Marshall returns with another holiday-themed ensemble film

Posted on May 6, 2016

By MARK VIOLA

Famed artist Pablo Picasso had his blue period. For film director Garry Marshall, this is apparently his holiday period.

The director, who has given us such movies as “Pretty Woman” and “The Princess Diaries,” now brings us “Mother’s Day,” which follows his most recent works, “New Year’s Eve” in 2011 and “Valentine’s Day” in 2010.

In my review of “New Year’s Eve,” I jokingly asked which holiday Marshall would focus on next, listing several options. Surpringly, Mother’s Day was not one of them.

Like that film, “Mother’s Day” combines a relatively generic plot with a massive A-list cast to create a fun, if not terribly memorable experience. Sure, the film is pretty generic–a word I seem to throwing around a lot lately–but it’s just hard to be too terribly cynical about Mother’s Day. (Unless, of course, you really hate your mother.)

With the actual Mother’s Day upon us this weekend, this is a decent film to take your significant other. Perhaps not for a first date–motherhood and babies probably aren’t the best subjects for that–but otherwise “Mother’s Day” is a solid movie, weaving multiple storylines together in a way that, by the end, they all more or less tie together in some fashion or another. And like an old-school sitcom, you can rest assured that the problems and hurdles will be overcome and the stories wrapped up with a pretty bow by the end of its nearly two-hour runtime.

The film is rated PG-13 for language and some suggestive material.

(This is a abbreviated version of the full review available in our printed or e-edition papers.)

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