• The characters are severely underdeveloped and somewhat exhausting to watch.
Image: COURTESY
Starring: Angela Bassett, Patricia Arquette, Felicity Huffman, Jake Hoffman, Jake Lacy, Sinqua Walls
Based on: Whatever Makes You Happy by William Sutcliffe
Release: August 2
Different phases in life are always often denoted with the suffix -hood, for instance, teenage-hood, parent-hood, etc. Most people are used to the change from one ‘-hood’ to another. But when one comes across a chapter in life where they are not sure of what to expect, they go through unchartered territories of ‘other-hood’. Otherhood could represent a moment in life when one feels like an ‘other’ instead of a partner, parent, daughter, etc.
In the film 'Otherhood' three mum friends, Carol Walker, Gillian Lieberman and Helen Halston, are feeling a sense of loss in their lives as their sons Matt, Daniel and Paul seem to no longer need their mothers.
The women feel lost because they don’t know how to be good at anything else but mothers. Although the boys have grown up and are living in New York, the three mothers keep up with their tradition of spending Mother’s Day together. On this fateful Mother’s Day, the ladies share their feelings of loss and abandonment by their sons, especially since they forgot to wish their mothers on Mother’s Day. Fuelled by their anger, the ladies decide on a whim to go to New York and barge into their sons' lives unannounced.
The film tackles a midlife crisis that we rarely see on TV. When mothers start losing their identity of motherhood, who do they become? While the premise is good, the film fails to be engaging.
The film stars three award-winning actresses, Angela Basset, Patricia Arquette and Felicity Huffman, who also serve as producers. Unfortunately, while the ladies are trying to portray a time they might have experienced in their lives, the characters in the story are severely underdeveloped and somewhat exhausting to watch. The dramedy seems like a sad attempt to cling to some lost times instead of being an inspirational movie about the next great adventure.
Star rating: 2 stars