Mother’s Day (2016)

“You don’t go into a marriage thinking you’re going to get a divorce.”

Writers: Anya Kochoff Romano, Matt Walker, Tom Hines
Producers: Brandt Andersen, Daniel Diamond, Howard Burd, Mark DiSalle, Mike Karz, Wayne Rice
Cinematographer: Charles Minsky
Editors: Bruce Green, Robert Malina
Music: John Debney
Distribution: Open Road Films
Production: Capacity Pictures, Gulfstream Pictures, PalmStar Media

Awards

Alliance of Women Film Journalists: Jennifer Aniston – Actress Most in Need of a New Agent

Miranda: Tell me more about this tween and your ex-husband.
Sandy: Oh, yeah. Oh, I’m sure I exaggerated about that a little bit. I’m sure she’s older, but I’ll have a better idea once all the acne clears up.

Zack: My girlfriend is American, but she is desperate for our child to have a British accent. That’s all she wants. She won’t talk to our child, seriously. I have to read to Katie every night. All the other kids are watching Sesame Street. Our baby is sat down in front of Downton Abbey. You notice I say “girlfriend,” five years, we’re still not married, and, boy, have I asked. It was a struggle enough to get her to update her Facebook profile from “single.” I was like, “Five years, we have a child together. “Couldn’t you at least make it, ‘it’s complicated’?” And it makes it awkward, though, like, how do you introduce each other? When I introduce Kristin, I introduce her as the light of my life, the song of my soul, the mother of my child. And she introduces me as her roommate.

Kristin: I mean, I have her address, I just haven’t had the courage to contact her. I’m really scared.
Jesse: God, of course. That’s… Who wouldn’t be? I mean, that’s crazy. You don’t even know what she’s going to be like. You don’t even know your mother and she has this power over you. You’re going to have to face it sooner or later. You can do it.

Tina: Okay, is something wrong?
Sandy: Yes, something is wrong. I got here an hour early, so I could get a front row seat, and have a perfect camera angle and watch my children. And now you’re sitting right here next to me.
Tina: Because the seat was open.
Sandy: It was for my purse, my purse’s seat, okay? My purse’s seat is right here. God, you cannot just show up here late and then sit there. You just can’t do that. We need… We need boundaries. We need some rules, Tina.
Tina: Rules? Like, sitting in an open seat?
Sandy: I don’t know what the rules are yet, Tina. I don’t know what they are, but I just know we have them, and you’re breaking all of them.

Bradley: Where’d you hear that “pox on my whistle”? What’s that from?
Vicky: Shakespeare.
Bradley: Shakespeare, huh? William Shakespeare?
Vicky: No, Bob Shakespeare. Who else would it…

Rachel: Yeah, being sad all the time, obsessing over soccer so you can get closer to Mom, watching those videos over and over. She’s gone, Dad, and we’re all sad, but for how long? And acting like an asshole with that ref doesn’t help anyone.
Bradley: Hey, watch your language.
Rachel: You know what? Yeah, I cuss. That’s because I’m an unsupervised teen and while I’m at it, I don’t mind taking care of Vicky and doing all the housework and the cooking. Dad, I’m only 16, I have a life.

Bradley: Why are you here? Are you in the psychiatric wing?

Trivia

Miranda’s (Julia Roberts) assistant in the movie is played by her real-life sister. The children in the wedding are her real-life children, Hazel, Phinneas, and Henry Moder.

Final movie from director Garry Marshall, who passed away shortly after the film’s release.

The train station’s sign says, “Today’s Special: Fried Green Tomatoes.” It is the exact location from the movie.

Julia Roberts earned $3 million for four days’ work.

Julia Roberts wears the same wig she wore in Notting Hill (1999) for a scene about a space movie. In an interview on The Ellen DeGeneres Show (2003) in May 2016, Roberts said she was ”recycling”.

Director Garry Marshall makes a cameo as a bartender at the comedy club.

Hector Elizondo and Julia Roberts appeared together in Garry Marshall’s film Pretty Woman. In this film, their characters are at the train station restaurant, where they make a “salad fork” comment referencing their earlier film.

When comedians perform at the comedy club, Billy Crystal’s name is written on the wall where Jon Lovitz is sitting.

In the soccer scene, the Coach’s line — “Yeah, there’s no texting in soccer, okay? I mean, there’s running and jumping, eye contact, laughing, there’s even crying. There’s no texting.” — is a nod to Tom Hanks’ iconic quote, “There’s no crying in baseball,” from A League of Their Own (1992), which Penny Marshall directed and Garry Marshall had a supporting role.

Original Title

Mother's Day

Tagline

Celebrate the one day that connects us all

Overview

Sandy is a stressed-out, single mom who learns that her ex-husband is marrying a younger woman. Her friend Jesse's parents don't know that she has a family or that her sister, Gabi is married to a woman. Jesse's friend, Kristin, is juggling motherhood of a toddler, a patient boyfriend who keeps proposing, and searching for her biological mother. Bradley is a widower who's trying to raise two daughters on his own, while Miranda is too busy with her career to worry about children. When their respective problems intersect and start coming to a head, the Mother's Day holiday takes on a special meaning for all.

Status

Released

Runtime

118

Release Date

2016-04-28

Score

5.981