The Good Mother

I try my best to believe that we are not running out of good ideas. There are many mystery thriller films that have gone through the public gauntlet to become glowing examples and stand the test of time. One hopes that as the craft evolves, so would the creative minds of filmmakers, and new and unique stories would be told, right?

The Good Mother answers this question with a flavorless, underwhelming "no". This film had a solid hand drawn - gifted with blocks that would have built a sturdy body of fiction, with an all too relatable core theme for many people. Instead, all sense of pacing, rhythm, and even coherent storytelling are set aside in favor of something that would barely survive on Lifetime. The loss of a loved one in such a tragic manner should feel like a crushing vortex of grief that seemingly absorbs the world. This sense of loss in this film is not only nearly undetectable, but almost laughably tone deaf in execution. Between the nonsequitur plot points that are unceremoniously dropped to the painfully boring pace, the talented cast could not breathe life into this story.

Through the slog, however, one scene protruded through the mound of disturbed ground as a glowing moment in the story - the support group scene. Karen Aldridge's performance as Laurie is visceral. As the scene pulls our full attention to her, she recants the loss of her daughter to an overdose. Her pain is crushing, and the emotions which race across her face and pound her psyche to be released are quietly commanding our emotions. This was Aldridge's moment, and her powerful monologue was gifted to us with might that is deserving of a much better movie.

I remain optimistic that I will go into suspense thrillers with an open mind, and that my experience will be unique and enjoyable. The Good Mother perpetuates the self-fulfilling prophecy of mediocrity that has soiled the genre over the last decade. I often say that all movies are worth a viewing - I still believe this. However, the silver lining is that you can stop watching anytime.

Terrible plot, unrealistic behaviors from anyone with a "functioning" brain. Where's the "ending" to this ridiculous movie? Hilary Swank seems to be signing on for "anything" these days.

Every movie should have a beginning, a middle or the "meat" of the story. Then of course, an ending SURE would be nice as well so it can make some kind of sense and have closure. This movie is lacking in so many areas. It doesn't seem finished and as far as I know, there's no PART 2. The title should be "The drunken, terrible Mother". There was nothing GOOD about "Marissa".

Please, do yourself a favor & don't waste your valuable time.

Likes:

The Atmosphere Establishment: -The premise of the movie is a very bleak one, with an all too realistic punch that is hard to see.

-Good Mother captures that, and for those who realism is important, you not only get it, but get the weight of the dire consequences of this type of event.

-A filter from the camera is used to really get the rainy and foreboding nature of the setting, putting that engaging grief and sadness in it.

-Establishments offer little light and safety, dark and depressing to represent the journey through one's own personal journey through trauma and tragedy.

-And every avenue is a question seeking answers, the mystery element always ambiguous or at times dangerous.

-That setting is truly a strong drive of this movie for me, and though some generic settings, the execution adds some color to a rather grey medium.

The Dialogue: -The movie is not the biggest spectacle of modern special effects, gripping action, or even addressing some gripping technology. It's simplistic and very much traditional film making.

-Thus, the writing has a big impact on this film for making it have some flair and splendor. It accomplished this for me, engaging characters coming out in words with again more emphasis on a reality grounded approach to uncovering the truth.

-Every word is a combination of mystery solving, reactions to a family member death, and yet realism of trying to move on from the cloud as things come together.

-And with it, comes these sort of character development moments that really make a difference in my eyes to make things come to life and shine.

The Characters: -The movie again requires the players to be engaging and I give them that in this film, they are kind of engaging.

-Primarily relying on Swank and Cooke to do the lifting, these two have a lot of moxie in their battles with the crime committed.

-Their evolution believable, their moral tests believable, and the love of so much in one performance that it is a fantastically strong chemistry that kept me watching.

-And for those that just love that focus, you're going to get it in large amounts in a short time span.

The Representation: -We talked about this movie loaded with real life scenarios and I think it was done int a respectable manner.

-This movie is going to dive into a lot of social issues, seeking the truth, the depth, and the focus of just what was going on in this woman's world to cause such chaos and investigation.

-And though hard, and not really escaping life, to include it in the tasteful and integrative way is a plus in my eyes for writing and addressing some of the topics that it does.

The Acting: -By far the strongest quality, this movie is amazing in terms of the performances to bring so much to life.

-The first billed is in the stars, so I'm going to focus on the three characters who had the most involvement to be fair.

-Cooke is the one first billed who did a lot of lifting, a young woman who has fire, fervor, but control in her emotions as her character's journey changes. She's tough to keep up with Swank, sweet to help add some resets, and another side that is complex and interesting for viewers like m.

