2016 movie reviews

(THEO ET HUGO DANS LE MEME BATEAU) (France 2016) ****Movie Review:

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paris_0559PARIS 05:59: THEO & HUGO
(THEO ET HUGO DANS LE MEME BATEAU) (France 2016) ****
Directed by Olivier Ducastel et Jacques Martineau

Starring: Geoffrey Couët, François Nambot, Mario Fanfani

Review by Gilbert Seah

Truly sexual films just do not just contain sex scenes anymore. Truly sexual films use sex scenes to push their audience past some new psychological frontier.
And gay films do just that, pushing their audiences past boundaries straight films never reached before. BLUE IS THE WARMEST COLOUR (L’HISTORE D’ADELE) portrayed very long hot steamy lesbian sexy scenes never dared before in a commercial movie. French Directors Olivier Ducastel and Jacques Martineau do the same for the gay male sex movie.

Directors Ducastel and Martineau have already wowed gay audiences with their earlier films THE ADVENTURES OF FELIX and COTE D’AZUR. Their new movie on first love begins with an X-rated 18 minutes sequence in a sex club which commonly also exists as a bath house (spa).

The sex scenes are tastefully done, as evident in the light shone on the two when the two first meet. Their bodies glide towards each other before they begin copulating. Almost all is laid bare except the ejaculation which is assumed to have occurred when Theo reaches for the tissues.

Theo and Hugo meet and have steamy sex for the first time amidst a sea of naked men. Despite the graphic setting, the love comes across as a sweet and ‘innocent’ one which is put to the test after they leave the ‘club’. Theo (Francois Nambot) confesses that he had f***ed Hugo (Geoffrey Couet) sans condom. The subject of a.i.d.s was addressed in Ducastel and Martineau’s first film THE ADVENTURES OF FELIX in which Felix , the lead character had to deal with the disease. The couple Theo and Hugo face the same demise, but times have changed in 30 years. The majority of hiv positive people now survive under medication. Theo enters the emergency ward of the Parisienne hospital to get medication to prevent himself from getting the virus. This is in contrast to the directors first film, where Felix struggles to deal with his upcoming death from the disease.

The couple also meet a Syrian kebab worker and an old lady in the metro. In a short few minutes, these two deliver an abridged but very effective view on life as they see it. Despite the film dwelling on two characters, their apparently unaffected lives in the world are put into perspective rather brilliantly. All matters in the short time the film is set.

The two young actors have to perform as well as act their roles. The two newcomers, Nambot and Couet exceed expectations. They are extremely cute with matched body types.

The rest of the film, as hinted by the film title ends almost at 6 am in the morning in Paris. It is an absorbing film which turns out to be a sweet romantic film about the innocence of first love. A daring film that demands to be seen if one can bear the extended sex scenes.

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Movie Review: THE WAITING ROOM (Canada 2015) **

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the_waiting_room.jpgTHE WAITING ROOM (Canada 2015) **
Directed by Igro Drljaca

Starring: Cintija Asperger, Jordan Barker, Tatjana Cornij

Review by Gilbert Seah

THE WAITING ROOM shot in Toronto in English, Bosnian and Croatian has garnered praise in its limited run in film festivals which could mean one thing – this is the kind of quirky Canadian feature that is not bad but no one wants to see.

The central character is a middle-age struggling actor, Jasmin (Jasmin Geljo) who has immigrated to Toronto from Bosnia. He lives with his second wife and young son but longs to move back to Bosnia where his father, who he talks to frequently on the computer is. He has various acting parts, one of which is in drag (the reason is up to the audience to figure) and another one sitting in a car driving around with the background of Bosnia. Jasmin finds the pieces of his former and present life meshing uncomfortably. When he is cast for a role set amidst the very Bosnian-Herzegovinian civil war he escaped decades earlier, the line between fiction and reality become blurred. Director Drljaca blurs the lines of fiction and re-creation, the tragic and the absurd in the film.

The cast of Canadian unknowns perform relatively well, lead actor Geljo included. Production values are also sound.

