Review of Adoration (2013) by Dzimas — 30 Jun 2016

Some years back Michael Caine and Joseph Bologna got together with their teenage daughters on the beaches of Rio and threw their ambitions to the wind. Nothing much to remember from Blame it on Rio other than it was Demi Moore's first major role. It seems even Demi has enough sense now to shy away from a script like this, but not Robin Wright and Naomi Watts who make one for the moms, lusting over each other's hunky sons, and ultimately finding themselves in the same predicament as Michael and Joseph 30 years before.

Unlike its predecessor, the creators of Adore chose to take their subject seriously, kind of like another ill-fated Demi Moore movie, Indecent Proposal. What might have been campy fun turns into painful drama as the two mothers simply can't let go of each other's sons even when they become grandmothers, which was apparently the original idea of this story by Doris Lessing. However, Robin and Naomi just come across as GMILFs.

I wouldn't have even bothered with this movie had it not turned up on late night television. What is worrisome is that these are two actresses at the peak of their careers. Wright had just started House of Cards and Watts has the luxury to throw away roles given her copious filmography. There isn't much you can draw out of roles like these, at least from a dramatic point of view, but they struggled valiantly to do so. Fortunately, they both moved on quickly, putting this nonsense behind them.