The Perfect Family

Despite the reviews that say it's an anti-Catholic movie, it's not. It's a movie about a family, and the mother happens to be Catholic and struggling between her reality and the reality of the church to which she belongs....which happens to be Catholic.

Just sit back and watch the movie - it's got some nice, thought-provoking dialog and if you have to tear a movie down because it makes you ask questions....then maybe you should focus on your own life and stop watching movies!

Mister Ritter is also a treat to watch, so much like his father, who would be proud to see what a nice actor his son has become.

"I don't have to think, I'm catholic." Eileen Cleary (Turner) has finally been nominated for Catholic Woman Of The Year and wants to win it badly. She will stop at nothing to win which includes trying to cover up her families choices. She then becomes conflicted as to winning or being a supportive mother. I have to start by saying that after the first half hour I was almost ready to turn this off. I'm not saying that it wasn't good but just really slow and seemed to lack emotion. The more I watched the better it got though and I really liked the ending. For a movie like this the ending was perfect. My biggest problem with this movie is that it seemed to lack real emotion and all the performances seemed flat and phoned in. I'm not sure what it was but I just felt like it was missing something to make me feel for the characters. Overall, a movie with a perfect ending that is worth watching but was lacking any real emotion from the actors. I give it a B-.

Kathleen Turner was great as a neurotic and psychopathic mom in Serial Mother. When I watched the trailer of The Perfect Mother, I laughed, and so I expected to find in it the same folly as in John Waters' comedy. Eileen Cleary is a mother and a devout catholic. She happens to be nominated against her best enemy for the award of the catholic woman of the year. If she wins, she will receive the greatest prize : the absolution of her sins. To be elected, she needs to be assiduous at church and in her charity works, but she also needs to have a perfect family. The trouble is, her husband is a former alcoholic, her son has just left his wife and kids for the manicurist next door, and her daughter is gay, and pregnant. The accumulation of clichés as obstacles can be funny in a comedy, but not here. The film – except for some good lines and Turner's acting – is pretty boring. I didn't laugh, I barely smiled. It takes ages to actually start, and when it does, it doesn't go very far. Eileen is in a quandary : she has to choose between her family and her faith. What will she do ? I mean come on, this is a comedy, we all know how it is going to end. The problem is not the end really. The problem is that the scenes that are supposed to illustrate Eileen's conflict with her family, and her own dilemma, are not funny, but they are not sad either, or deep. The film remains on the surface so as not to shock anyone. It remains politically correct, full of good intentions, so of course, it fails as a comedy, and it also fails as a drama. Don't waste your time watching more than the trailer.

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As a person raised in a strict Catholic community it warmed my heart to see this movie. I wish it was shown at every Catholic church in the world because the acceptance and forgiveness in this movie is more in keeping with the teachings of Christ than the hate that is spewed by the sheep in his name. How anyone could think this is anti-catholic when it is all about what it means to be a real follower of Jesus and about God's love for all his creations. The only unbelievable thing was that the mother would be able to forgive herself and accept her children when the reality is many Catholics will reject and harm their children rather than question their self-serving dogma.

I'm surprised at such a low score for this movie! First, please know that I was born, baptized, and raised Catholic. I've since moved to another religion, but not for any "Catholic hate" reasons at all. So I have a STRONG knowledge of Catholicism. It seems MOST of the negative reviews claim it's "Christian/Catholic bashing"... I would wonder how many of those folks actually WATCHED it or just wrote a review based on a presupposed notion. There is NO Christian bashing at all IMO. Just portraying people such as I've known all my life the way they are, and the portrayal isn't bad in any way, as far as I'm concerned.

Overall it's very balanced - yeah there's a few potshots at Catholics ("I don't have to think... I'm Catholic") but overall, the portrayal is VERY accurate to my Catholic upbringing and those in the faith I know today. Sure, hardly ANY nuns still wear the habit - but it's just little things. By and large the portrayal I thought was fair on ALL SIDES, not only for the Catholics but all the other characters.

I'll be honest and say I FULLY EXPECTED a "Christians are stupid knuckle dragging Neanderthals" flick - I expected to shut it off half way through. Instead, I watched the whole thing and rather enjoyed it.

The movie itself actually plays quite well - Kathleen Turner takes a bit of getting used to because of her very deep, manly voice... but overall, it has a nicely done "indie" feel to it in every way.

No, it's NOT an award contender in any way - some of the acting is rather stiff and forced, the plot is predictable, and there are quite a few clichés and stereotypes. But it's VERY watchable, totally held my attention, was touching in places, and ENJOYABLE to watch right up to the end for me.

Give it a shot - don't let the negative reviews implying it's a "Christian bashing" flick deter you.