Director Drljaca’s (KRIVINA) over serious film looks sincere but the film’s narrative goes nowhere and the film jumps all over the place. The only humour, understated obviously, comes right at the end of the film, which fortunately is quite the delight! The question is whether one would like to sit through the entire film for the ending.

The film premiered at last year’s Toronto International Film Festival is now getting a commercial release.

 

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Movie Review: DARK HORSE (UK 2014) ***1/2

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darkhorse.jpgDARK HORSE (UK 2014) ***1/2
Directed by Louise Osmond

Review by Gilbert Seah

If one is to check imdb the internet film database, there has been no less than 4 films since 1992 that have the identical title of DARK HORSE. But this 2014 documentary by Louise Osmond is the only one that is actually about a horse – and a dark horse, not destined to win any race. DARK HORSE is the inspirational true story of a Welsh group of friends from a working men’s club who decide to take on the elite ‘sport of kings’ and breed themselves a racehorse. And one that went on to win Britain’s Grand National, enriching a lot of lives.

Director Osmond plays it safe for her documentary. The doc traces the beginning to end of the life of Dream Alliance (the horse’s name) with various highlights of him winning many races. There is also an obstacle portion near the end when Dream Alliance runs into trouble with a serious accident. “It is the end”, everyone thinks but miraculously, thanks to stem cell surgery, the horse emerges recovered and ready to race again. Will he continue to win?

The film is made up mostly of interviews by the owners of Dream Alliance oddly called the syndicate, made up of a good number of common Welsh folk. The rest is made up of archive footage of races. One wonders about the footage of the surgery of the horse undergoing stem cell surgery as it seems that it is something just put together like a re-enactment. But one can forgive Osmond for trying.

Osmond proves to be an expert at pushing all the right buttons. She primes the audiences at the very start of the film to get their hearts pumping. The narrative voiceover goes: the greatest race in the world; we were there; can be something, given the chance. She goes on to show, comically how it all got started, in a pub. It is hard not to root for common decent folk like this tight Welsh mining community coming up with a tenner a week to breed a race horse. It is wonderful to see a pub full of beer drinkers watching the television, cheering for their favourite horse at a race.

Osmond’s sense of humour works though odd at times. The funniest is her revelation of a subjects’s teeth (the subject shown at various points in the film with only two front teeth) at the end of the film.

DARK HORSE has been wowing audiences wherever it has been played. It has won the British Independent Film Award for Best Documentary and the Audience Award at Sundance for World Cinema Documentary. Everyone loves an underdog story, or in this case an underhorse story and the best thing about all this is that the story is a true life fairy tale come true.

 

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Movie Review: A BIGGER SPLASH. Starring: Tilda Swinton, Matthias Schoenaerts, Ralph Fiennes

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abiggersplash.jpgA BIGGER SPLASH (Italy/France 2015) ***
Directed by Luca Guadagnino

Starring: Tilda Swinton, Matthias Schoenaerts, Ralph Fiennes, Dakota Johnson

Review by Gilbert Seah

Luca Guadagnino’s new film after his acclaimed hit I AM LOVE is based on the 1969 Jacques Deray sex/murder flick LA PISCINE (THE SWIMMING POOL). The title A BIGGER SPLASH could mean that this film is a more modern take of the then subtle thriller, this one louder and with more sex, nudity and verbal intercourse. To be fair, both films are quite good. A BIGGER SPLASH should be examined on its own, despite the initial bad reviews it received after the Venice Film Festival premiere last year.

The story is updated and the famous Alain Delon role is now undertaken by newly popular hunk, the Belgian Mattias Schoenaerts who plays a character called Paul de Smedt. (Delon played a character called Jean-Paul.) Oddly the other three characters, Paul’s lover, Marianne (Tilda Swinton), his best friend, Harry (Ralph Fiennes) and his daughter, Penelope (Dakota Johnson) all retain their same names.

