LouHomey From my favorite movies..

Forumrxes Yo, there's no way for me to review this film without saying, take your *insert ethnicity + "ass" here* to see this film,like now. You have to see it in order to know what you're really messing with.

Neive Bellamy Excellent and certainly provocative... If nothing else, the film is a real conversation starter.

Hayleigh Joseph This is ultimately a movie about the very bad things that can happen when we don't address our unease, when we just try to brush it off, whether that's to fit in or to preserve our self-image.

nomoons11 First off, to like Albert brooks' films you have to think like a Woody Allen fan. He is exactly like Woody Allen except he came after Allen 10 or so years later. His films are "talkies" or "conversations".When I saw this back when it came out I walked out smiling. I hadn't seen it since then and so I thought I 'd revisit it and ya know what? I had the same reaction. What a wonderful little film.Basic premise is a not very successful SCI-FI writer decided he wants to go live with his mother to understand why he is the he is...and why he doesn't do well with women (he gets divorced at the beginning of the film). From there we get a jealous/needy younger brother and a look inside the inner workings of...well....moms. Why are mom's the way they are.In the end you'll get an AH HAH!!! moment when you see he figures his mom out. You'll go back in your mind and try your best to remember why your mom is, if not close, the same as Debbie Reynolds.There are so many funny moments in this film there are just too many to list. First and foremost, Albert Brooks is most certainly a writer...and a darn good one. I enjoy all his stuff like I do Woody Allen's. Walk into this and prepare to pay close attention to the dialogue and get all the little bits and pieces of ALbert Brooks mind.I'm pretty sure by the end of this one, you'll be walking away laughing and smiling one after another.

capricorn9 Miss Reynolds came out of "semi-retirement", as she likes to say, to star in this Albert Brooks comedy. She is amazing - so underplayed - so deadpan - so funny. Brooks on the other hand can be a whiner at times and you almost want to slap him for what he says to his mother, but like a good mom, she takes it and realizes he loves her deep down and doesn't mean it. The two together in their scenes are right on with pacing and the snappy dialog Brooks has written. Rob Morrow is a hoot as the jealous brother who also wants the mother's attention as well as a young Lisa Kudrow in a small, but very funny, part of a girl he goes out with after his divorce. For anyone with a mother, this film is a must!

moonspinner55 Albert Brooks certainly runs hot ("Lost In America", "Defending Your Life") and cold (just about everything else). "Mother" combines bits of his quirky, low-key style with his more commercial impulses, but the results aren't especially funny or convincing or involving. Brooks as an actor is again right on the money playing a writer with female troubles who moves back in with his mom to find out where he went wrong in life. Debbie Reynolds is just right as his middle-aged mother who freezes everything except the Saltines. But this premise is dubious. It only passes in the film because Brooks rationalizes its merits, but it makes no sense on a realistic level. On the other hand, there are many quirky character traits that viewers will be able to relate to. It's a mixed bag, but is finally handicapped by a condescending dinner scene with Lisa Kudrow (typecast as a ditz) and also by Rob Morrow's irritating performance as Brooks' wishy-washy brother (not to mention a rewrite/remake of Simon & Garfunkel's "Mrs. Robinson" that verges on sacrilege). A one-joke affair. ** from ****

jdollak Mother is a beautiful movie, in that it gives us an insight to our relationships with our parents. While I am not female, things might be a little different for daughters, but as a son, I can see the same behaviors that have cultivated in my mother. And she can see it in her mother. My girlfriend can see it in her mother, and her grandmother. While the comedy is a little dry, and actually slightly confusing on the initial viewing, if you return to the movie after a year or so, it will make complete sense. It only gets better after that. I can understand being underwhelmed by this movie the first time. Please don't judge it too harshly. I know I would have rated it a 6 or so when I first saw it, and now I've given it a 9. Maybe I should explain why it doesn't get a 10. There are a few sequences that should have been altered. I found the date scene to be a little too long, and the Mrs Robinson sequence should have been almost completely eliminated. It is a painfully bad gag, and the humor of it is something that can only be appreciated by those of a certain mind set. Don't worry, I'm not insulting you if you like it.