As a general rule, I try not to let major critic reviews influence my decision to see a movie or not. I do, however, have some faith in the word of regular movie goers like myself. So when I heard that regular folks were in agreement that mother! was among the worst movies they had ever seen, my excitement dimmed. Thinking that there was no way it could be as bad as everyone was saying, I still decided to give it a shot. How could anything featuring four of today’s best actors be that bad? Well, not only was mother! as bad as people say, I actually think in was even worse. In fact, this may be the single worst movie I have ever seen in my life.
There is just so much wrong with this picture that I don’t have the time and space to describe it all – it would take you longer to read the article than to watch the movie itself (and I wouldn’t wish that on anybody). Instead, I’ll just provide some bullet points with the biggest issues with the film. There may be some slight spoilers, so be warned.
- Director Darren Aronofsky isn’t known for feel-good movies, but mother! is just straight up depressing. I would even go so far as to say it’s actually nauseating. This could quite possible end his Hollywood career, or at the very least send him back to art house movie making
- Jennifer Lawrence gives easily the worst performance in her relatively short career. Nothing is required of her other than looking sad and getting angrier as the film progresses. I’m sure she will emerge from the bad reviews relatively unscathed, but she needs to make a crowd pleaser with haste
- Both Ed Harris and Michelle Pfeiffer give awful performances as well, and then just disappear halfway through the movie. I get that veteran actors make some poor career choices at times, but why either signed up for this is beyond me
- Javier Bardem may be the bright spot in the movie, but only because he is supposed to be somewhat creepy and creepy is what he was born to play. That being said, being the best piece of garbage in a pile of trash still makes you garbage
- The plot is completely nonsensical. I think that may be the point, but it makes it incredibly hard to follow at times. I’ve seen many movies without much of a plot, but at least they had some redeeming qualities to make up for it
- mother! was advertised as a horror type film, and it most definitely was not. I’d say it definitely leaned more towards drama. The scariest thing about it was that I actually spent 120 minutes watching this crap
- About two thirds of the way through the movie, the abrupt shift from basic drama to all out nuttiness is distracting. It almost feels as if it was two very different movies (albeit really bad ones) crammed together.
- There is some very disturbing stuff to be seen in mother!, but near the end is the single most revolting thing I have ever witnessed either on screen or in real life. Any chance of me actually liking the movie by this point went out the window with this single scene. I recommend if you have a weak stomach, cover your ears and eyes
- The end. It’s bad. Like really, really bad. I was actually pissed off after seeing it.
So yeah, mother! is a total disaster from beginning to end, and I can’t recommend enough to avoid it at all costs. This movie should never have been a mainstream release, and I feel like the only reason it was advertised so much was strictly to appeal to Lawrence’s fans. This should never have seen the light of day, or at the very least been stuck in art house hell. When the movie started, there was just over 30 people in the theater with me, and by the time the credits started to roll, there was only 11 – over 2/3 of the crowd walked out before it was over (many at the previously mentioned disturbing scene). Can I sue for the two hours of my life that I lost?
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