When the film opens, there is a shot of nude figure by the swimming pool. Rock legend Marianne Lane is recuperating from a throat operation on the volcanic island of Pantelleria with her partner Paul when iconoclast record producer and old flame Harry unexpectedly arrives with his daughter Penelope in tow. One can tell immediately that sex is going to be exchanged between different partners. And it happens as predicted.

The four characters (in the menage a quatre), are not particularly likeable personalities. Marianne can be considered a queen bitch, full of herself and served sexually by meek Paul which the audience will likely have no patience with, especially when he is subtly seduced by Penelope. Penelope is a spoilt rich kid. Harry is the most dislikable of the 4, being loud, offensive and abusive when he wants. On the other hand, these four are performed by 4 of filmdom’s top stars. Oscar Winner Tilda Swinton – I would see her in anything and she is always good in any film. She makes gargling sexy in the bedroom scene. Schoenaerts is now hot property after RUST AND BONE and DISORDER, proving himself apt in roles of brooding, sexy men. Fiennes and Johnson are also excellent to watch – especially them inhabiting horrid personalities.

Intriguing as the story is, the film could be shortened from its lengthy 2 hours. Two characters Mireille (Aurore Clement) and Sylvie (Lily McMenamy), Harry’s friends who show up invited by Harry could have been eliminated from the film without much effect. There is also a sudden shock in the plot at the film’s end when the chief Carabiniere announces the death of 7 Tunisian immigrants. One can only guess the purpose of this revelation as it is never made clear. It is likely that Guadagnino wishes to state that the problems of the rich, white elite are not the only problems faced by the police. The dead 7 make A BIGGER SPLASH. The snakes writhing by the pool probably is a metaphor for something else in the story.

Music and sound are appropriately used. The clanging sound invoking menace is one example. In another scene, Harry teases his listeners (and the audience) to identify “What is it? the drumming sound from a record he plays that turns out to be the banging of trash cans. The end credits Rolling Stones song “Emotional Rescue” is also suitably chosen.

The action slowly but surely unfolds in two hours of subtle sexual pleasure. Nudity, both male and female are abundant. Writer/director Guadagnino never makes it clear at the end what really happened between Penelope and Paul. It really does not matter in the long run, which makes all the guessing so neat.

A BIGGER SPLASH marks the return of the sexy moody thriller genre that was so popular in the 70’s and 80’s. Hope the film will make a return (I will refrain from using the obvious pun) to of more films in this genre.

 

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Movie Review: DHEEPAN (France 2015) ***

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dheepan.jpgDHEEPAN (France 2015) ***

Directed by Jacques Audiard

Starring: Jesuthasan Antonythasan, Kalieaswari Srinivasan, Claudine Vinasithamby

Review by Gilbert Seah

Audiard’s (UN PROPHET, RUST AND BONE) latest work, direct from Cannes and a Palme d’Or Winner, is likely the first and only French film shot largely in Tamil. In this one, as in other Audiard’s films, features a desperate protagonist trying to adapt, often successfully in a new environment after much duress and determination.

DHEEPAN is the name of the protagonist, an ex-Tamil Tiger from Sri Lanka (Antonythasan Jesuthasan) who with a woman, Yalini (Kalieaswari Srinivasan) and child (Claudine Vinasithamby) use false passports and pretend to be a family so that they can immigrate and stay in France where fraternite, legalite and egalite apparently rule. Obviously this is not the case. The three find it just as hard to assimilate, less survive in their new surroundings. They have to learn a new language a well.

The housing project they are assigned to is a front for drug trafficking. Dheepan is given the job as caretaker while his ‘wife’ a job of caregiver for a Mr. Habib (Faouzi Bensaïdi).

Dheepan works as the caretaker for ‘Block B’ and the woman as a caregiver for an old Frenchman while the girl attends school. Like Audiard’s best work UN PROPHET, he shows that prison need not occur behind closed walls.

The film contains other interesting characters besides Dheepan and his family. One is the mysterious Mr. Habib, the elder gent that the wife is hired to cook and look after The other is the Brahim (Vincent Rottiers) who develops sympathy for the wife, Yalini. Unfortunately, Brahim is done away with soon after in the film.

