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Mother's Boys
Overheated direction and a messy screenplay notwithstanding, the 1993 psychological thriller Mother's Boys is still worth a look thanks to an icy performance from Jamie Lee Curtis in the starring role.
Jude Madigan left her husband and three sons three years ago with no explanation. She has now returned and has decided she wants her family back, despite the fact that Jude's husband, Robert , is now engaged to Callie, the assistant principal at the boys' school. When her obvious attempts to get rid of Callie fail, Jude decides the only way to get her family back is through her oldest son, Kes, who is in deep denial about his mother's leaving and seriously confused about her return.
The basic premise of this movie is solid, but Barry Schneider's screenplay, based on a novel by Bernard Taylor, takes a sledgehammer approach, spoon-feeding the viewer with everything that happens. We get our first hint that all is not right with Jude when she visits her mother and tells mom that "she feels good." We get serious mixed signals from Robert who claims he no longer has feelings for Jude, but his initial encounters with her upon her return say otherwise. My biggest problem with the story is when Jude decides a weekend alone with oldest son, Kes is the answer and the fact that it actually seems to bring Kes to her side makes no sense whatsoever. Not to mention the fact that the new fiancee is dumb as a box of rocks, which just seemed a little convenient.
Yves Simeoneau's manic direction doesn't help either...his camerawork is often headache inducing and inject a whole lot of overbaked and unmotivated "boos" to the story that come from nowhere but the director's imagination and take the viewer out of the reality of what's going on. The camera revolving around Callie in one scene where she gets a phone call about Robert gave me a serious headache.
The one thing that really works here is an expertly underplayed performance by Jamie Lee Curtis as Jude. On the surface this character seems to be a re-thinking of Alex Forrest in Fatal Attraction, but this character is more subtly drawn than Alex; unfortunately the screenplay plays most of its cards way too quickly, diluting the power of Curtis' work.
Peter Gallagher works hard at keeping the husband believable, but Joanne Whalley's wooden performance only reinforces how stupid the character is. Oscar winner Vanessa Redgrave impresses in a glorified cameo as Jude's mother. The film features some excellent cinematography and editing, but this one is really for hardcore fans of Jamie Lee Curtis only.
Overheated direction and a messy screenplay notwithstanding, the 1993 psychological thriller Mother's Boys is still worth a look thanks to an icy performance from Jamie Lee Curtis in the starring role.
Jude Madigan left her husband and three sons three years ago with no explanation. She has now returned and has decided she wants her family back, despite the fact that Jude's husband, Robert , is now engaged to Callie, the assistant principal at the boys' school. When her obvious attempts to get rid of Callie fail, Jude decides the only way to get her family back is through her oldest son, Kes, who is in deep denial about his mother's leaving and seriously confused about her return.
The basic premise of this movie is solid, but Barry Schneider's screenplay, based on a novel by Bernard Taylor, takes a sledgehammer approach, spoon-feeding the viewer with everything that happens. We get our first hint that all is not right with Jude when she visits her mother and tells mom that "she feels good." We get serious mixed signals from Robert who claims he no longer has feelings for Jude, but his initial encounters with her upon her return say otherwise. My biggest problem with the story is when Jude decides a weekend alone with oldest son, Kes is the answer and the fact that it actually seems to bring Kes to her side makes no sense whatsoever. Not to mention the fact that the new fiancee is dumb as a box of rocks, which just seemed a little convenient.
Yves Simeoneau's manic direction doesn't help either...his camerawork is often headache inducing and inject a whole lot of overbaked and unmotivated "boos" to the story that come from nowhere but the director's imagination and take the viewer out of the reality of what's going on. The camera revolving around Callie in one scene where she gets a phone call about Robert gave me a serious headache.
The one thing that really works here is an expertly underplayed performance by Jamie Lee Curtis as Jude. On the surface this character seems to be a re-thinking of Alex Forrest in Fatal Attraction, but this character is more subtly drawn than Alex; unfortunately the screenplay plays most of its cards way too quickly, diluting the power of Curtis' work.
Peter Gallagher works hard at keeping the husband believable, but Joanne Whalley's wooden performance only reinforces how stupid the character is. Oscar winner Vanessa Redgrave impresses in a glorified cameo as Jude's mother. The film features some excellent cinematography and editing, but this one is really for hardcore fans of Jamie Lee Curtis only.