The Bad Mother's Handbook

Bad Mother's Handbook is a sweet and well-paced movie that focuses on real-life issues. It is one of the best made-for-television movies that I have seen and perhaps the only one that I actively recommend to others.

Karen (Catherine Tate) is basically having what you would call a mid-life crisis. Her mother is turning senile and her daughter is behaving like most teenage daughters do. She's living her life straight out of "The Bad Mother's Handbook".

The title is half accurate, but it should also be "The Bad Daughter's Handbook". Mother and daughter are very selfish, rude and inconsiderate people. As the title suggests, they behave badly. So I guess I should have known what I was getting myself into, but this is only a drama, not a comedy. None of their "bad behaviour" played out for laughs. We were apparently supposed to care for these people. But the only people I cared for were the supporting characters that the mother and daughter treated badly. And they don't just treat other people badly, they treat each other badly. It's just a whole lot of unhappiness for a sense of self-importance and self-gain.

The other "rave" reviews praised Catherine Tate's performance and how good of a made-for-TV movie this is. Those points are accurate; Tate played the "bad mother" exceptionally well, and the film as a whole played out with much more emotion than most made-for-TV movies do. I just think the film should be rated on more points than just that. If you like the idea of the title "The Bad Mother's Handbook" played out very slowly with drama instead of comedy, and you like watching selfish characters live their self-important lives, then you just might like this film. But for everybody else, tell your mother you love her, and don't watch this.

I chose to watch this film before I read the book so as to form an unbiased opinion. Having said that, I still had issues with the film.

The movie could have been at least half-an-hour longer. There were bits where it felt like pieces of the story were missing. Given that the film was from Charlotte (Holliday Grainger) and Karen's (Catherine Tate) perspective, there was just not enough to give each character a thorough arc. The entire film was rushed and incomplete; like when you write and essay at the last minute, without having read the book.

Despite all this, the performances were fantastic by all the cast members. I must note, however, that Steve (Steve John Shepherd) and Leo (Steve Pemberton) felt like unnecessary characters. They had so little screen time, and so little importance to the main story that the film could have done well without them. If they had been removed, it would have provided space to insert those missing parts I mentioned earlier!

There were some pretty funny one-liners and banter. The opening monologue in particular was incredibly funny.

Overall, I feel the movie definitely could have been better. But as is, it's fairly entertaining.

An outstanding TV drama. Catherien Tate truly shows that she is not just a one trick pony. Her performance is well considered and not over the top, a genius at work.

The storyline is the strength of this drama. Three generations of women who struggle to come terms with their own problems is the main crux of the action.

As mentioned above Catherien Tate excels as a frustrated single parent. The supporting cast is truly outstanding as well, both the Gran and Daughter characters were well performed by the actors.

Overall a surprising hit well done ITV1.

I thought this was excellent, i found it very thoughtful towards young mothers, heart touching with the arguments between the daughter and the mother also the grandmother and the mothers, it was heart breaking seeing the old lady crying i was so upset. I love Catherine Tate as this part very different from her *Am I Bovvered* sketches also that boy was FITT! Very sweet too. I feel this was an excellent performance especially from the daughter. I was praying that the T.V was going to say that it will be out on DVD and it is i was thrilled!! I'm watching it now .hehe. In conclusion... THIS FILM IS BRILLIANT I LOVE IT SO MUCH!! ox-The-Ice-Princess-xo