1/2
USA 2016
Opening August 25, 2016
Directed by: Garry Marshall
Writing credits: Anya Kochoff, Matthew Walker, Tim Hines, Lily Hollander
Principal actors: Jennifer Aniston, Kate Hudson, Julia Roberts, Timothy Olyphant, Sarah Chalke, Jason Sudeikis, Britt Robertson 
Mother’s Day this year is going to bring a lot more to a group of people from Atlanta then they were expecting. A multitude of complicated relationships around mothers and motherhood are exposed in this romantic comedy. Beginning with Sandy (Aniston) a busy mom knocked off balance when her ex-husband elopes with a much younger woman. Sandy’s trial is to deal with a new, gorgeous step-mom for Mother’s Day. Jesse (Hudson), Sandy’s best friend, is a happily married woman with a toddler. Only problem for Jesse, this Mother’s Day, is she never told her mother about either the husband or the baby. Gabi (Chalke), Jesse’s sister, has a similar problem. Gabi, a lesbian, has a secret life with her wife and adopted son that her Mom doesn’t know about. These sisters’ secrets are found out when their parents show up for an unexpected Mother’s Day surprise. Bradley (Sudeikis) is a widower trying to be both mom and dad to his two daughters. His idea of Mother’s Day is to ignore it completely, but his daughters have other ideas. These ideas lead him to rethink his attitude to being a mom substitute and Mother’s Day. Adding to this mix is Miranda (Roberts) a career woman, pining for the daughter she gave up for adoption. This leaves Kristin (Robertson) a new mom in search of her birth mother who turns out to be Miranda. All these lives plus a few more thrown into the mix are intertwined in what turns into a complicated Mother’s Day.
With such a story line there is a little something for everyone throughout this film but the overall impression is a little flat and forced. Much like Garry Marshall’s previous holiday films, Valentine’s Day and New Year’s Eve, the star filled cast has a lot going on but the substance is a little lacking. ()