Jude is pure evil, there’s really nothing else to her. Basically if she can’t do whatever she wants
(in addition to disappearing for three years she also left for three months out
of the blue on a separate previous occasion) then she’ll manipulate everyone
around her until she gets her way. The
woman even attempts murder on her own mother to gain her family again. She also pulls a classic move where she meets
with the husband’s new flame and proceeds to cut herself with a shard of glass exclaiming
that the other person did it (you know, like Ed Norton in Fight Club or Mark Wahlberg in Fear). There’s also a bizarre scene where Jude makes
her oldest son look at her naked body to show him the C-section scar. Ew.
One of the disappointing things about this picture is that
they never explain why Jude left or why she decided to return. You would think that would be some big
dramatic reveal but the filmmakers simply ignore it (or it got cut in editing). If Jude was developed much more as a
character I could see where this may not be as important. But she’s not which makes this a rather large
gap that needs some sort of explanation.
In the 90’s thrillers were all the rage due to big hits like
Fatal Attraction and The Silence of the Lambs. The audience wanted to see more twists and
crazy people do horrible shit without all the blood and spooky atmosphere of a
horror movie (just for the record though, there are four jump scares in this
film). While Mother’s Boys isn’t untypical of what was being produced at the
time (The Hand That Rocks the Cradle,
The Good Son, etc.) it does come off
as a little more disgusting. The three
boys that Jude fucks with are really young, twelve and under. This parent is seriously screwing her kids up
for the rest of their lives and that makes the whole situation feel sorta
icky. Kids aren’t usually the main focus
of these thrillers. They’re normally used
as more of an ancillary plot device so to have them share center stage with a
psychopath doesn’t play great in my opinion, at least in this case.
There are a few unintentional funny moments like when Jude
trashes her apartment in a fit of rage and smashes glass windows with her bare
hand cutting it to shit. Or the part
where Jude meets with her husband and says she wants her family back but the
entire time she’s drinking, is barely able to stay clothed and yells shit like “all
I ever wanted was for us to be happy” and “in the courts eyes I’m still their
fucking mama!”
The title isn’t the greatest. While the boys are in this just as much as
Jude this is more about her than anyone else.
She’s the one that drives the story and that all the (momentary) mystery
is about. They should’ve called it Mommie Dearest or Mama, wait…
I’ll admit Jamie Lee Curtis puts on a fun show to watch at
times and some of the camerawork is kinda neat actually but overall I can’t
think of any real good reason to recommend this.
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