Customer Reviews

Smother

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

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.

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.

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.

I could not finish this movie. Got too boring in the first half hour. Sad cause I like Diane Keaton.

This film was okay so I cannot recommend it unless you are big fan of Diane Keaton, Liv Tyler or Dax Shepard.

The movie had some pretty funny moments (most of it is crude) but the bad acting (Liv Tyler's delivery was wooden), over acting (Diane Keaton was over the top) and lame script did not make for a great comedy. There are better overbearing mom movies out there to watch (Monster-in-Law (New Line Platinum Series) comes to mind).

This movie was watched while I was sick and taking NyQuil D so I might have added a star too many.

This movie has a funny concept that usually can't fail - overbearing parents. However, Smother just isn't that funny. Rather than being funny, Diane Keaton's character often just appears annoying and crazy. Rather than smothering her son, she seems like she should be put in an insane asylum. I don't think I laughed much at all throughout the movie. At the end, I just ended up feeling depressed about the characters complaining that they had wasted their lives. I was also upset when Dax Shepard yelled at the geese. Not funny.

If you want really funny comedy about a smothering mother, check out the sitcom Everybody Loves Raymond - The Complete Series.

Well this movie was a surprise, it's not great but it's not a stinker. I found the first third to be very funny. The second third, not so much. The last third, funny again. So you'd say, but that only makes it maybe a 3 star movie. The extra star, that's for being able to watch Liv Tyler. OK, I'll admit it, she is very pleasant to watch in this film. And, the bonus feature behind the scenes (that is almost funnier than the movie).

Why the title of this review. In that fun bonus feature, that you should watch after seeing the movie, not before, Dax Shepard talks about how making the film was a bone grow. And now that he's watched the film, it's made bone grow (um, his statement is satire). He also talks about having the best job in the world where you get to make out with Liv Tyler.

Smother is about Diane Keaton being Diane Keaton from Annie Hall, a lot crazy. She is Dax Shepard's mother and believes her husband has had an affair. So she decides to move in with Liv and Dax. We also get a wonderful surprise of Liv's cousin, Mike White (he is oh so creepy) showing up for a writers conference. Dax loses his job as a physical therapist. Liv wants a baby. Diane wants all the attention. And Mike is writing a really horrible screenplay. The hilarity starts from there!

Dax Shepard channels Zack Braff from Scrubs. If I didn't know better I would swear they were twins. In a way, this is a good thing. In fact Dax is one of the funnier people in this film. Liv Tyler, well gorgeous to look at, simply reads her lines through the whole film. Even the two very nice lingerie scenes, she's reading. Diane Keaton, well just think, Annie Hall, older, and more stupid. She says "succulent" at the first restaurant a number of times. Mike White is just plain old flat out creepy in everything he does. Even in the Amazing Race with his father, he was weird. He's a straight man for most of the jokes when he is on camera.

I think the director was afraid of both Diane Keaton and Liv Tyler. Neither did a very good job acting. And it looks like he was just afraid to tell them they did a bad job.

So if you are looking for some really silly entertainment that means absolutely nothing, this will be a pleasure to watch. Just don't expect really good cinema.

Film wise, reasonably well done. Jokes had a good pacing, the director did not leave the scene running past the laugh - timing was spot on. Focus was there for most every shot. Dialog was clearly recorded.

It is rated PG-13. There's very little foul language. Yes there is a wheat grass smoking moment near the end (big deal), Dax says something like "welcome Cheech and Chong." You sort of have to understand the code words to get what they are smoking. And there's two tastefully done scenes with Liv Tyler in lingerie. My goodness, the window of Victoria's Secret is racier than these two scenes. There's also a few sexual references, again in code (are you playing soap the monkey - said to Dax in the shower by Liv). The film is appropriately rated, maybe slightly mature 13.

I expected this film to be horrible. It sort of just appeared one day with no marketing, no big reviews. I'm glad I watched it.

Figured I would give it a try in the store and see how people take Keaton these days. She was cast well to play the thoroughly irritating and overbearing mother, in tow with the token dog pack and oblivion to her psychoses.

Dax Shepard plays her married son who must deal with all of his pre-mid life crisis happenings in a way that can entertain an audience for 92 minutes. Liv Tyler plays his wife, and even as admitted in the writing she is present only as a "sperm receptacle", her screen time gathered no accolades. After playing it several times the reactions of customers were mixed. Most swayed towards enjoying some of the comedic moments, but any prolonged viewing garnered irritation. It became apparent this would be one of those films some of the gals would watch solo, because in every group people would look at each other and laugh how cliche or contrived it felt.

The DVD documentary lasts 8 minutes about how awesome and perfect everyone is to work with. Dax actually had funnier lines of self importance in this than in the movie. Gets a nice Ben Stiller slam in there. Recommend as rental for the Keaton fans, and maybe an owner for the Dax fans that want to see him try to carry a non-slapstick light comedy on his own.

I love Diane Keaton's acting and she's terrific in "Smother", but WHY did she have to smoke (UGH!) Dax Shepard's dry wit is a hoot and Liv Tyler is a pleasure to watch. The bonus features should be interesting.