Mothers and Daughters (2016)

Not every movie has to be a highlight. Some can just be decent movies that have a more or less good feeling about them. This is one of them. It's about ... well the title is a bit of a give away isn't it? And yes you can expect drama to ensue. That's life and that's what this movie will be about. Question is: Is this the kind of movie you want to watch or are you looking for something more exciting? That's totally up to you then.The actors do a good job and if you "like" watching life unfolding and get invested easily in characters you will have a good time watching this. With all it's highs and lows, you probably won't care about it lacking the something special. Buf if you do, don't be too harsh with this

'MOTHERS AND DAUGHTERS': Two Stars (Out of Five)An indie drama flick; about the lives of several different mothers, and their daughters (told in interwoven stories). The film was directed by first time feature filmmakers Paul Duddridge and Nigel Levy; and it was written by Paige Cameron, also making her feature film debut, and Duddridge ('based on a concept by'). It stars Selma Blair, Mira Sorvino, Sharon Stone, Courteney Cox, Christina Ricci, Alexandra Daniels, Susan Sarandon and Eva Amurri (Sarandon's real life daughter, playing her daughter in the film). The movie received really poor reviews from critics, and this is one film I definitely agree with them on.The movie tells the story of many different women, struggling with real world problems. These problems include work, men, and family relationships. The film (obviously) centers on the relationships between the mothers and their daughters (of course). All of the stories are interwoven, and many are shown through the photography of Rigby Grey (Blair); who is an expecting mother herself. While the cast is all extremely talented, their performances here are pretty weak; obviously due to a terrible script, and really bad directing. The filmmakers are all amateurs, and it shows, but the directors do have a great deal of TV experience, and that shows as well. The movie feels a lot like a 'Lifetime Movie of the Week'; and that's really sad, given all of the good actresses involved. The film obviously had good intentions, and movies focusing on real women (and their daily struggles) are really rare, so it's disappointing that this film misses it's mark (so excessively).Watch our movie review show 'MOVIE TALK' at: https://youtu.be/lcZBQp0HBZg

Two directors – Paul Duddrudge who is responsible for the concept of the film (written for the screen by Paige Cameron) and Nigel Levy – are part of the problem of this slight film: if two men are directing a story about several dysfunctional mother/daughter relationships they could easily be the reason the film is so confusingly disjointed.To write a review about the stories in this film would inevitably result in spoilers, if enough facts were strung together to make sense of this mélange. About all that is safe to state is that 'the story is focused on a rock photographer Rigby Gray (Selma Blair) who is riding a career high when an unlikely and unexpected pregnancy forces her to turn her lens inward and see her relationship with her estranged mother with fresh eyes. Through a series of photographs documenting motherhood in all its varieties, she considers what it means to be maternal.Sounds interesting but what gets in the way is the lack of connection between the girls and their mothers – most were either abandoned at birth (or threatening to repeat that gesture with a D&C) or were lied to by their mother about their birth mother, or they're searching for a face to face with a child they haven't seen for years. And to say more would ruin what little suspense there is in what is termed a comedy (!). At times frustrating, at times touching, the actors include (no spoilers here) Selma Blair, Susan Sarandon, Eva Amurri Martino, Christina Ricci, Sharon Stone, Courteney Cox, Mira Sorvino, Paul Wesley, Christopher Backus, Paul Adelstein, the very promising Luke Mitchell, Alexandra Daniels, Dave Baez, and many, many more. Some good thoughts, here, but too dissociative to pull off a meaningful film.

It's a fresh Comedy, cheering and entertaining. The plot is not original but inspired enough not to leave you disappointed: you'll be easily able to foresee what's coming next but this isn't exactly a pity, if you stop and think about it for a second, in this kind of flicks.The film doesn't offer any new or deep insight about maternal love: it just celebrates it and in doing so it leaves the impression that the story, in the end, is pointless.The overall design reminded me of 'Love Actually (2003)' with the remarkable difference that that movie was mainly about males (plus some beautiful women). Here is the opposite.