Themes: Mothers and Sons, Midlife Crises, Sibling Relationships
Main Cast: Albert Brooks, Debbie Reynolds, Rob Morrow, Lisa Kudrow, John C. McGinley
Release Year: 1996
Country: US/CA
Run Time: 104 minutes
MPAA Rating: PG13
Plot
A man tries to figure out why his best friend isn't his mother in this comedy written and directed by Albert Brooks. John Henderson (Brooks) is a neurotic, self-obsessed writer whose relationships with women have been almost uniformly disastrous. Middle-aged and single, John decides that he must come to terms with his problems with women, and he decides to start with the first significant female relationship of his life -- his mother, Beatrice (Debbie Reynolds). John arrives at Beatrice's house and announces that he's moving back into his old room until he can resolve his issues with her. Beatrice politely plays along, but she is more puzzled by John's behavior than anything else. John and Beatrice soon find that they spend less time trying to resolve their differences than arguing if salads can be frozen or if you can really tell the difference between premium ice cream and the supermarket's store brand. Rob Morrow plays John's brother, and Lisa Kudrow plays one of John's less compatible blind dates. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
Review
Albert Brooks' Mother would be a winning achievement if only for providing Debbie Reynolds her best showcase in years, which many critics thought should have earned her an Oscar nomination. But it also makes a natural next chapter in Brooks' career-long, painfully honest examination of how neuroses stunt his recurring character type, which is as thinly autobiographical and sardonically humorous as the characters Woody Allen writes for himself. What more Freudian way to get at issues of self-loathing, romantic dysfunction, and writer's block than to have his character move back in with Mom? Brooks' deadpan frustration works wonderfully alongside the deceptive congeniality of Reynolds, a passive-aggressive woman who's frugal with both her money (she's been preserving a frozen block of cheese for years) and her positive reinforcement. Reynolds strikes a quirky balance between ingrained mothering that has become rote by repetition, and the seeming indifference bordering on resentment she has developed for her son. The film is basically a series of embarrassing episodes that flesh out their hilariously complex relationship -- she gently berates him with backhanded compliments, he openly challenges her long-standing idiosyncrasies. The character study provides the film steady propulsion toward a resolution that helps them see each other as real people, rather than family members long ago taken for granted. And when this involves Brooks grappling with his mother's ongoing sex life, well, that's just the writer/director at his stomach-churning best. ~ Derek Armstrong, All Movie Guide
Isabel Glasser - Cheryl; Rosalind Allen - Woman at Gas Station; Peter White - Charles; Billye Ree Wallace - old woman in grocery store
Credit
Judy L. Rustin - Costume Designer, Richard Graves - First Assistant Director, Albert Brooks - Director, Harvey Rosenstock - Editor, Marc Shaiman - Composer (Music Score), Marc Shaiman - Songwriter, Charles Rosen - Production Designer, Lajos Koltai - Cinematographer, Scott Rudin - Producer, Herb Nanas - Producer, Kim Ornitz - Sound/Sound Designer, Albert Brooks - Screenwriter, Monica Johnson - Screenwriter
John Henderson (Albert Brooks) is a successful science fiction writer finalizing his second divorce, given that he has a critical and neurotic personality. Perplexed at the issues he has with women, John decides to initiate a project to understand women better: moving in with his mother (Debbie Reynolds). "Mother" (1996) was filmed on location in and around the town of Sausalito, Greenbrae, and Tiburon areas with additional shooting in San Francisco in Northern California.
Casting
Albert Brooks wanted a famous actress from the 1950s to play the role of Mother, and originally offered the role to retired actresses Nancy Reagan and Doris Day. Day refused. Reagan loved the script and considered coming out of retirement for her first acting role in more than 40 years, but decided instead to stay home and care for her husband, Ronald Reagan, who was suffering from Alzheimer's disease. Brooks then asked his good friend Carrie Fisher if he could send the script to her mother, Debbie Reynolds. Reynolds happily accepted the part.
