Written by / 4/28/2016 / No comments / , , , ,

MARSHALL MISDIRECTS THE ENSEMBLE MOTHER'S DAY

Year Released: 2016
Before we begin and finish as quickly as possible, reviewing a movie that, following banal versions of Robert Altman style NASHVILLE, A WEDDING and SHORT CUTS ensemble pieces (but winding up closer to READY TO WEAR), it should be noted that Garry Marshall, the man who helped Generation X grow up with Fonzie, Lenny, Squiggy and... everyone from HAPPY DAYS and LAVERNE AND SHIRLEY... and entertained "The Greatest Generation" and their Baby Boomers with THE ODD COUPLE... As a television Executive Producer/Mogul, turned into an, at first, pretty good theatrical director: A great one, actually. Or perhaps THE FLAMINGO KID, starring Matt Dillon as a young Brooklyn card-shark spending the summer at a rich resort as a cabana boy, winding up boy-toy for Janet Jones and a wishbone for proud yet unapologetically stubborn blue collar plumber dad Hector Elizondo and crooked fancy car salesman Richard Crenna, was a great movie with a good director...

The Very Best Marshall
Either way, Marshall's first venture, the effective AIRPLANE! style YOUNG DOCTORS IN LOVE, and a hit/miss lot after KID including the witty OVERBOARD and melodramatic BEACHES, led to his gigantic box office splash with PRETTY WOMAN... And his past three films, VALENTINE'S DAY, NEW YEAR'S EVE and... this turkey, MOTHER'S DAY, have all had one thing in common other than being god-awful ensembles... each are damn fun to bag on, that is, if you have the patience to stick around that long.

And MOTHER'S, compared to the others, is more down to Earth and less grandiose, centering on a few characters including Julia Roberts as a famous television jewelry seller; Jennifer Aniston, whose ex-husband landed a young sexy wife; an old fashion trailer trash couple with two daughters, reluctantly catapulted into the world of foreigners and homosexuals and... oh what does it matter? MOTHER'S DAY should work for, well, mothers and, hell, who knows, maybe their daughters, even though the humor is terribly timed and each scene is more awkward than the next. That's not saying females only enjoy vapid drivel; let's just meet in the middle and agree that Garry Marshall is bringing to the ladies what WWF provides men: yet one seems a lot more realistic, and packs way more laughs.

RATING: *
Share This Post :
Tags : , , , ,

No comments:

Post a Comment

Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.

All Time Popular

Featured Post

ROBERT FOXWORTH BEARS JOHN FRANKENHEIMER'S 'PROPHECY'

Title: PROPHECY Year: 1979 Rating: ***1/2 At one point, when idealistic city doctor Robert Foxworthy and quiet musician wife Taila Shire are...

WWW.CULTFILMFREAKS.COM

WWW.CULTFILMFREAKS.COM
Movie Reviews, Interviews, Articles and Pop Culture from White Heat to Blue City

RIP ACTOR KEN HUTCHISON

TOTAL HITS

Popular Trending

FOUNDED BY JAMES M. TATE

FOUNDED BY JAMES M. TATE
RANDOM QUOTE: "Powerful little things, these credit cards." Harry Morgan, Dragnet

FILM NOIR & NEO NOIR CRIME

FAVORITES SHORTLIST

1)OTLEY 2)HELL IS A CITY 3)ROBBERY 4)THE FEARMAKERS 5)CANYON PASSAGE 6)VIOLENT SATURDAY 7)HOT CARS 8)JUNGLE STREET 9)THE CROWDED SKY 10)THE ROARING TWENTIES 11) ANATOMY OF A MURDER 12)CALCULATED RISK 13)SWEENEY TWO 14)RAIDERS FROM BENEATH THE SEA 15)HARDCORE 16)THE BREAK 17)WHITE HEAT 18)AL CAPONE 19)THE SERGEANT 20)FALLEN ANGEL 21)SHARKS' TREASURE 22)THE ASPHALT JUNGLE 23)ASH WEDNESDAY 24)THE SYSTEM 25)AIR PATROL 26)THE STONE KILLER 27)SANDS OF THE KALAHARI 28)WILLIAM CONRAD'S BRAINSTORM 29)RIOT 30)THE MAN FROM LARAMIE FAVORITE ACTORS 1)DANA ANDREWS 2)JAMES CAGNEY 3)STANLEY BAKER 4)MARLON BRANDO 5)JACK NICHOLSON 6) CHARLES BRONSON 7)BURT REYNOLDS 8)WILLIAM LUCAS 9)TOM COURTENAY 10)GENE HACKMAN DIRECTORS 1)JACQUES TOURNEUR 2)RICHARD FLEISCHER 3)VAL GUEST 4)STANLEY KUBRICK 5)OTTO PREMINGER 6)ORSON WELLES 7)JOHN GUILLERMAN 8)JOHN LANDIS 9)SAM PECKINPAH 10)MICHAEL WINNER

BRITISH NEW WAVE CINEMA

RARITIES AND EXPLOITATION

HAMMER HORROR & THRILLER

Popular This Month

CHARLES BRONSON CINEMA

CINEMA OF DANA ANDREWS

WESTERN GENRE REVIEWS

PEAKING INTO THE SIXTIES

KICKING IN THE EIGHTIES

TALES AND REFLECTIONS

REVVING THE SEVENTIES

Most Popular Last Year