The film’s best segment is the one where the couple have a private talk. Dheepan confesses that he had understood an entire French conversation but finds nothing funny in the joke. The ‘wife’ tells him it is not the joke but that it is Dheepan who has no sense of humour, even in Tamil.

Lead actor Jesuthasan is himself a former child soldier with the rebel group Tamil Tigers (now an accomplished author who have written books Gorilla and Traitor) but his lack of training in acting shows. He is ill equipped to handle the dramatic scenes and ends up pouting or brooding most of the time.

Srinivasan who plays the wife fares better, eliciting both humour and sympathy in her role. But a bigger part in the film should have been written for Rottiers, who is the best actor in the film.

The film’s message appears to be that family is what one makes of it – not what is dished out in terms of blood relatives. Also, home is also what one makes of it. These come out loud and clear through the plot.

The last 15 minutes of the film goes against the grain and mood of what Audiard established so well during the rest of the film. The film opts for a cop-out happy ending after a ridiculous action film-styled shootout in which Dheepan utilizes his ex-Tamil Tigers fighting skills.

 

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Movie Review: X-MEN: APOCALYPSE (USA 2016) ****

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xmenapol.jpgX-MEN: APOCALYPSE (USA 2016) ****
Directed by Bryan Singer

Starring: James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender, Jennifer Lawrence, Rose Byrne, Oscar Isaac, Evan Peters, Sophie Turner, Nicholas Hoult,

Review by Gilbert Seah

From the first 15 minutes of X-MEN: APOCALYPSE, it appears that director Bryan Singer, the director of the new X-MEN movie (and the director of all the others except for X-MEN: FIRST CLASS) is going all out to outdo all the other X-MEN films in terms of yes, everything. The film begins with the first mutant born in ancient times (3600 B.C.) in Egypt. He is none other than En Sabah Nur (Oscar Isaac), and if that name is too difficult to remember, he is also called Apocalypse. He is entombed. Singer has the volume up full blast, the special effects at full throttle, 3D included, so there are tons of rocks, sharp objects and metal thrown out of the screen. If you think Singer will give audiences a break, forget it! The film is nonstop action, effects, noise and explosions all the way – the way an action super hero film should be. But he also builds in the storyline (script by Simon Kinberg), so that it is not just meaningless action.

The story involves Apocalypse resurrected in 1983. There is some humour and irony in him being disgusted by the human race ruled by weaklings. So, he decides to take over the world and rid the world of weaklings. This actually sounds not too bad an idea. So Magneto (Michael Fassbender) is conned into joining him. If Apocalypse gains the power of Professor X (James McAvoy) he can rule the world. So, it is up to Professor X aka Charles Xavier and the good X-Men to save the day. It is also good to see so many super heroes (or mutants) in a single movie – enough to satisfy any action fan. And it seems that it must be a requirement to look good to be in this film. Every male and female are drop dead gorgeous.

The action sequences especially the climax in which all the X-MEN have to join powers to destroy Apocalypse, are super well executed, much better than all the recent super hero films. The film also works because all the actors seem to take their roles seriously. But the oddest is Jennifer Lawrence as the blue Raven. She looks as if she does not want to be in the film, as she is making so much money being famous right now. She gives Professor X the kind of look: “You want to recruit me again to save the world? I have better things to do.”

Unlike DEADPOOL, BATMAN V SUPERMAN and CAPTAIN AMERICA, Singer’s film has action segments that are imaginative and cinematically stunning. The best of these has Quicksilver (Evan Peters) save his fellow X-Men amidst slow motion or stopped background to the song “Sweet Dreams”. The final fight scene in which a big silver X falls from the sky would definitely draw cheers from a packed house of elated fans. The one with Professor X’s wheelchair pulled backwards with his head tilted to the side is yet another inspirational storyboarded sequence.

The film also contains great scenes of the world being destroyed. The dialogue also contains lots of quotable lines like: You are no longer students, you are X-Men”, “I have never felt so much power in my life, “ etc.

