Mother and Child

Despite a strong cast and the best intentions, Rodrigo Garcia failed to create a memorable story in his latest film Mother and Child. Plagued by poor writing, unrealistic dialogue, contrived story lines, and a painfully annoying soundtrack.

Much like the 2004 Academy Award winning film Crash, Mother and Child boldly attempts to intertwine several story lines together but fails to impress us with the clever, obscure connections that distinguished Crash. Instead, we found ourselves predicting scenes about to unfold, throwing our arms up at dialogue that just could not happen, and sighing in utter exasperation as the soundtrack droned on and on with it’s hopelessness.

Although it was an admirable attempt to explore mother daughter relationships of every kind, we felt that Garcia tried too hard to jam too many characters and too many situations into one film. Anette Bening’s portrayal of Karen (can you spell t-h-e-r-a-p-y?) as a woman scarred by the guilt and shame she placed on herself was searing and difficult to watch. Yes, it was well acted but heavy, lingering, belabored and tiresome after a while.

Naomi Watts was Elizabeth, a cold, emotionless lawyer who kept her distance from everyone except the men she conquered in the boardroom and the bedroom. Presumably, her state of mind was the result of (a lack of much needed therapy!) the emotional baggage she dragged around for years after being put up for adoption (in her mind she was rejected) by her teenage mother.

Finally, it takes the attention of men in their lives to spur Karen and Elizabeth to the next level. Jimmy Smits plays Paco who, for what reason on earth we cannot fathom – decides to continue to pursue Karen despite her ongoing negativity and frequent tantrums. Samuel Jackson plays Paul, who, after having an affair with Elizabeth discovers she is incapable of having an emotional relationship with him. He moves on and that forces her to do the same.

Kerry Washington plays Lucy, a motherless, young newly married woman who longs for a baby. After a private adoption through the church falls through – Lucy falls apart, and so does her marriage. Up until this point we were in. (Until the doorbell rang with an unlikely surprise.) Really?

We tried. We really did. We are all mothers and we are all children of mothers. We wanted to like it but found it thoroughly unlikable. It was shameful to watch these broken women on the big screen as they unraveled. Not once did any of them attempt to get help. Years of their lives were lost to these disabling emotional issues. So, it takes a good man to turn things around? Much cheaper I guess. Come on.

The Rave Review rated this film a 1 out of 5.