Mother (1996 film)

Mother is a 1996 comedy-drama film directed by Albert Brooks, co-written by Brooks with Monica Johnson, and starring Brooks and Debbie Reynolds as son-and-mother.

Plot

John Henderson (Albert Brooks) is a successful science fiction writer who is finalizing his second divorce. Perplexed by the issues he has with women, John decides to initiate a project that will help him understand what went wrong in his relationships—he moves back in with his mother (Debbie Reynolds), occupying the same bedroom he had as a child.

Cast

• Albert Brooks as John Henderson
• Debbie Reynolds as Beatrice Henderson
• Laura Weeks as Karen Henderson
• Rob Morrow as Jeff Henderson
• Isabel Glasser as Cheryl Henderson
• Danielle Quinn as Jill Henderson
• Spencer Klein as Josh Henderson
• Paul Collins as the lawyer
• John C. McGinley as Carl
• Vanessa A. Williams as Donna
• Lisa Kudrow as Linda
• Anne Haney as Helen
• Billye Ree Wallace as Alice
• Peter White as Charles
• James Gleason as a waiter
• Ernie Lively as the man at the rest stop
• Matt Nolan as a Gap salesman
• Harry Hutchinson as a pet store salesman
• Kimiko Gelman as a saleswoman at Victoria's Secret
• Richard Assad and Joey Naber as TV installers
• Rosalind Allen as the woman at the gas station

Production

Brooks wanted a famous actress from the 1950s to play the role of Mother, and originally offered the role to retired actresses Nancy Reagan and Doris Day. Day turned down the offer; Reagan loved the script and considered coming out of retirement for her first acting role in more than 40 years, but decided instead to stay home and care for her husband, Ronald Reagan, who was suffering from Alzheimer's disease. Brooks then asked his good friend Carrie Fisher if she could send the script to her mother, Debbie Reynolds, who accepted the part. Before Mother, Reynolds had appeared in only very minor roles in theatrical films since the early 1970s.

Filming

Mother was filmed on location in and around the Sausalito, Greenbrae, and Tiburon areas, with additional shooting in San Francisco. The exterior of Beatrice's house and street was shot in Studio City.

Reception

Critical reception

Mother received mostly positive reviews from critics, and holds a 90% rating on review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, based on 41 reviews.^[2]

Box office

Mother became the highest-grossing Brooks-directed film to date, with a total of $19.1 million earned at the box office.^[3]

Accolades

Mother won the most awards of the films which Brooks has directed. Brooks and co-writer Monica Johnson won the New York Film Critics Circle Award and the National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Screenplay. Debbie Reynolds won a Golden Satellite Award for Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture - Comedy or Musical, and was nominated for the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress - Motion Picture Musical or Comedy.

References

External links

• Mother at the Internet Movie Database
• Mother at AllMovie
• Mother at Box Office Mojo
• Mother at Rotten Tomatoes