APOCALYPSE costs a whopping $234 million to make. Singer makes sure it shows. And the results are worth it. This is the best Super Hero Action Movie so far this year. Let’s hope it pays off at the box-office.

 

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Movie Review: LOVE & FRIENDSHIP (Ireland/France/Netherlands 2015) ***1/2

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love_and_friendship.jpgLOVE & FRIENDSHIP (Ireland/France/Netherlands 2015) ***1/2
Directed by Whit Stillman

Starring: Kate Beckinsale, Chloë Sevigny, Xavier Samuel, Emma Greenwell, Justin Edwards, Stephen Fry

Review by Gilbert Seah

Whit Stillman is a Harvard educated American writer/director famous for his trilogy METROPOLITAN (this one winning him an Oscar nomination for Best Screenplay), BARCELONA and THE LAST DAYS OF DISCO. LOVE & FRIENDSHIP is his fifth film after DAMSELS IN DISTRESS, his favourite (and mine too). All films share the common theme of young adults embroiled in a social class structure. DISCO and DAMSELS featured female protagonists, the former with stars Kate Beckinsale and Chloë Sevigny. Stillman uses them again in LOVE & FRIENDSHIP.

LOVE & FRIENDSHIP is based on the Jane Austen epistolary (a series of documents such as letters, diary entries, and newspaper clippings) novel “Lady Susan”. So, most of film’s dialogue, really funny and written in the English spoken in the Austen novels is written by Stillman himself. He moulded the main character of Lady Susan with his star Beckinsale in mind, often writing into the early hours of the morning to suit the different actors in their roles.

Set in the 1790s, the widowed Lady Susan Vernon (Beckinsale) seeks refuge with her in-laws as rumours about her private life circulate through society. While staying at the estate in Churchill, Lady Susan decides to find herself and her daughter, Frederica (Morfydd Clark), a husband. As Lady Susan embarks on a controversial relationship with a married man, seduction, deception, broken hearts, and gossip all ensue. She also pursues a romance with handsome Reginald DeCourcy (Xavier Samuel) while pushing her daughter to marry the wealthy and extremely talkative Sir James Martin (Tom Bennett, stealing every scene he is in). Frederica is opposed as Sir Martin is (as in the words of the script) a bit of a rattle.

Stillman’s Lady Susan is a likeable one. Stillman does not judge her deeds but lets her manipulate those around her in a comedic fashion. Her victims are looked upon as weaker characters whose existence in life is primarily to be taken advantaged of. Even her pregnancy and husband stealing is given a light look, given the period of the story. The result is a light film which stresses a comedy of manners rather than a tale of morality.

The film contains a large number of characters, related, married or related by marriage They hold titles. To familiarize the audience quickly, each character is introduced, at the start of the film with a picture portrait followed by cute titles below such as: “he’s a bit of a rattle”, or “wealthy but not well liked”. The tactic works, and the audience is soon familiarized with all the story’s characters and their relations, though it requires a bit of attention.

As the film is an Austen period piece, the costumes, props and sets are important in setting the mood and atmosphere of the film. The film was stunningly shot in Ireland by Dutch cinematographer Richard Van Oosterhout. The costumes were designed by Eimer Ni Mhaoldomhnaigh in which her massive use of green (for example in the footmen uniforms) explains her Irish heritage. Lady Susan’s dresses can be seen morphing from black to purple to red as she changes moods from mourning her late husband to finding a new suitor.

LOVE & FRIENDSHIP will definitely delight Jane Austen fans who have seen their favourite Austen adaptations like PERSUASION, SENSE & SENSIBILITY, EMMA etc on the screen. LOVE & FRIENDSHIP is Austen with a naughtier, more mischievous female character, not a prim and proper one as in her famous novels, with the additional bonus of a Whit Stillman’s imprint.

