User reviews

OK there are many negative reviews of this movie - I do not think it is meant to be an Oscar nominee. It is a movie about families with different needs/problems/real life issues and it is centered around Mother's Day. Just as Valentine's Day is a big favorite of millions of people - it did not get any Oscars - but it is a movie that people remember. Sometimes that is better. Three families with problems. A one year anniversary for a mother's death, a divorce, and sisters with secrets from parents. and a commitment issue woman wanting to know her birth mother. Of course things get smoothed out - but it was fan watching it all happen. It is move about real life and I appreciate that. The sound track is fun, the pratfalls are OK, but the stories are real. If you have been through a divorce - you will understand. Not a great movie but a believable one.

Mother's Day had a very promising story which was ruined by utterly poor execution and a complete waste of acting talent which was loaded due to the casting of the movie.

Story (7/10): Well, nothing was so much wrong with the story. Four different lives, four different challenges and at some point of time, they cross the paths - and all of it is centered around the hullabaloo of Mother's Day. They all have their own theories and ideas for the big day but they end up doing almost nothing that they originally thought of - and that's where teeny tiny bit of the fun lies in the movie. A well conceptualized story though.

Acting (5/10): Acting is where this entire movie falls apart in spite of big names like Julia Roberts and Jennifer Anniston. Anniston still seems to be in that "Friends" zone with her dialog delivery. The expressions are off and doesn't seem to be in the character really, except for last few minutes in the climax. Julia Roberts holds pretty much a flat face throughout the movie. Jason Sudeiki was probably the only saving grace. The rest of the cast makes a decent attempt but aren't able to lift up the movie.

Direction (4/10): The direction of the movie is awful. Close to half of the movie misses the flow and the scenes look like stitched together as the director struggles to smoothly transition from one story to another. The screenplay is pathetic and isn't able to hold the audience more than few seconds. It is only at the end that things come together when the four characters converge. However, the overall execution of the movie "executes" the story. It just looks like the director suddenly realized that Mother's Day is arriving and he has to release a movie before that.

Overall (5/10): Poorly executed. Should give it a pass.

Garry Marshall died this year after a very long career of feel goo films he wrote, directed, acted in, produced – and sometimes all simultaneously, both on television (The Odd Couple, Mork and Mindy, Happy Days, Laverne & Shirley) and in movies (Beaches, Pretty Woman, Runaway Bride, The Other Sister, The Princess Diaries, Valentine's Day, New year's Eve, etc). He often worked with the same actors – a trusted bond of friendship. While MOTHER'S DAY my not be one of his best films, it completes his trilogy of holiday films and brings the usual warmth and keen observation of interpersonal relationships to play from a richly popular cast of fine actors.

Three generations come together in the week leading up to Mother's Day. Sandy (Jennifer Anniston), a divorcée who has two sons who tries to co-parent with her ex (Timothy Olyphant). But when her ex remarries a girl half her age (Shay Mitchell), she freaks out because she's spending time with her sons and doing things with them that she usually does. Her friend, Jesse (Kate Hudson) is surprised by her parents (Margo Martindale and Robert Pine) who show up unannounced and they discover who Jesse's Indian husband (Aasif Mandvi) is and he learns that she didn't tell them about him which prompts him to leave, And they also learn whom their other daughter Gabi (Sarah Chalke) Is married to Max (Cameron Esposito) in a lesbian marriage. Kristin (Britt Robertson) is a girl who has a boyfriend Zach (Jack Whitehall) and a child but her boyfriend wants them to go to the next level, marriage but she has unresolved issues which keeps her from taking the plunge and her boyfriend is uncertain how long he can wait. Things change a bit when Kristin discovers who her birth mother is…. Bradley (Jason Sudeikis) is a widower with two daughters, one of whom is a teenager and Bradley finds it hard to accept her new interests like boys and he still misses his wife. It all comes together at Mother's Day – time heals all things.

Also in the cast are Julia Roberts, Hector Elizondo, Anoush NeVart, Jennifer Garner, Jon Lovitz – and many others in small but significant cameos.

