La fête des mères

This film tells the stories of several mothers who spend Mother's Day in different ways.

"Mother's Day" can easily draw families to the cinema, because of its topic and the number of big stars. I watched it for Julia Roberts and Jennifer Aniston, but I was rather disappointed by it. These ensemble comedies have so many subplots and so many characters, that none of them are fully developed. As a result, I don't really know the characters well enough to care for any of them.

the Kate Hudson subplot is funny and entertaining enough, providing the comic relief. The Julia Roberts subplot is very disappointing, because it could have been so much better. She could have made a touching announcement on TV, which would have a far greater impact on the viewers. Instead, something else happened on TV which I don't care for at all.

"Mother's Day" had so much potential, but wasted the concept and the talent involved.

Mother's Day had a very promising story which was ruined by utterly poor execution and a complete waste of acting talent which was loaded due to the casting of the movie.

Story (7/10): Well, nothing was so much wrong with the story. Four different lives, four different challenges and at some point of time, they cross the paths - and all of it is centered around the hullabaloo of Mother's Day. They all have their own theories and ideas for the big day but they end up doing almost nothing that they originally thought of - and that's where teeny tiny bit of the fun lies in the movie. A well conceptualized story though.

Acting (5/10): Acting is where this entire movie falls apart in spite of big names like Julia Roberts and Jennifer Anniston. Anniston still seems to be in that "Friends" zone with her dialog delivery. The expressions are off and doesn't seem to be in the character really, except for last few minutes in the climax. Julia Roberts holds pretty much a flat face throughout the movie. Jason Sudeiki was probably the only saving grace. The rest of the cast makes a decent attempt but aren't able to lift up the movie.

Direction (4/10): The direction of the movie is awful. Close to half of the movie misses the flow and the scenes look like stitched together as the director struggles to smoothly transition from one story to another. The screenplay is pathetic and isn't able to hold the audience more than few seconds. It is only at the end that things come together when the four characters converge. However, the overall execution of the movie "executes" the story. It just looks like the director suddenly realized that Mother's Day is arriving and he has to release a movie before that.

Overall (5/10): Poorly executed. Should give it a pass.

I loved it. My husband and I thoroughly laughed until my stomach hurt. This movie is very funny and has lots of funny tag lines to laugh about later. I don't get the rude reviews and the harsh comments. I thought it was very well done and a different twist. If you are super critical and everything offends you easily, this isn't the movie for you. But if you like a good clean movie that isn't filled with naked sex starved scenes you will enjoy it. It is nice sometimes not to get cussed out and see every body part on a person. Just good clean fun is enjoyable too. It has many judgmental aspects, but it's a comedy, get over yourself. People make things too deep. The critics are just that, too critical. They rip movies apart so much it's hard to please them.

This movie is funny and as a mother (sister and child), I loved it. My mother would have enjoyed it too. I will be recommending it to whomever wants a unique take on a movie. I thought it was going to be sappy and it wasn't. I laughed repeatedly, my husband did too and so did the entire theater. My sister and I went on a double date, loved by us all. Great movie.

We went for some light entertainment & knew what to expect and we were NOT DISAPPOINTED ! What do the critics expect - every movie to be a potential Academy Award nominee ? Sometimes I like serious movies, like Spotlight which I enjoyed very much & knew beforehand what I was going to see. Same with this movie; sometimes light entertainment is fine. I knew it wasn't going to be a physical comedy, I knew there were no action scenes and that was fine tonight. It's what I chose to see and we enjoyed it. I also liked Gary Marshall's other two multi-storied, holiday movies even though they were panned by the critics too. Each separate story with different casts are basically short so you're bound to like some of them. I can't see how you could dislike everyone & their story lines. Of course there are corny jokes and references to other movies --so what? Biggest thing with me was that after seeing The Boss on Tuesday, I was not offended by anything in this movie. I was extremely offended by many situations & mostly the language in The Boss. I found The Boss to be extremely offensive hearing such crude sexual references in all the dialogue filled with the F word, etc. This movie has none of that. It's not crude, offensive nor inappropriate for kids and that says a lot about Gary Marshall and his movies.

Well.... Certainly... It COULD have been WORSE! ...Probably for many of You out there... Reading this Review will be enough for You to throw in the towel and shout...."UNCLE"!

Watching the rather well known lead cast members closely, they more often than not seem to squirm embarrassingly through their on-screen time! There are a couple moments where You just might say to Yourself... AHA! Now Mothers Day is FINALLY taking off!...........

But then..... It just DOESN´T!

Certainly, We cannot lay the blame wholely upon the Aforementioned stellar cast. The general concept of the movie itself just lacked coherence. Especially, when one considers the myriad of specific expectations created by the Title...... MOTHER´s DAY... At times seemed to be going in one direction ...and then would simply do a 180...and go completely in another.... Or WORSE even.... At times seemed to go nowhere at all!

Considering the limitations created by a rather lackluster script and the inability to really define itself in any clear way.... The cast members, despite making a seemingly heoric effort... just had too many hurdles placed in front of them.

Julia Roberts simply didn´t seem to have her heart in this project! (Can anyone really blame her for that???) Jennifer Aniston, whom, as quite a number of critics keep pointing out incessantly, just never seems to be able to deliver any on screen presence... other than that of RACHEL...Just does not convince me otherwise in her characterization rendition here!

Kate Hudson, in my opinion, actually stood out... a bit, at least, in her portrayal of the rather conflicted Jesse. Jason Sudeikis seemed somewhat miscast as the well intentioned, but rather clueless Bradley.

Focusing on a checklist of other crucial production elements.... Let us begin with the limited number of set locations, where the interaction actually takes place. One can only wonder as to why this seemed to be a problem.... Perhaps, the production ran over Budget??? Who knows!?!? The film would have benefited a great deal by mixing it up a bit.... As regards filming locations!

Oddly, is it just me... Or did the lighting, which I hardly EVER notice in a rather big budget Hollywood Production... Seem just a tad off and somewhat unnatural??? Another rare occurence in a Studio Production such as this one... They just couldn´t seem to get the editing right! I got the distinct impression that they were editing and re-editing endlessly, trying rather unsuccessfully, to end up with a much higher quality movie, but failed misrably in their effort!

This film was the very last film Directed by Hollywood legend Garry Marhall. He died just 10 Weeks after Mother´s Day had its theatrical Release! As to whether or not he was able to view his life´s last movie project in a public theater... Sorry, I really don´t know! But, in the grand scheme of things, it just doesn´t make that much difference.... Now Does it??? I spent about 20 minutes glancing over his humongous list of IMDb Credits! (It would have taken me at LEAST an hour to have gone over every detail meticulouly! WOW! This guy was literally involved with hundreds of movies and TV series projects! In just about EVERY and ANY possible capacity You can name!!! O. K...You name it!... Probably, on numerous occasions, Garry Marshall rshall was right there... Doing it! And, more often than not... Doing it spectacularly well!

It is a shame that this one in a million career seemed to have ended on such a rather sour note! At 80 Years of age, while workin on this project, It is not too difficult to imagine with the end of his life...possibly on the event horizon... Who knows what effect such a lloming reality might have had on his ability to perform at his absolute professional best!

Certainly, on paper at least, this movie seemed to be a sure winner! But.... Sadly, as so often is the case... MOTHER´s DAY falls lamentably far below expectation! SORRY! Wish there were a lot more substance here that I could wholeheartedly recommend......... Sadly... for everyone in the film and for all of the viewing public..... ....There simply ISN´T!!! My Rating: 3*** !!!