek3311 October 2001For me, this is one of the best films out of Hollywood in the 90's. A fine and believable plot, great dialogue, perfect comic timing, amazing acting (and an excellent choice of cast) -- what more can I say? Even the musical score and the cinematography were right on.
Why aren't there more films like this coming out of Hollywood? Don't they think people have brains and can understand the subtleties of human relationships?
Kudos to Albert Brooks and Monica Johnson. -
vincentlynch-moonoi6 November 2018If you don't mind 84 minutes of tedium of a mother and son constantly picking at each other, to get to 20 minutes of depth, then this film is for you. It was hard for me to stick with this film...and the only reason that I did was that I wanted to see Debbie Reynolds in one of her later films (although this was not as late in her career as I had thought).
For starters. with several of Albert Brooks' films my impression has been that he's sometimes boringly brilliant. With this film, the balance shifted more toward the boring part than the brilliant part.
The relationship between these sons and their mother made my family look a lot less dysfunctional. The real missed opportunity here was that so much could have been done with the mother's lost writing talents, in terms of the mother and son bonding. But no...too much itching (and I cleaned that up) at each other for too long a period of time. And I found had virtually no sympathy for the son's character...which is probably not what Brooks had in mind.
Albert Brooks is fine as an unlikable son. Debbie Reynolds is fine as an unlikable mother. Rob Morrow is fine as the unlikable other son.. And that summarizes the biggest problem with this film...there's no one to really like. They all deserve each other. And the viewer doesn't deserve to be this bored. -
Petey-1024 November 2006Albert Brooks plays the son.Debbie Reynolds plays the mother.The son, science fiction writer John Henderson, moves back home to his mother Beatrice Henderson.And the reason this grown up man does so is because he feels like he should do so after two failed marriages.He thinks after that experience his chances for a successful relationship would be better.Albert Brooks directed, wrote and acted the lead in Mother (1996).He's terrific in the movie as is the legendary Debbie Reynolds playing the mother.Rob Morrow, who's still very well remembered as Dr.Joel Fleischman in the great 90's series Northern Exposure, does very good job in this movie playing the brother Jeff.Lisa Kudrow of Friends does a small part as Linda, the blonde John goes out with.She's just wonderful.Paul Collins is brilliant playing the Lawyer.John C. McGinley plays Carl in the movie and he's very good.Mother is a terrific movie that combines comedy and drama in a fine way.It's mighty funny when John makes his room look like exactly the same it looked like when he originally lived there.I think we all should take trips to the past every now and then.Maybe we learn something about ourselves.
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mark.waltz10 March 2017When 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. -
bregund22 June 2022I always wanted to see this film because I like Albert Brooks and I finally got the chance to see it tonight. I expected much better. The pacing is off, and what should be funny is instead lifeless. The long single take with Lisa Kudrow in the restaurant is technologically impressive but there is no chemistry between the actors, not even for what is supposed to be a mediocre date, and the dialogue is flat and uninteresting. Rob Morrow demonstrates quite effectively why he never became an a-lister...what is he doing with his hands? This is one of the most uncomfortable films I've ever seen, and if it was intentional, it doesn't work. Disappointing.
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lasherxl14 September 2000I think Albert Brooks did a wonderful job with this film. Portraying all the odd little things that happen in our relationships with our respective mothers. We all have those moments where we look at her and can't believe that we were spawned from her loins. The ways that at any age, she can reduce us to about 9 years old and completely humiliate and embarrass the hell out us at a moments notice.
Debbie Reynolds is magnificent as the mother, she has that maniacal sense of motherly perfection that all of our mother's, at the very least, attempt to portray.
Rob Morrow is also hilarious as the jealous younger brother. Every scene between him and Brooks is a laugh riot, because they both seem to regress to their younger days when they would fight over toys and the remote control.
All in all, I think it is something everyone can relate to on some sense. We have all had one or two of these moments with our mothers and it is more than likely they will happen again. -
Debbie Reynolds certainly hit all her marks on this one. She played very well a character that is much deeper than she seems. Albert Brooks did his usual thing with the whiny, needy, irritating character. Brooks is sort of Middle America's Woody Allen. His films are often slow-moving studies of characters filled with angst, forever searching for some elusive fulfillment. Lisa Kudrow was cute in her small part. The overall premise is a little weird, and the ending is just a bit too pat. The Simon and Garfunkle parody was probably cute to some people, but I found it grating. Worth catching on cable, but probably not a rental fee. I'm glad I saw it, but I'll be taping over it. Grade: C
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flickershows23 June 2004Albert 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'.