Mother's Day

In the grand tradition of Garry Marshall’s ‘Valentine’s Day’ and ‘New Year’s Eve’, here comes the director’s latest star-filled cash grab based on a non-religious holiday. Like his previous efforts, ‘Mother’s Day’ is formed by a series of intersecting stories that achieve the schmaltz and predictability of ‘Love Actually’ without any of the charm.

The flick’s misbehaving brats – ahem, mothers – are played by romcom superstars Jennifer Aniston, Kate Hudson and Julia Roberts. Roberts brings her most severe eyebrows to the role of a childless career woman who learns that true happiness can only be achieved through propagating the human race. Meanwhile, Hudson is saddled with the role of a lying housewife who feels the need to reconnect with her bigoted Texan mother.

More? Aniston’s Sandy spirals after she learns her ex-husband (Timothy Olyphant, smirking even as his child is rushed to hospital) has married a younger woman. As a result, Sandy talks to herself with such ferocity and frequency that, had this been another movie, the real story would be that of an affluent woman’s descent into homicidal madness. Come to think of it, that sounds like a much better ticket than this.