Watch for the pleasure of seeing fine actors get a little silly and for the pleasure Garry Marshall brought to the entertainment industry.

We went for some light entertainment & knew what to expect and we were NOT DISAPPOINTED ! What do the critics expect - every movie to be a potential Academy Award nominee ? Sometimes I like serious movies, like Spotlight which I enjoyed very much & knew beforehand what I was going to see. Same with this movie; sometimes light entertainment is fine. I knew it wasn't going to be a physical comedy, I knew there were no action scenes and that was fine tonight. It's what I chose to see and we enjoyed it. I also liked Gary Marshall's other two multi-storied, holiday movies even though they were panned by the critics too. Each separate story with different casts are basically short so you're bound to like some of them. I can't see how you could dislike everyone & their story lines. Of course there are corny jokes and references to other movies --so what? Biggest thing with me was that after seeing The Boss on Tuesday, I was not offended by anything in this movie. I was extremely offended by many situations & mostly the language in The Boss. I found The Boss to be extremely offensive hearing such crude sexual references in all the dialogue filled with the F word, etc. This movie has none of that. It's not crude, offensive nor inappropriate for kids and that says a lot about Gary Marshall and his movies.

don't get me wrong, i GET the movie is supposed to be a light, popcorn movie..your average clichéd chickflick...and i love them....somedays you just want a silly corny cheesy movie to put a smile on your face...

the problems is that it fails at even that...it is not a romantic comedy...it does not explore the parents-kid relationship beyond the whole "oh im a man i cant say tampon" cliché...it is not about friendship....i mean what was the point of even making this movie...

i love interconnected romcom movies...but this is just ..pointless...i have no other words to describe it..

and the only thing that was more horrible than julia roberts wig was the direction.

I'm really disappointed with this movie. Scenario had only couple funny sentences, and that's it, and I assume this should be a comedy. If you expecting romantic movie you will be disappointed, because the only thing we see there is some people with some inessential problems, and making big thing out of it. Slow development of story, although is unpredictable because you can't expect that someone will devote such attention on not important details. The only bright thing in this movie is cast, which is making me confused why did they do this especially Sudeikis. It's cast with big experience i just don't understand need for this.

I have seriously, never in my entire life, seen something on screen that was this painful to watch (including Jackass and Klovn).

Poorly written, poorly executed, unenthusiastic acting from otherwise talented people. Just awful. I feel hurt and betrayed. I want my money back. And my time (finally out of the house, with my fiancé. Great date. NAHT.) From the outrageously racist jokes, the fat jokes, the stereotypical comic reliefs, the utterly pointless scenes and unbelievably unrealistic characters - Just the worst.

I expected a pointless, turn-off-your-brain low quality romcom but never did I imagine it being SO BAD. To a few of my favorites acting in this film: Please - PLEASE - have more ambition in the future.

I loved it. My husband and I thoroughly laughed until my stomach hurt. This movie is very funny and has lots of funny tag lines to laugh about later. I don't get the rude reviews and the harsh comments. I thought it was very well done and a different twist. If you are super critical and everything offends you easily, this isn't the movie for you. But if you like a good clean movie that isn't filled with naked sex starved scenes you will enjoy it. It is nice sometimes not to get cussed out and see every body part on a person. Just good clean fun is enjoyable too. It has many judgmental aspects, but it's a comedy, get over yourself. People make things too deep. The critics are just that, too critical. They rip movies apart so much it's hard to please them.

This movie is funny and as a mother (sister and child), I loved it. My mother would have enjoyed it too. I will be recommending it to whomever wants a unique take on a movie. I thought it was going to be sappy and it wasn't. I laughed repeatedly, my husband did too and so did the entire theater. My sister and I went on a double date, loved by us all. Great movie.

I'm pretty sure Garry Marshall's last directed film been meaning to watch awhile and quite worth it! A few funny moments but definitely feel-good easy to watch charming great one. Packed with a great cast, awesome scenes, lovely romance, and I don't understand the hate sure it's average doesn't deserve a 5.6 rating. Some of the dialogue is poor otherwise I love Mother's Day id recommend the horror one that came out in 2010 that's an awesome fun horror. I love these charming cinema experiences I could watch them endlessly regardless of any flaws id recommend this whacky rom/com it's so humble even when I feel rough.

