Bringing Up Bobby

Famke Janssen has managed to put all of the elements of a great independent movie together here but somehow the chemistry never grabs you really hard. Milla Jovovich's character is somebody who thinks they understand the American Dream from watching TV and from the movies that she is often quoting. The reality in America however is that the "American Dream" is much more complicated than she ever imagined. Milla Jovovich and Spencer List are very convincing as the mother and son duo and the portrayal of their relationship is what carries the movie. Pullamn does well but is careful not to grab the attention away from the two main characters. The colours and costumes stand out against the bleak Oklahoma backdrop. It is a good movie and it is easy to watch. It is not the sort of movie that will interest people who do not regularly watch small independent movies.

(2012) Bringing Up Bobby DRAMA

Co-written and directed by actress Famke Janson, starring Milla Jovovich as single mother, Olive an Ukrainian woman who's trying to raise her 11 year old son Bobby right, who she'll probably won't get any 'mother of the year' awards, since she lies, cheats and steals during her stay as an American citizen. And because the movie is about 11 year old Bobby, it shows him to be a total douche as both their worlds come for the turn for the worst as she gets arrested. Resorting her to give up custody toward a wealthy couple of Kent (Bill Pullman) and Mary (Marcia Cross), who has coincidentally had just lost their own son. And once Olive is let out, her son, Bobby resorts back to his bad behavior again. Strictly-by-the-book plot with nothing people can't come up with by themselves. And I also have to say that it's hard to sympathize with characters who initially act like a couple of self indulgent douches.

At the video store, this DVD caught my eye immediately because of my longtime girl crush Milla Jovovich on the front cover. I grabbed it straight off the shelf, without hesitation. I knew it would more than likely be a dud film, but I just love to watch Milla and was excited that this film could possibly, maybe, turn out to be an 'okay' film.

Well, this film is a complete dud. I cringed the whole way through. The mundane story line had potential, but the script and direction was just terrible. I did not know if this was supposed to be a comedy film or a drama. Either way, it failed in every possible category.

The character of Olive (Milla Jovovich), was so over the top and one dimensional. Olive, the stereotypical beautiful Russian single mother con, was a character that was over exaggerated and incredibly annoying. It is not even worth going into any more detail about the characters in this film because it all just sucked. It would be as pointless as analyzing your own vomit after vomiting. The only emotion that this film evoked for me, was sadness over why Milla Jovovich played such a crap character in such a crap film. Milla completely over acted in this film, but that was really the only thing that added slight intrigue. Along with her wardrobe.

If you like Milla, then watch it for the sake of seeing Millas beauty on screen. Otherwise, do not bother with this film ... unless you want to spend an hour or so baffled at how anyone could write such a terrible script.

Bringing up Bobby - The kind of film that my thirteen year old self would have written back in the day. Pretty clothes, pretty leading lady and pretty ridiculous.

A stab at a comedy mingled with drama. It doesn't entirely work, even if the actors at work do try their best (even if it doesn't feel like that at times). The story being told from the point of view of Milla is interesting. It might have been more interesting, if we'd seen the whole thing through the eyes of the son. There are times when you wonder what is going on there.

Apart from that you have a stellar cast together. Which of course might have to do with the fact, that Famke Jansen is directing. Not a bad try for a movie and I'm sure the script did sound great too. The making it into a movie process, is entirely different of course and there are quite a lot of flaws to be found here (character but also plot wise). A nice little movie then

I saw this movie in Savannah at the Film Festival. I really enjoyed this movie from start to finish. After the movie the Director did a Q&A which answered the few problems I had to the film which I can be forgiving for. It starts out with a foreign feel with lots of natural lighting and some poor sound clips taking the performance away from the actors. But as the movie progresses and you build a relationship with the characters the movie gets more and more precious. The director was very fortunate to have the actors and actresses to work with for her first film as a director. Milla's performance really is outstanding throughout telling you the story of her travels and struggles to win her boy back.