The Good Mother

I try my best to believe that we are not running out of good ideas. There are many mystery thriller films that have gone through the public gauntlet to become glowing examples and stand the test of time. One hopes that as the craft evolves, so would the creative minds of filmmakers, and new and unique stories would be told, right?

The Good Mother answers this question with a flavorless, underwhelming "no". This film had a solid hand drawn - gifted with blocks that would have built a sturdy body of fiction, with an all too relatable core theme for many people. Instead, all sense of pacing, rhythm, and even coherent storytelling are set aside in favor of something that would barely survive on Lifetime. The loss of a loved one in such a tragic manner should feel like a crushing vortex of grief that seemingly absorbs the world. This sense of loss in this film is not only nearly undetectable, but almost laughably tone deaf in execution. Between the nonsequitur plot points that are unceremoniously dropped to the painfully boring pace, the talented cast could not breathe life into this story.

Through the slog, however, one scene protruded through the mound of disturbed ground as a glowing moment in the story - the support group scene. Karen Aldridge's performance as Laurie is visceral. As the scene pulls our full attention to her, she recants the loss of her daughter to an overdose. Her pain is crushing, and the emotions which race across her face and pound her psyche to be released are quietly commanding our emotions. This was Aldridge's moment, and her powerful monologue was gifted to us with might that is deserving of a much better movie.

I remain optimistic that I will go into suspense thrillers with an open mind, and that my experience will be unique and enjoyable. The Good Mother perpetuates the self-fulfilling prophecy of mediocrity that has soiled the genre over the last decade. I often say that all movies are worth a viewing - I still believe this. However, the silver lining is that you can stop watching anytime.

This is a super slow burn. I typically like it slow and sexy, but the general writing and obvious lack of real life experiences on the subject matter was obvious. The writing was just not up to the level of the talent.

If the writer(s) don't know the real world of drugs then they should have focused on the other theme of the mother getting back to her life as a writer (I assume they should know a few things about that).

I was initially drawn in with the expectation that it would be about the mother getting her life back. That's not what happened. There was the typical movie plot twist with an ending that left you not knowing the choice made.

Terrible plot, unrealistic behaviors from anyone with a "functioning" brain. Where's the "ending" to this ridiculous movie? Hilary Swank seems to be signing on for "anything" these days.

Every movie should have a beginning, a middle or the "meat" of the story. Then of course, an ending SURE would be nice as well so it can make some kind of sense and have closure. This movie is lacking in so many areas. It doesn't seem finished and as far as I know, there's no PART 2. The title should be "The drunken, terrible Mother". There was nothing GOOD about "Marissa".

Please, do yourself a favor & don't waste your valuable time.

6 years in the making? Felt like it was written and rushed through direction over the course of 2 weeks, along with the title. We just don't have enough "The good this, and The Good that" out there, so why not another one. Some parts of this were truly impactful and helped to establish relatable characters and situations. Unfortunately, quite a few head-scratcher moments where clumsy writing would expel me right out from that plausible experience and cause an eyeroll or headshake- including the totally obvious and done a million times over twist play. Some of the more frustrating and pedestrian issues I can't reveal without spoilers. There is no question that Hillary Swank and Olivia Cooke have the talent, but I felt the overall story plot devices were shallow, and it prevented this from being satisfying. I won't remember this in the sea of The Good Whatevers after tomorrow.

Very slow moving to the answers & very limited excitement. Not put together well. I watched because I like Hilary Swank; I was surprised that she played in such a confusing & boring movie. Anyway, don't waste your $ as I did. The film started slow & remained this way; meaning, you're holding onto the story hoping and anticipating that it will make more sense and get exciting, but, it didn't. You would've thought that they would've vindicated the lost son, that didn't happen. And as to why another person was doing what he was; we never found out & there was no outcome to her writings. I felt confused & depressed at the end. I hope that Hilary's next film will be great, because this one is a flop!