#104: Mother

Release Date: December 25th, 1996

Format: Criterion Collection on Blu-ray

Written by: Albert Brooks and Monica Johnson

Directed by: Albert Brooks

4 Stars

Mother is a delightful little movie about a middle-aged, recently divorced man moving back in with his mother in an attempt to better understand their relationship. 

I remember seeing this on television when I was in my early teens. It was my first exposure to Albert Brooks, and although a young teenage boy is clearly not the primary demographic of a movie like this, I fell in love with it immediately. It’s funny, well-written, and knows what it wants to be. It’s a movie of modest ambitions, more interested in its characters than in big set pieces or broad humor. 

Debbie Reynolds is wonderful here, in her first movie role in over 20 years. She’s very funny and makes a great comedic partner to Brooks. 

I think most sons (and mothers) can relate to their relationship in this movie. Mothers and sons will often love each other more than they understand each other, and the script by Brooks and frequent collaborator Monica Johnson has fun exploring this dynamic. The scenes of Brooks and Reynolds running errands to the mall and a pet store and a grocery store are brilliantly funny and well-performed.

Is the ending a bit too convenient? Probably, yes. But who cares? Can’t we just have a simple, happy ending sometimes? Is that so bad? I love the idea that both mother and son discover something new about themselves, and each other, and I’m always smiling like an idiot when the final credits begin to roll.