This film tells the stories of several mothers who spend Mother's Day in different ways.

"Mother's Day" can easily draw families to the cinema, because of its topic and the number of big stars. I watched it for Julia Roberts and Jennifer Aniston, but I was rather disappointed by it. These ensemble comedies have so many subplots and so many characters, that none of them are fully developed. As a result, I don't really know the characters well enough to care for any of them.

the Kate Hudson subplot is funny and entertaining enough, providing the comic relief. The Julia Roberts subplot is very disappointing, because it could have been so much better. She could have made a touching announcement on TV, which would have a far greater impact on the viewers. Instead, something else happened on TV which I don't care for at all.

"Mother's Day" had so much potential, but wasted the concept and the talent involved.

I was surprised to see so many negative reviews. Sure enough, this is a no-Oscar movie, quite average. It is more than OK to kill an evening. Just don't have too much expectations. It is in no way boring, it's just very down to earth. Exactly what you have in real life. Perhaps, not everyone can appreciate it for what it is - a life story of a mom with two kids, whose father found a new love and left... which, actually, utterly destroyed her perspective on life. So, being married and having kids is actually a must to watch this title. Just imagine your current partner leaving... and your kids, the only thing you have left, starting to spend more time with the new "mom". This is the drama part. Then we have a couple of stories for the comedy, and a little bit for romance. All things considered, I expected to see at least 6.5 rating.

'Mother's Day' was Garry Marshall's third multi-story film around a holiday, and sadly was the weakest of the three.

There's some lovely moments, and some good performances (I thought Kate Hudson in particular was good) but they are let down by some weak writing that tries to be cool and off the cuff, but ends up looking pointless.

The big name stars... and likable Brit Jack Whitehall do their best with the material but there is just too much going on for us to really connect with what is going on.

Garry Marshall is a much loved and much missed comedy legend, but I don't think this film sadly was one of his best.

To be realistic, it's a bad movie, but I don't think it should score that low.

It caught my attention with the cast and of course it was released on Mother's Day. I was expecting a better movie, not too bad, let me tell you from the beginning, but I'm not sure if it's worth your time.

Honestly for the first half of the movie, I was not really sure if I should continue watching this. But I'm glad chose to continue watching cause the 2nd half of the movie was awesome. Heartfelt so feel good movie

Well, this was worse than I had expected. A movie about Mother's Day should invoke feelings of love and gratitude towards mothers and show a strong bond. Sadly, this movie did neither or rather the attempt towards showcasing that was pretty horrible.

The movie was completely incoherent with a bunch of different stories thrown in the mix with neither regard for any logic nor an effort to make the audience feel anything for the characters. The pace of the movie was haphazard and there was no flow. There were abrupt ending to scenes or the scenes following didn't make any sense.

In addition, the movie makers probably asked each one of the actors (except a couple of them maybe) to showcase the worst acting of their careers. I would recommend completely skipping this train wreck even when it comes out on DVD or Netflix.

I went to see this movie with my wife and we both found it funny and relaxing. You will probably recognize a lot of the situations as the movie is very much in touch with today's social reality and how people cope with it. It's an honest and natural story. Don't expect a heavy-handed drama but a good laugh instead and a surprise here and there. Indeed there are different story lines, in the end they come together and it all makes sense. The duration is OK, we were not bored at all. We feel the many famous actors must have enjoyed themselves while filming. It's of course not the most difficult role they have played in their careers however we appreciated their work a lot and left the theater with happy faces.

