Dir. Katherine Dieckmann, 90mins, USA, 2010
Cast: Uma Thurman, Anthony Edwards, Minnie Driver
Review by Matthew Rodgers
When Uma Thurman is good, she is very, very good, but when she is bad she is Motherhood. Perhaps a tad harsh on the Kill Bill icon, because she is hindered by a script and character that would make an orphanage the preferred option to being raised by this dowdy dullard.
Aiming to be a Bridget Jones with a blog depiction of 24 hours in the life of a Manhattan mother planning her six year old daughter's birthday party, we follow Eliza (Thurman) as she struggles with money, responsibility, and marriage, all whilst writing a 500 word competition entry that could shake her life from its familial doldrums. Released to coincide with Mothers Day, why on earth would anyone want to go and watch a reflection of the things they deal with on a regular basis on the one day that they get to put their feet up?
It certainly won't be for the performances; Thurman has always struggled with comedy, just take a look at My Super Ex-Girlfriend and The Accidental Husband and you can add this awkward turn to those. Hampered by a terrible voiceover, her role as the matriarch never carries the weight that the story of a struggling stay at home mother should, and if there is a more cringeworthy scene in 2010 than Thurman dancing with a courier, then fear for the future of cinema.
Anthony Edwards is similarly poor as the husband dwelling on missed opportunities in life, seemingly happy to exist in the background of the narrative, probably slightly embarrassed.
The only real positive is its refreshing approach to tackling the drama of being a mother, but even this is cloying and annoying in its execution. There is also a twist toward the end that completely undermines the rare occasions on which Dieckmann manages to strike an emotional chord and will alienate 99% of the target audience. It's a turn of events that also raises serious moral questions about Eliza, a central character upon which our empathy is dependant in order for the film to succeed.
More importantly, this is a comedy that's completely devoid of laughs, and in a society admirably pushing the message of safe sex, Motherhood's rather selfish, shallow, and self obsessed Eliza is possibly the greatest contraceptive of them all.
|