 

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Movie Review: RATCHET & CLANK (USA/Canada 2016) ***

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ratchet_and_clank.jpgRATCHET & CLANK (USA/Canada 2016) ***
Directed by Jericca Cleland and Kevin Munroe

Starring: James Arnold Taylor, David Kaye, Jim Ward, Paul Giamatti, John Goodman, Sylvester Stallone
Review by Gilbert Seah

One would definitely shudder of the news of yet another film based on a video game. Though the animated RATCHET & CLANK is one of those, the film is actually not that bad. It plays to what works best – safe bets as demonstrated in previous successful animated films.

The film’s protagonist, Ratchet (James Arnold Taylor) wants to be a Galactic Ranger – just as the rabbit protagonist in ZOOTPOIA wants to be a cop. While pursuing his ambition, Ratchet comes across a robot by the name of Clank (David Kaye) carrying important information on a planet with a desert landscape. The same premise happens with the character Rey and the robot carrying a message for Luke Skywalker in STAR WARS: THE FORCE AWAKENS. The most famous of the Galactic Rangers – Captain Owark (sounding like Captain Kirk) and voiced by Jim Ward has a figure modelled after the Buzz Lightyear character (Tim Allen) in the TOY STORY films. And the line of advice given by Grimroth Razz, Ratchet’s mechanic mentor (John Goodman) to Ratchet: “Don’t aim too high so that you will not get too disappointed,” is identical to the joke/advice given in ZOOTOPIA by the protagonist’s parents. It is uncanny how ZOOTOPIA and RACHET & CLANKS have these similarities.

One can keep on counting – the nods or similarities (depending how wants to look at it). But who really cares? The video game movie is well-intentioned for the kids and family and everything is done in relatively good taste without insult or injury.

The ‘original’ story begins with how the title characters first meet and how they attempt to save the Solana Galaxy from being destroyed by the villains of the piece, Chairman Drek (Paul Giamatti) and the Blarg. With Drek’s native planet Orxon having grown toxic and overpopulated, he sets about invading and plundering large chunks of rival planets to build a new super-sphere for his people. This is the same reason used by every film for an alien invasion of another planet.

The film features a number of the voice actors from the original video game series reprising their roles with a few new ones such as Giamatti, Taylor (as Ratchet) and believe it or not Sylvester Stallone.
The film is sufficiently colourful and the animation incentive enough providing harmless fun to entertain, without scaring the kids.

RATCHET & CLANK is a moderately budgeted independent animated movie. The film does will not outdo any Disney or other big studio animated features, but it should make a decent profit.

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Movie Review: DISORDER (MARYLAND) (France/Belgium 2015) ****

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disorder.jpgDISORDER (MARYLAND) (France/Belgium 2015) ****
Directed by Alice Winocour

Starring: Matthias Schoenaerts, Diane Kruger, Paul Hamy

Review by Gilber Seah

DISORDER is as the film title implies, a psychological thriller/drama. It traces an Afghanistan veteran transgression into deep paranoia and how he deals with it.

When the film opens, Vincent (Matthias Schoenaerts) is having a medical examination. He is apparently tested in his hearing and later told that the results will be made known to him as to whether he can return to active military duty. In the meantime, Vincent lands a job as security at a huge mansion estate called Maryland (the film’s original title). The camera then follows him around when he patrols the estate doing his duties as he checks certain guests, some rude, some not, as he fulfills his duties. In the process, he overhears a private conversation of the owner of an arms deal gone sour. Director Winocour shows how stressful a security job can be, and even more so with his hearing problems as he has to wear an ear piece for communication. Winocour keeps the audience on their toes. Is something going to happen? Is Vincent going to break down? At the same time, the film hovers towards being a thriller, a suspensor, a drama and an action film. This is the reason Winocour’s film works so well. Her film is always several steps ahead of her audience. The reason she does certain things is clear later. For example, Vincent undergoes a lot of repetitive annoyances – like loud sounds and blurred images, but these repetitions are necessary to explain the deterioration of Vincent’s mental health.

The psychological thriller is centred on Vincent, who has Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. He is later hired by the rich client, Whalid (Percy Kemp) as security and driver for the wife (Diane Kruger) and son while he is away. Vincent speeds the car up almost running into an accident when he thinks the car is being followed. The wife freaks out but finds out later that Vincent was right. A home invasion reveals the reason being due to the husband’s arms deal gone sour. The film then switches to action. Winocour handles the fight and action scenes with efficient finesse. The temptation to include some romance between the wife and Vincent is thankfully avoided.

