A review of the 2016 rom-com “Mother’s Day”
Who doesn’t love a good rom-com and these days the genre usually manages to include a bit of social commentary. This movie is an attempt by director Garry Marshall – who had such a huge success with “Pretty Woman” in 1990 – to follow up on the formula developed for his rom-coms “Valentine’s Day” (2010) and “New Year’s Eve” (2011).
The winning formula involves multiple storylines and lots of well-known actors weaved together around a special day in the calendar. This time the cast-list includes such watchable stars as Jennifer Aniston, Kate Hudson and Julia Roberts and, although the whole thing is very middle-class and largely white, it does explore (lightly) issues such the loss of a partner through divorce or death, the loss of a child through adoption, the challenge of shared parenting, plus opposition to same-sex and inter-racial relationships.
Of course, this is a money-spinning rom-com, so it all works out fine.