Mother's Day
1.5 Waffles!

"Mother’s Day is a middle of the road, super safe, average movie with some chuckles but nothing exhilarating and nothing horribly disappointing. It's just there."

Get ready for the bland!

Because no holiday is safe from Garry Marshall, he tackles Mother’s Day in the typical sitcom fashion we have become accustomed to after seeing New Year’s Eve and Valentine’s Day.

Just like in those movies, we have plenty of famous faces playing well-to-do people with great houses and difficult troubles.

It’s the week before Mother’s Day, but Jesse (Kate Hudson) is estranged from her mother (Margo Martindale) because she is hiding a big secret.

Miranda (Julia Roberts) is a wildly successful TV star who has been hiding a secret for years, but one that might just emerge this weekend.

Sandy (Jennifer Aniston) is a divorced mother of two struggling with leftover feelings for her ex (Timothy Olyphant), but the secret he is about to reveal will probably put an end to that (a movie with this many surprises and secrets should be so much more exciting and interesting).

And, Bradley (Jason Sudeikis) is mourning the loss of his wife, while struggling to raise two daughters (he doesn’t have any secrets, maybe he should?).

Mother’s Day is a middle of the road, super safe, average movie with some chuckles but nothing exhilarating and nothing horribly disappointing. It's just there.

It's a flat movie with no real story arcs until the end when Marshall and the four person writing team drag out every clichéd plot device known to man and beast to draw some cheap emotion out of the audience. None of it is deep. It’s just maudlin and predictable and simple.

The cast is plugging away, but none of them face any great acting challenges, which might be exactly why they signed up. I’d like to hang out on the set with Marshall and make millions of bucks, too.

Mother's Day is rated PG-13 for language and some suggestive material.

118 Minutes