Mother's Day (2016), PG-13, ★

Kate Hudson in yet another bad rom-com or comedy, whatever.

Everybody loves their mothers regardless. They are the ones that comfort you after you have a bad day from school, got hurt from somewhere else or maybe talk to you in a deep conversation. But, sometimes, they can gossip a bit about you, how handsome or beautiful their children are or can ask when their children will get married. This movie, on the other hand...ok, Garry Marshall was an esteemed director who got his hands on a project and turn them into a solid comedy: The Flamingo Kid and Pretty Woman. He was even memorable in a role in Soapdish, an underrated comedy about soap opera. This movie is the epitome of a very bad Lifetime movie with such gratuitous product placement and sponsorship that looks like a sparkly prescription drug commercial.

Like Valentine's Day and New Year's Eve (ugh!), there are interlocking stories which takes place one week before Mother's Day and all of the stories have no execution and have no sense of craftsmanship regarding how characters are developed in a storyline. Sandy (Jennifer Aniston), who is a divorced mom is bothered by the fact that her ex-husband, Henry (Timothy Olyphant) is married to a younger woman named Tina (Shay Mitchell). Bradley (Jason Sudeikis), a widower, is having trouble to celebrate Mother's Day with his daughters without his wife who was killed in combat.

Popular HSN host Miranda (Julia Roberts) has no idea that she has a granddaughter which simultaneously Kristin (Britt Robertson) is bothered as to why she gave her up for adoption. Sisters Jesse (Kate Hudson) and Gabi (Sarah Chalke) are married to both person of color and same-sex and they have to confess to their homophobic and racist mother (Margo Martindale) about how serious their relationships are with their loved ones to her. And that's pretty much it.

The only story with a glimmer of hope.

Oh God! This movie...there are no funny moments, a lot of moments have to force us to go into sentimental manipulation except for one which was earned, and then there is dialogue that feels lightweight and nonsense that I felt like if we were living in a world like how people talk that way, then the Intelligence Quotient would be as low as a snake pit. Plus, when issues are resolved, the outcome is predictable. You would need a chart as to know what you need to study in order to get this movie because there is a guarantee you would pass the class.

All of the performances are artificial in their own right because they are in their own movie. The movie felt like a cynical exercise of people getting together and/or reuniting for the 3rd or 4th time. Julia Roberts does what she can in a hapless and terrible wig, Jennifer Aniston looks like she is a Friends episode 10 years later, Kate Hudson is beautiful but is stuck in a mean-spirited plot with Margo Martindale, who portrays probably the worst grandmother in movie history. And, Timothy Olyphant looks creepy with Shay Mitchell, who has no chemistry with him. Sudeikis tries too hard at times but there are a few moments of dramatic chops with her children that go beyond tame sitcom.

The Sudeikis plot is the only storyline that I bothered to care about and can be its own movie with a good dramatic performance. However, this whole movie is a bad sitcom episode. Garry Marshall, I truly apologize, is one of the worst directors out there right now assembling all these talented actors into one of these holiday light fares for the audience to see. There's too much going on with so little material thrown in that it becomes artificially intelligent and beyond gratuitous. It has a place of honor on a list that I'll be posting in December and please don't take your mother to see this. Spare her wonderful life and take her to a brunch or something next weekend.

*