• Jack Reynor is a solid addition, his typical character profile of gruff, strong, but uncertain works well here and I for one found it enjoyable to see him be that little change up to the leading ladies.

• Hilary Swank is the star, as I expected, though. She's that same level of gruff, tough, determined grit but mixed with a splash of tragedy that buffers the warrior woman use. Swank continues to be this character with a focus on being a believable human thrust into another situation.

-The story may be a mystery, but another level is a drama of a woman having to overcome a hard time in her life and the trials that come with it. And she delivers that performance to such a level that I couldn't help but stay fixed on her.

-And the chemistry that she has with all her fellow performers is incredible. A fantastic array that is complex, entertaining, and awkward at times as called for the plot. She leads this group well and was the best part of the movie for me if I'm being honest.

DISLIKES:

The Story -As believable as it is, it's a movie that is a run of the mill plot without enough splash to wow it up.

-The Good Mother sews together about three plots, and most of it is similar to what we've seen on Law and Order, only without the engaging truth to find.

-The twist was predictable, the direction leaving little ambiguity as to who could be involved, and I can't say that it was the best executed for me as well.

The Suspense is Minimal -The movie is supposed to be a big mystery, and it kind of has it for a bit at discovering the big bad behind it.

-Once you figure it out though, or once it's revealed, the suspense boils down to a very small engaging tale that is more about personal growth than solving the crime.

-It is lackluster in terms of wow factor, boring in terms of a satisfying mystery ending, and to be honest, not even a fun build up to the truth. Only the realistic dramatic persona saves anything like this for me.

-And for a mystery, such a benign ending is not going to be very memorable to most of the people watching.

Dark/Depressing: -It's a movie that deals with a lot of things and so you need to be ready to slog through the harder aspects of life.

-Though a very short time to be subjected to it, you have to be ready to get ready for the harsh reality and emotions that come with it.

-If you cannot handle this, then please avoid this movie or you might find yourself down in the dumps, trauma flaring up or just tired.

-However, if you are okay with this, this dislike/warning is not going to be much.

-The soundtrack only further establishes, this indie vibe that will make fans of that genre happy, while fans like me may not be a fan of further dropping the tone.

The VERDICT: The Good Mother has a lot of good about it for being a smaller scale movie compared to what I could have been. The drama and character development are the top piece of the pie, a wonderful assortment of dealing with life's tough moments and having a traumatic event to bind it together. It's a great portrayal of life, a bout of fantastic dive into psyche and working through grief in a way that is unique, and helps give you characters that might actually ring a chord or two with you. As such, this movie wins props for doing well on that front and giving performances that are believable balanced, and a good intrigue to go with the realistic edge. But in terms of the mystery and thriller department, it's lackluster for this reviewer. A predictable and formulaic tale is hindered by the quick run time, the drama and real life issues more in line with their goals that the actual crime/mystery element is swallowed up into a generic and lackluster finish. The moral part of it is hot and in tune with the drama, but for those who love Hollywood's magic making crime more mystifying, this didn't do it for me. In addition the movie's visuals and topic discussion aren't going to be for anyone, and no amount of tasteful showing is going to potentially alleviate the tough content it has to deal with and the drab mood. But if you want this alternative and independent feeling movie, give it a look, but maybe hold off until it hits streaming where the quality I think is maximized.

My scores areas:

Drama/Thriller/Mystery: 6.5 Movie Overall: 6.0.

6 years in the making? Felt like it was written and rushed through direction over the course of 2 weeks, along with the title. We just don't have enough "The good this, and The Good that" out there, so why not another one. Some parts of this were truly impactful and helped to establish relatable characters and situations. Unfortunately, quite a few head-scratcher moments where clumsy writing would expel me right out from that plausible experience and cause an eyeroll or headshake- including the totally obvious and done a million times over twist play. Some of the more frustrating and pedestrian issues I can't reveal without spoilers. There is no question that Hillary Swank and Olivia Cooke have the talent, but I felt the overall story plot devices were shallow, and it prevented this from being satisfying. I won't remember this in the sea of The Good Whatevers after tomorrow.

Just because they promote From the three-time Academy Award-nominated producer of The Wolf of Wall Street and Two-time Academy Award-winner Hilary Swank doesn't mean a thing when you hire amateur writers and director.

This entire film was underwhelming, slow and convoluted. The normally comfortable 89 min runtime felt endless with the long dragged out and mostly unnecessary scenes and poor pacing. There were far too many filmmaking mistakes, and director co-writer Miles Joris-Peyrafitte also failed to direct his cast properly, because Swank seemed like she'd rather be somewhere else and call in her lines, than in this mess.