Product Details

• Actors: Diane Keaton, Dax Shepard, Liv Tyler, Mike White
• Directors: Vince Di Meglio
• Format: AC-3, Color, Dolby, DVD, NTSC, Subtitled, Widescreen
• Language: English
• Subtitles: English, Spanish
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rated: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
• Studio: Screen Media
• DVD Release Date: May 5, 2009
• Run Time: 92 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B001THIQG8
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #66,472 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)
• For more information about "Smother" visit the Internet Movie Database (IMDb)

Editorial Reviews

When Noah Cooper is fired from his job as a therapist, he thinks his day can’t possibly get worse, but arriving home— he discovers his overbearing mother Marilyn has moved in with her five dogs in tow! Hilarity ensues as Noah learns to deal with the pressures of finding a job, a wife who desperately wants a baby, and worst of all a mother who won't quit smothering! Featuring an all star cast— Diane Keaton, Dax Shepard, Liv Tyler, Smother is a heartwarming comedy that’s sure to become a classic!

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars An Off-Kilter Screwball Farce About a Needy Mother and Her Put-Upon Son, February 17, 2010

By 

Ed Uyeshima (San Francisco, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)    (2008 HOLIDAY TEAM)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Smother (DVD)

I have an inexplicable fondness for this slight, oddball 2008 comedy. It's not the catastrophic train wreck others would have you believe it is. Instead, director/screenwriter Vince DiMeglio has concocted a screwball farce with off-kilter characters that alternate between endearing and irritating, often in the same moment. The film is by no means a significant milestone in cinema, but it does generate some unexpected laughs mostly due to Diane Keaton's freewheeling performance. The Oscar-winning actress may appear to be slumming here, but her dexterity is put to the test as one incredibly needy and critical mother.

Usually a second banana in films, Dax Shepard (Baby Mama) plays Noah, a physical therapist who gets fired and wants to change his luck by starting his own practice. Married to Clare, a schoolteacher who wants to have a baby badly, he finds his wife's cousin Myron, a dweeby screenwriter wannabe, parked on the couch. Later, Noah's mom Marilyn drops by unexpectedly after a big fight with his father. She moves in with her five dogs, all named Sammy Higgins, and together they find jobs at the carpet store where Noah used to work. Her flighty incompetence gets them both fired, and things get even worse from there.

Shepard relies heavily on a deadpan delivery to carry his performance. Liv Tyler (The Lord of the Rings) is sweet as Clare, and Mike White (The Good Girl) manages to make his creepiness oddly likeable. But it's Keaton who amps up her innate zaniness to draw a beleaguered level of sympathy to a character that could have been buried in sitcom-level clichés. For evidence, watch her work the scene in the Denny's-style restaurant or trade barbs with Shepard in the funeral scene. Production values are on the modest side. The 2009 DVD features an entertaining commentary track from DiMeglio (who reveals that the story is somewhat autobiographical) and a brief making-of featurette.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars ??, June 21, 2009

By 

L. K. Elmore "creekside" (Pacific Northwest) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Smother (DVD)

Oh . . where to begin. First of all, I love Diane Keaton - in fact I like all of the lead characters. But this movie is SO bad - I couldn't believe how bad it was. It supposed to be about Diane Keaton being a 'smothering' mother - huh?? You don't even see her do that much. Maybe it's the writing, I don't know. It just didn't make any sense at all. Except for Ken Howard (Diane Keaton's husband) - he was the best of the lot - the second star is for him.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars KEATON IS MORE CRAZY THAN SMOTHERING, BUT IT GETS BETTER AS IT GOES ALONG!, May 2, 2010

By 

! MR. KNOW IT ALL ;-b "DR SHOCK" (TRI STATE AREA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Smother (DVD)

Another screwball comedy with a good cast, this one with Diane Keaton as a kooky woman who comes to stay with her son and his wife during a fight with her husband. At first it's more irratating than funny, but it does have some good laughs as the film progresses(the Funeral is a highlight). It's nothing special, but it's not all that bad either.