Mother’s Day, the third and least likely holiday snorefest yet from Garry Marshall, has recruited a predictably star-studded ensemble cast including Julia Roberts, Jennifer Aniston, Kate Hudson and Jason Sudeikis.
The pic, which comes on the heels of Marshall’s dreary Valentine’s Day and New Year’s Eve ensemble comedies, is going out to buyers tonight (New Line made the previous two films, so it’s a good bet that it will snap this up too). Anya Kochoff-Romano (Monster-in-Law) and Lily Hollander penned the script.
Mother’s Day will tell the intertwining stories of several mothers as they approach the holiday intended to celebrate their matriarch statuses. Marshall has seemingly found a comfortable niche for himself directing these kinds of star-stuffed, painfully-protracted ensemble pieces, as Valentine’s Day and New Year’s Eve were his last two movies and he’ll launch into production on this one in August (provided a studio materializes, which seems like a sure thing).
Valentine’s Day and New Year’s Eve earned Marshall some of the most damning reviews of his career, but the box office figures explain why he’s eager to keep doing them – the former grossed a spectacular $216 million, while the latter clocked in at a respectable $142 million. Mother’s Day still seems like a bizarre holiday to build another ensemble pic around, though – who other than the moms will have any interest?
Maybe Marshall thinks he can get enough parents into theaters to make Mother’s Day a big hit, but let’s all pray he’s wrong about that – because if he figures out that people will keep seeing these glitzy, cliched eye-rollers, there’s no doubt that Father’s Day, Thanksgiving, Easter Sunday, St. Patrick’s Day, All Hallow’s Eve and – oh god – Black Friday are just around the corner. Actually, on second thought, just stand back and let all these cinematic turds happen – it’ll all be worth it if Black Friday gets made and features a bunch of A-list actors beating the snot out of each other over Louis Vuitton handbags. Now that I would see.
