Review of Bringing Up Bobby (2011) by Walter M — 19 Jan 2014

In "Bringing Up Bobby," Olive(Milla Jovovich) has just stolen a car but will have to wait to a few days for payment from her friend and fence, Walt(Rory Cochrane). In the meantime, she meets with every religious person in Oklahoma while her son Bobby(Spencer List) struggles in school. So, she makes a deal with him to raise his grades, just before tragedy strikes...

With the exception of Bill Pullman's easygoing charm as its sole saving grace, "Bringing Up Bobby" is a slapdash and amateurish movie. Otherwise, the performances mostly consist of cartoon accents which is a shame because Milla Jovovich proved she can act when she held her own previously in "Stone" with Edward Norton and Robert De Niro. With "Bringing up Bobby," the contrived story has little going beneath its rough surface in taking so much time in exploring how bad a mother Olive is when in fact it could have gotten quite a bit darker in exploring her questionable motivations.