OTHERHOOD: Mommie Dearests

Netflix has been producing quality content for years now. Their success is mostly within their TV shows, but the occasional feature film comes out absolutely smashing. Just look at Roma. Or even the smaller victories like Set It Up and To All The Boys I Loved Before. These films provide something new and fresh into the genres they utilise and due to the nature of streaming, filmmakers often have a lot more creative freedom than with traditional studio filmmaking. Unfortunately, Otherhood isn’t like any of those films.

Otherhood comes across as a bad TV movie, filled with mediocre performances and terrible characters that are about as exciting as unseasoned chicken. Every character is bland, boring and the writing is straight-out lazy.

Mothers Of The Year – Not

The story follows three mothers who feel completely left out and forgotten by their adult sons on Mother’s Day and the decide to surprise them in New York. Needless to say, they aren’t necessarily welcomed with open arms. What follows is a tale of terrible mothers and terrible sons on a roll.

In all fairness, Otherhood has a great cast. It’s a joy to see Felicity Huffman, Angela Bassett and Patricia Arquette together and the film is strongest when they are all together in a room, preferably with some bourbon. Bassett especially has a lot of fun with her role, but she would have potential for something better, more outrageous and funnier. Every time she is on screen, the screen lights up a little more and the comedy is just a little snappier and funnier.

Arquette, who is such a powerful dramatic actress and has just turned in an absolutely devastating performance in The Act, is utterly wasted here. Her character comes across as judgmental and her work here is a bit lazy, as if she’s on autopilot. It’s only bad because she is usually so much better.

Huffman, who is currently in the middle of the college admissions scandal gets a flashy role as a very dramatic mother of a gay son. She tends to play the martyr whenever possible, but it does a disservice to the character and makes her unpleasant and simply awful. It’s emotional manipulation and it isn’t fair on her son. Unfortunately, he’s not particularly nice either, so it’s hard to care.

Problematic Portrayals

Better known as a writer for such TV hits as Sex and The City and Modern Family, director Cindy Chupack has seemingly set out to create a comedy for more mature tastes. She taps into a subject matter that will get your mom asking for a film night with the whole family in hopes that the film will teach everyone a lesson in appreciating the matriarchs. Our mothers deserve a better film than Otherhood.

Maybe this should have been her take on Sex and The City after having kids, these women certainly are interesting and raunchy enough to warrant that approach, but unfortunately Otherhood resembles the atrocious SATC films rather than the somewhat decent TV show. It also makes the same mistakes; everyone seems filthy rich and the only person who lives in what must be the only affordable apartment in New York is portrayed as a disgusting, filthy man who has given up on life.

Otherhood might only be an average film in execution and its technical aspects, but what makes things worse is its constant insistence on motherhood being the meaning of life. Characters keep repeating how being a mother gives them meaning and their children are the meaning of their life.

I’m not being overly sensitive when I say that hurts. Kids are great, but a film claiming children, and only children can give your life meaning seems a bit much. This is hurtful for people unable to or choosing not to have children. There is a great story in all this somewhere, but Otherhood fails to capture it.

Otherhood isn’t completely rotten as a film. There are a lot of fun moments and great insights about life after moving out of your childhood home and the distance it puts between you and your parents. It’s a topic that we don’t see too often on the big screen, but one that is ripe for storytelling. It’s also a great angle for stories about women, mothers. We often see young mothers or mothers of teenagers struggle with parenthood. But where are the stories about after parenthood? After the kids move out, after the halls of your home have gone quiet again. I want to see more of these stories and Netflix releasing Otherhood is certainly a start. Now we need good films about mothers.

Otherhood – Mommie Dearest?

Otherhood might not be the worst thing Netflix has released since it started producing original films, but it lacks the artistic depth and ambition a story like this deserves. The idea is good, but it isn’t developed enough to make it a fully fleshed out story with intriguing and multi-dimensional characters.

Otherhood ends up being forgettable, boring and at times insulting. I want there to be good films about what happens when the rest of the world thinks your life as a woman is over, you’ve given what you’ve got and your life has no meaning or value to the society no longer. I want films that flip the bird to that sentiment, but unfortunately Otherhood almost seems to agree with this. The plot goes to extreme lengths to show that these characters are only as good as their offspring and they can only contribute to the universe by offering their children some deep wisdoms and advice.

What a shame.

Who’s your favourite on-screen mother? What did you think of Otherhood? Let us know in the comments!

 Otherhood is streaming now on Netflix.