Mama's Boy

It's clear that Jon Heder is a controversial comic actor. 'Napoleon Dynamite' was a great favorite among young people, some of them of course, and established immediate cult status, but is dismissed by many. Heder is a comedian who is more than willing to play the fool. His performances are effortless; they just flow out of him naturally. He becomes whatever embodiment of absurdity he's handed, be it a geeky high-schooler ('Dynamite'), a preening skate star ('Blades of Glory'), or a lazy young adult who's turned into an a-hole due to his fear of facing life on his own ('Mama's Boy'). Unfortunately Heder's embodiments are so successful some audience members can't separate the actor from the role, and they turn on him. 'Variety's' stringer critic in the only mainstream review you can still find online says, completely inaccurately, that Heder is simply doing a reprise of his 'Napoleon Dynamite' role in'Mama's Boy.' The consistent panache with which Heder impersonates obnoxious geekiness every time doesn't mean it's the same character. Each of those three has his own quite separate motives and personality.

But like I said, Jon Heder is an acquired taste, one many seem incapable of acquiring. People find Jeffrey's up-front selfishness (again, not meant to be taken seriously) so repugnant, reactions to the whole film become so totally negative right off the bat that comments show a misreading of practically every main character, except maybe Anna Faris' Nora Flanagan. She is a caricature too, but nobody seems to mind or even notice. But like Daniels' Mert, she's nice to Jeffrey until she can no longer be, and Jan (Ms. Keaton) can never be any other way with him -- that is, till tough love finally forces her to ask him to move out.

Actually this is very nice stuff -- deceptively so: viewers seem to mistakenly suspect something much more negative and ugly about to happen, but if you read Jeffrey carefully, his meanness is only skin deep. It's rare that any movie, let alone what appears at first a rather dark comedy, is so full of human decency. After all, even Jeffrey tries to do harm, but winds up not really succeeding. It's because of this prevailing decency that Jeffrey can convincingly come to his senses and become in his turn a good person, like Jan, Mert, Nora, and Seymour.

This is an age-old function of comedy: to reunite people and bring about redemption. Despite a strong tendency revealed on this site to reject this movie and declare it a clinker, it could never be that with a cast of this caliber doing very good work. And it's not a clinker at all, just a low key comedy that, if you tune into it, has some good laughs and leaves you with a good feeling.

Jeffrey, the useless slacker who's living off his mother at 29, is Heder's most darkly conceived character so far. It's essential not to take him too seriously. It's all just a pose, though a pretty sad one, if taken seriously. Otherwise, everyone delivers fine performances, and they play it pretty straight. Ana Faris is a superb comic actress, but she's astonishingly real and natural in her scenes with Jeffrey. Her performance allows us to see that he could be attractive, if he would stop being weird and using people. Diane Keaton also is real and natural as his mother, and Jeff Daniels, a splendid and supple actor in a role that could be made maudlin or a caricature, also turns out to be a good guy, who treats Jeffrey as if he were normal, hoping that he will turn out to be in the end. This is a comedy about redemption. Of course the 'Say Anything'-mimicking ending is a little too easy, but hey, this is a comedy, and a pretty simple one. Eli Wallach's old man tells Jeffrey "I'm 91 f---in' years old": this great, tireless character actor actually is that age in real life. And Wallach has acted in six more movies since this one was made two years ago. What a guy! And overall, what a great cast! And let's not forget to mention the always interesting Mary Kay Place.

This film seems to have been virtually dropped from the Web's records. It was reviewed when it came out briefly in theaters, but now all you can find is a scattering of mediocre and superficial DVD reviews and, because it promises to keep a record of all the films that come out, the one in 'Variety.' Unfortunately the 'Variety' critic, like too many of the Users on this site, did not take a very close look at what he was writing about, and his observations are of very little use. Fortunately there are a few who recognize that this is, though not a great piece of work, a quite entertaining and watchable one, in which good actors give winning, natural performances, and Heder again shows his special fearlessness and ease at embodying a comically repulsive (but underneath not unappealing) young man.

Hey guys, I don't understand why everybody is knocking this film. I didn't think it was great, but it was good. I first saw Jon in his breakout film Napoleon Dynamite, and yes, it was pretty funny. He played a geeky guy in that movie, and a lot of people found his character kind of a geek in this movie. However, I liked him in this movie, probably because I was a geek in high school and I kind of bonded with his character. However I did not live at home with my Mom til I was in my 30's.

Jeff Daniels, well, you either liked his character or you didn't. I personally liked his character, he plays the kind of character that you love to hate. Diane Keaton, I thought was brilliant as the Kool-Aid Mom. She's the kind of mother that every kid wished they had. Anna Faris, it's funny, because I'm used to seeing her in comedies like the Scary Movie series, however, I loved her playing the straight character for once. It's great to have another good upcoming star.

This movie was pretty funny, however it did have a serious side, the storyline was okay, the acting was pretty good. I wouldn't buy this movie, but I liked watching it.

Jeff Daniels does his usual respectable job, Keaton mostly keeps the hysterics at bay, Anna Farris adds some dimension to her standard stoner chick, and Heder tries his best to not delve too deep into the Napoleon Dynamite well. Sarah Chalke is always a nice addition to any cast too. This is a decent indy movie, not great but far better than the 4.9 here. It was a victim of its marketing as much as anything. The story starts strong and finds a reasonable resolution without resorting to slapstick or painfully implausible plot twists. The cinematography was better than average - there's a great shot of Keaton framed by kitchen cabinets early on, and the lighting/exposure and set design are reminiscent of Little Miss Sunshine. Well worth picking up as a weekend rental or throwing in the online queue for some light viewing.

"Mama's Boy" is a Comedy - Drama movie in which we watch a young man living with his mother. When his mom meets another man and they want to marry he feels threatened and he starts searching for more information about him.

I have to admit that since I did not have high expectations from this movie I was not disappointed by it. It is a bit boring for comedy movie with only a few funny scenes and without any plot twist to make at least a bit more interesting. The direction which was made by Tim Hamilton was average and he did not succeed on making his movie interesting. The interpretations of Diane Keaton who played as Jan Mannus, Jeff Daniels who played as Mert Rosenbloom and Jon Heder who played as Jeffrey Mannus followed the same path as direction. Finally, I have to say that "Mama's Boy" is a below average comedy and I do not recommend anyone to watch it because I believe that you will waste your time.

This film is about a 29-year-old man who does not want to leave his mother's side. When his mother gets herself a date, he does everything to spoil it.

"Mama's Boy" could have been a good film with good jokes and mischievous fights, but unfortunately it turned out rather mediocre. There is a serious lack of chemistry between the characters, which makes any of the relationships unconvincing. Jon Heder comes across as a very annoying and irresponsible person, and that kills of any of the remaining fun of the film. It is also a pity that Anna Faris is delegated to such a minor supporting role. In short, "Mama's Boy" is a below average comedy.