Just so we're clear: I honestly, thoroughly love this movie. My best friend and I watch a ton of Lifetime movies because they're over-dramatic, absolutely ridiculous, and outrageously entertaining for those of us who like good cringe fests and so-bad-they're-good movies. The problem? Sometimes Lifetime tries too hard, and we get paltry efforts of making actual good movies (like their "based on a true story" attempts, which aren't any good for people like us looking for fun entertainment to laugh far too hard at while drinking ourselves senseless). Though Mad Mom might not go down in history with Lifetime cringe classics like Cyber Seduction: His Secret Life, it honestly should. It's less cringy than outright entertaining in an over-dramatic sense if you find the subject of jealous and insane mothers to be one of interest (hint: I do). On to the review.
Mad Mom takes the aforementioned simple subject of an insane mother and cranks it up to the extreme. Here's the story in a nutshell: a young woman, Amber, is getting married. She adores her soon-to-be mother-in-law, Jill, and considers her one of her greatest friends. The problem? Momma Bear Sharon has drastically different views from Jill on life, love, marriage, etc., and she's insanely jealous of her daughter's growing relationship with Jill and Jill's involvement in the wedding.
So what do we have? Hilarious shenanigans. Honestly, I haven't been so consistently entertained by a movie--ever. Have you ever read Reddit threads where people complain about their real life crazy parents and/or in-laws? How about where people tell stories of actual bridezillas or wedding shenanigans? Mad Mom takes almost every "don't" on the "Do's and Don'ts" list of family relationships and weddings and over-dramatizes it with zoom-in shots, middle aged mother angry "Karen" glares, and exceedingly threatening fallouts. Don't believe me? Watch the trailer (it's on YouTube). If you don't find the absolute ridiculousness of it all hilarious, I suggest checking your pulse.
What made this movie for me is Romy Rosemont's over-the-top performance as Sharon (the insane one). Without her "I need to speak to the manager" glares and efforts to be intimidating that instead make her look like a struggling fish out of water, this movie could have just been *actually* bad. Instead, it's glorious. Absolutely glorious. I could be biased--Romy's character here bears a striking resemblance to the mother figure from Liam Kyle Sullivan's comedic mid-2000s "Kelly" YouTube skits, but I could be dating myself with that reference. I digress.
Listen: this is the second time I've tried to leave a glowing review for this movie here (they never posted the first), and yet I sat down and took the time to write all this out AGAIN. I'm serious. This movie made me laugh more often and harder than any comedy of the last (let me check the dates)...twenty-five years. I have seriously tried to find this somewhere, anywhere, so I can show it to my husband next (who loves dramatic mother/mother-in-law stories for REASONS). I would SPEND MONEY to buy this movie. I could just hug it for being its sassy self.
...The reason I rated it a 8/10 rather than a 10/10, you ask? Meh...something about giving a perfect score to a so-bad-it's-good movie feels dishonest, particularly considering all the excess work that goes into actual films like There Will Be Blood. The one thing I will say is honestly quality about this movie is the editing: the zooms, quick-cuts to dramatic stares, and overly excited music up the comedic value. I highly, highly recommend Mad Mom to anyone looking for a laugh.
