Review of Mother's Boys (1993) by Timothy S — 19 Sep 2012

For what is essentially a conventional thriller, "Mother's Boys" delves into some pretty dark territory. It seriously hints at incest involving a twelve-year-old and puts all three children through some pretty serious trauma, all for the sake of entertainment. They are manipulated into committing an act of violence and put in constant peril in the film's stupefying conclusion, and I may have been offended by all of that if the movie had aspired to be better.

As it stands, the film is too silly to be taken seriously and it's hard to stay mad at it for long. Jamie Lee Curtis is above the material, and despite that, she gives a pretty terrible performance. It's partly the script's fault for her underwritten character, but a lot of the blame lies with the actress herself. She's completely off her rocker as the movie opens so you know where the movie is headed right from the start, but Curtis isn't very compelling. She's not very scary in the scenes where she's supposed to be menacing and downright absurd in the scenes where she's supposed to be sexy. It's strange since she's definitely an attractive actress, but for the proof, witness the scene where she tries to seduce Peter Gallagher in his office. It's kind of embarrassing.

The movie starts to get fun in the end as the whole thing careens off the track during the chaotic finale, but it's too little too late. Until then, "Mother's Boys" is a pretty weak retread of "Fatal Attraction" with a decidedly dark side. You just can't get mad at it because it's just so dumb.