When Uma Thurman’s voice kicked in to narrate the film, my heart sunk, my stomach churned, etc. Motherhood started tabula rasa and within moments attained an ominous sense leading me to think it might be just another side project all too commonly used by prominent actors to cleanse their palettes in the meantime. The film-long voiceover is a tricky tool to use well; when I say “tricky” I mean rarely, if ever does it come across as anything other than a hackneyed attempt at making up for deficiencies in the writer’s ability to tell a story through more respectable means. What Motherhood does have is a heartfelt look at the daily trials and tribulations of the daily responsibilities of a mother of two in New York City.
Eliza (Thurman) hasn’t had much time for writing since she birthed two children and has taken on the mantle of keeping everything in her family in order; taking her kids to school, keeping their car from getting towed, organizing birthday parties and many other seemingly inane tasks keep her from putting her words down on paper – at least beyond the blog she keeps. One morning she happens across a contest for writing mothers to describe in 500 words or less what “motherhood” means to her. For a competition whose final result is a potential column in a magazine/blog, it’s a disturbingly sophomoric topic to write on. Next week’s contest “What did you do over summer vacation?”
Eliza struggles with the assignment and with much else. Her husband (Anthony Edwards) is almost non-existent in what seems likes the busiest day of Eliza’s life. Her best friend Sheila (Minnie Driver) temporarily omits herself from Eliza’s day due to Eliza not having the proper discretionary prowess in deciding which of Sheila’s sordid affairs was improper for publication on her blog. There’s a film crew shooting on her block, so they towed her car 10 blocks away. She has to buy groceries, party favors and pick up the cake for her daughter’s birthday party. She has 24 usable hours in the day and a week-long to-do list to fit in. Not to demean or in any way minimize the significance of a stay-at-home mother or what she does or makes possible (is my ass covered yet?) but what we see in Motherhood isn’t an in-depth or even memorably astute take on the subject. You could say that’s its charm: it’s a very simple look at a mother attempting to balance her dreams with the choices she made; it’s not an issue of regret, but of priorities and achieving dreams as possible.
Unfortunately, the charm doesn’t carry it very far. It’s an admirable notion and could have made for a great film, but that’s not what this is. This is a film which shows its true colors from the onset with a voiceover necessary to drive the otherwise disparate elements of a narrative more intent on finding some mirth where it could just have easily have found a mixture of that and the genuine emotions that might come from Eliza’s situation in life. Uma Thurman dancing about in her living room with a messenger boy attempting recapture dreams that escaped her isn’t a cure all, it really just adds to the discombobulated nature of the whole mess.
The greatest tragedy inherent in Motherhood is the squandered cast. Uma Thurman, Minnie Driver, and Anthony Edwards are all superb talents in their own rights; Thurman was wasted with an inconsistent characterization and lousy narrative, while Driver and Edwards are relegated almost entirely to the sidelines with little to no time to help bolster the film – something they could have easily accomplished given their abilities.
DVD Bonus Features
The basic audio commentary will give fans of the film something extra to sink their teeth into, but it’s the interviews with Thurman, Driver, Edwards, and Writer-Director Katherine Dieckmann that make for the most interesting bonus content. After that, the DVD comes stuffed with coupons, making you wonder just how targeted this film was supposed to be. Certainly true-to-life mothers can relate to Eliza’s struggles, but the rather cynical packaging of coupons with the DVD is almost insulting.
"Motherhood" is on sale February 23, 2010 and is rated PG13. Comedy, Drama. Written and directed by Katherine Dieckmann. Starring Minnie Driver, Uma Thurman, Anthony Edwards.
