Mother's Day

The third part of a star-studded series with Valentine's Day (2010) and New Year's Eve (2011), this comedy follows several overwrought mothers (including Jennifer Aniston, Kate Hudson and Julia Roberts) as they negotiate family traumas leading up to Mother's Day. Like the previous instalments, this is a drab mix of every romantic comedy convention that is neither realistic nor engaging. The movie relies almost solely on the appeal of its stars, with single parent Aniston and widower Jason Sudeikis being the most empathetic of the bunch, but they all fall foul of a clumsy script that avoids the true hardships of motherhood in favour of picket-fenced relationship fantasies. Worse still, the story brings us baffling creations such as Margot Martindale's casually racist grandparent, and Roberts's icy home-shopping guru. In the end, this unbearably sentimental film offers a rare chance to see several romantic comedy queens share the screen, but very little else.