motherhood sucks, the movie, i mean
29 Apr
I watched the Uma Thurman movie Motherhood yesterday via Netflix. It’s about a day in the life of a frazzled mommy blogger who throws together a birthday party for her daughter and completes a 500 word essay defining motherhood for a magazine contest. I can definitely relate, right? So, despite the horrible reviews, I watched it.
This film earned under $100,000 in the U.S., and a whopping 11 people watched it opening weekend in the UK (source: Huffington Post). And, as much as the producers are blaming marketing for the financial disaster, they may just be overlooking one little problem: the movie sucks.
Here are the thoughts that went through my head while watching Thurman’s character, Eliza, fumble her way through her day…
Why is she leaving the house in her nightgown? I’ve been known to forget backpacks, maybe snacks, but clothing?
Why is she going off on every person who crosses her path? I totally get losing it on someone on a bad day. Just ask the man in the Publix parking lot who dared to yell at me for letting someone cross the street before I turned (which, btw, is the LAW in Atlanta). But this Eliza character is an asshole to everyone who talks to her, stands next to her in line, or sits in traffic with her. But, she’s not the fun kind of asshole, who the audience still kind of roots for; she’s just whiny and uppity.
Then there’s the odd scene of Eliza befriending a messenger boy, inviting him up to her apartment, and then dancing with him to Pylon. This scene was supposed to be fueled with sexual tension. A young, hot messenger boy paying attention to the tired, but still beautiful SAHM. But, Uma is super sweaty in the scene from carrying groceries, and then she plays Pylon and starts dancing like an ostrich. Who the hell dances like that? This shit is just weird. Nice nod to Pylon, however. I’ll give them that.
While I can appreciate the honest attempt to show the details of motherhood and housekeeping, dedicating three-fourths of the film to these details gets old, fast. But, the major issue is Uma Thurman, who though a real-life New York mother of two, was not at all believable in this role. She was stressed, impatient, and kind of gross, all staples of motherhood, sure, but her personality outside of motherhood was kind of lame. She was clever, but not funny. Caring, but aloof. Maybe, that’s my problem with this film. I wouldn’t want to hang out with Eliza.
I wanted to like this movie, really I did. Of course I want an honest perspective of motherhood in films. But, maybe, like Time magazine suggested, this film is about 10 years too late. Kind of like how the TV version of Sex and The City is groundbreaking and fun to watch, but the movies are about as original as a group of 40 year olds ordering Cosmos on their night out on the town.
It’s not that the theme is not interesting. Motherhood is ripe for storytelling, the way love is the endless wellspring of great pop songs. The content isn’t the problem; it’s the writing and the delivery of the story that failed here.
Sorry, Uma, you can do better than this. At least you kicked ass in Kill Bill.
Here is the thing… I am betting it did not hi-light and REAL life working, single mom of two type shit… like my week for example… Dance for one kid Mon and Tues nights, Wed spent running around getting soccer coach gifts for Sat’s end of season party and a baby shower gift for the shower I am also supposed to attend… don’t forget the 2-dozen, individually wrapped baked goods I had to have to the school by this morning for Fri nights “Spring Dance.” My lunch break today was spent running to the school to buy the tickets and place our family order for the pizza for tomorrow night’s Spring Dance (that I was TOTALLY hoping the kids would not mention and I would be able to skip altogether… but no such luck). Tonight, soccer practice for two kids, in two completely opposite locations. Add homework, bath time, meals, etc. to the mix and I am still not an asshole to people!
Amen! Yes, totally.
It’s not that the movie itself is a bad idea. She just didn’t play the role right, and the writing was too cliche, for SAHMs or working moms. She came off as a caricature of an “urban mother,” rather than a real person going through a transformation, which would have been moving to see. Oh, well…
Btw, hope your week ends with some time to yourself and beer:)
Man this movie sucked, Tanya somehow suckered me into renting it this weekend. The main problem I had with it was the fact that her fake stress came from a day where she took the kids to the park, went shopping, and took leisurely strolls around the city with her friend. It was the perfect example of a day that otherwise would represent a pretty good day off with the kids. That combined with Uma’s bad overacting was a case for one really annoying film.
Yeah, they just missed the mark completely. Maybe if they stretched the timeline past a day, the characters could have been developed better. Then the audience would be more sympathetic, maybe.
I’m home with my kids, so I totally get the stress and needing to talk to grown-ups, etc. But, she was miserable even in line at the store sans kids!
Uma Thurman was like a thousand times drop dead gorgeous when she was still younger.**~
i seen Uma personally and she is quite a tall lady,..–