Matthias Schoenaerts looks and acts his part convincingly. His chiselled tattooed body complements his brooding nature. He has proven himself apt in diversified roles as a troubled soul (this film and RUST AND BONE) or as a sound and dependable one as in FAR FROM THE MADDING CROWD.

The film’s sound editing and effects (pounding and techno sounds) are excellent, emphasizing the imminent danger of each situation.

The imaginary ending (not revealed in this review) is subtly conceived to bring a conclusion to the movie as to the final state of Vincent’s mental state.

DISORDER reminds one immediately of classic murder films such as those directed by Claude Chabrol in the 60’s and 70’s. DISORDER is not a whodunit thriller, and is absorbing from start to finish. Winocour has proven herself a capable director and a talent to be reckoned with.

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Movie Review: MOTHER’S DAY (2016). Starring: Jennifer Aniston, Kate Hudson, Julia Roberts

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mothersdayMOTHER’S DAY (USA 2016) **

Directed by Garry Marshall

Starring: Jennifer Aniston, Kate Hudson, Julia Roberts, Timothy Olyphant, Shay Mitchell, Jason Sudeikis

Review by Gilbert Seah

Director Garry Marshall has created his niche in directing saccharine sweet films for the not so demanding moviegoer. His NEW YEAR’S EVE, VALENTINE’ DAY and PRETTY WOMAN say it all. The 81 year-old has been at it since 1982 when I saw his first film YOUNG DOCTORS IN LOVE. He also is the creator of the iconic TV series, “Happy Days”, “Laverne & Shirley”, and “Mork & Mindy”.

So do not expect much from his latest family comedy MOTHER’S DAY. The plot involves 3 interconnecting stories with mothers. They are loosely connected. For example, a friend of one gives advice to another who is in a different story. So, the film could consists of 3 unconnected stories for all that matters.

The first mother is Sandy (Jennifer Aniston) who has two sons. Her recently divorced husband, Henry (Timothy Olyphant) is marrying young Tina (Shay Mitchell). To Sandy’s dismay, everything is going on too well with her ex. The second mother is high profile TV star, Miranda (Julia Roberts) who has given up her daughter, Kristin (Britt Robertson) for her career. Kristen seeks to find her mother while not being able to commit to marrying her Irish boyfriend. And there is Jesse (Kate Hudson), a mother who married an east-Indian against her parents wishes. All these stories are quite easy to follow on screen, despite it sounding confusing on paper. It is hard to determine which is the best story. But one can tell that there is healthy competition among the stars to do their part the best. Aniston tries very hard at being funny. Roberts smiles a bit too much looking artificially false.

All these shenanigans are mildly funny. An example are the stand up comic routines during the comedy contest at Burn’s (Jon Lovitz) club. Those routines including the $5000 prize winner are just ok funny at best. The other shenanigans also invoke a tear or two as niceness is pulled out of these stories, which director Marshall is so good at. There are a few genuine funny moments like the runaway trailer with the laptop screen having the image of the East Indian mother as it topples of the table when she says” “Where is everyone gone?”

Marshall has assembled quite the all-star cast. Marshall has got most of the big names, like Julia Roberts, who has worked with him before. Also noticeable is his use of minority groups to play bit parts (like the down-syndrome girl at the film’s start). But then, his film goes in the opposite direction with some very racist East-Indian jokes later on in the film. He also stereotypes East Indians having the mother, for example, always appearing wearing a full sari and always having all Indians speaking with a strong accent.

Midway during the film, the hit song “Photograph” by Ben Shereen is performed, only emphasizing Marshall’s desperation to get his film liked.

Otherwise, MOTHER’S DAY is just the typical Garry Marshall film: mildly entertaining at best and irritatingly full of sentimentality and niceness. As the saying goes, every Marshall story (he cowrite this film) has a happy ending.

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