"We're not who the world thinks we are. We decide who we are, when we want and who we want to know." Being a mother is hard. Just ask Sandy (Aniston) who's ex just got remarried to someone much much younger. Jesse (Hudson) who is trying to hide the man she married from her racist mother. Kristin, who has issues keeping her from marrying the father of her child and Bradley, a single widow who is trying to me mom and dad. When Mother's Day comes around everyone handles things differently. This is actually a very funny and sweet movie. Being a guy I wasn't all that excited about watching this, but I sat down with my daughters and we watched it together. I have to admit I did like this much more than I expected to. Yes, it is girly, but there are some pretty funny parts in this that made me laugh. Perhaps the best thing about this movie though is that, even though it is pretty predictable, it is not overly sappy and cheesy. That actually made it easier to watch and I actually do recommend this for a movie couples can watch together without one of you cringing too much. Overall, predictable but not cheesy. That is a hard thing to pull off, and a very good final movie for Garry Marshall. I like this. I surprisingly give this a B+.

Well.... Certainly... It COULD have been WORSE! ...Probably for many of You out there... Reading this Review will be enough for You to throw in the towel and shout...."UNCLE"!

Watching the rather well known lead cast members closely, they more often than not seem to squirm embarrassingly through their on-screen time! There are a couple moments where You just might say to Yourself... AHA! Now Mothers Day is FINALLY taking off!...........

But then..... It just DOESN´T!

Certainly, We cannot lay the blame wholely upon the Aforementioned stellar cast. The general concept of the movie itself just lacked coherence. Especially, when one considers the myriad of specific expectations created by the Title...... MOTHER´s DAY... At times seemed to be going in one direction ...and then would simply do a 180...and go completely in another.... Or WORSE even.... At times seemed to go nowhere at all!

Considering the limitations created by a rather lackluster script and the inability to really define itself in any clear way.... The cast members, despite making a seemingly heoric effort... just had too many hurdles placed in front of them.

Julia Roberts simply didn´t seem to have her heart in this project! (Can anyone really blame her for that???) Jennifer Aniston, whom, as quite a number of critics keep pointing out incessantly, just never seems to be able to deliver any on screen presence... other than that of RACHEL...Just does not convince me otherwise in her characterization rendition here!

Kate Hudson, in my opinion, actually stood out... a bit, at least, in her portrayal of the rather conflicted Jesse. Jason Sudeikis seemed somewhat miscast as the well intentioned, but rather clueless Bradley.

Focusing on a checklist of other crucial production elements.... Let us begin with the limited number of set locations, where the interaction actually takes place. One can only wonder as to why this seemed to be a problem.... Perhaps, the production ran over Budget??? Who knows!?!? The film would have benefited a great deal by mixing it up a bit.... As regards filming locations!

Oddly, is it just me... Or did the lighting, which I hardly EVER notice in a rather big budget Hollywood Production... Seem just a tad off and somewhat unnatural??? Another rare occurence in a Studio Production such as this one... They just couldn´t seem to get the editing right! I got the distinct impression that they were editing and re-editing endlessly, trying rather unsuccessfully, to end up with a much higher quality movie, but failed misrably in their effort!

This film was the very last film Directed by Hollywood legend Garry Marhall. He died just 10 Weeks after Mother´s Day had its theatrical Release! As to whether or not he was able to view his life´s last movie project in a public theater... Sorry, I really don´t know! But, in the grand scheme of things, it just doesn´t make that much difference.... Now Does it??? I spent about 20 minutes glancing over his humongous list of IMDb Credits! (It would have taken me at LEAST an hour to have gone over every detail meticulouly! WOW! This guy was literally involved with hundreds of movies and TV series projects! In just about EVERY and ANY possible capacity You can name!!! O. K...You name it!... Probably, on numerous occasions, Garry Marshall rshall was right there... Doing it! And, more often than not... Doing it spectacularly well!

It is a shame that this one in a million career seemed to have ended on such a rather sour note! At 80 Years of age, while workin on this project, It is not too difficult to imagine with the end of his life...possibly on the event horizon... Who knows what effect such a lloming reality might have had on his ability to perform at his absolute professional best!

Certainly, on paper at least, this movie seemed to be a sure winner! But.... Sadly, as so often is the case... MOTHER´s DAY falls lamentably far below expectation! SORRY! Wish there were a lot more substance here that I could wholeheartedly recommend......... Sadly... for everyone in the film and for all of the viewing public..... ....There simply ISN´T!!! My Rating: 3*** !!!