You’ve had your brunch and your awkward conversation about the state of your relationship/career; now it’s time to wrap up Mother’s Day with a nice movie, but while there are a ton of lists out there with suggestions on what to watch with your mom (I vote Over the Top), we’re here steer you away from the movies you absolutely shouldn’t watch with her on this, her very special day.
Serial Mom
On the one hand, Kathleen Turner’s suburban mom character is fiercely protective of her family, but on the other, she pairs that protectiveness with a bit of homicidal rage, making her an overall bad influence on your mother and this John Waters cult (sorta) classic something that should be avoided at all costs, like Kathleen Turner after you take her parking space at the grocery.
Psycho
No locket or Hallmark card can make up for the judgement error that is watching a movie on Mother’s Day about a son that is driven to mass murder by an abusive mother whose clothes he wears and whose skeleton he keeps hidden away because he feels guilty about murdering her.
Let’s throw Mommy Dearest in this category, as well. Maybe your mom made you share your toys with your little brother and maybe she gave you a bad haircut or two when you were a kid, but few mom’s are Joan Crawford-bad.
Throw Momma From The Train
He’s no Norman Bates, but Danny DeVito’s Owen is pushed pretty far by his monstrous and overbearing mom (Anne Ramsey from The Goonies). We don’t condone his efforts to convince Billy Crystal’s character to kill her, but we kinda understand the impulse. In the end, Owen is able to accept his mom, so you’d think that this might qualify as a nice movie for you and your mom to watch, but there’s a lot of uncomfortable matricide and homicide chatter before you get to that point.
Grey Gardens
I respect the humor game required to press play on the story of Big Edie and Little Edie Beale — an isolated mother/daughter ex-socialite team that lived in the ruins of their Hamptons estate together — on Mother’s Day after moving back home with your Mom, but she may not.
Mother
This is a tricky one since the film ends with Albert Brooks’ John Henderson in a much better place in his relationship with his mother, but your mom might pick up on the countless universal mom-annoyances that Brooks highlights about insane-thriftiness, guilt, high dramatics, and meddlesome behavior. Nudging her with your elbow so that she sees the connection between her and Debbie Reynolds’ character might just get you disowned.
Fifty Shades of Grey
Though it’s DVD/Blu Ray release was timed perfectly to be the most awkward Mother’s Day gift of the season, it’s best to not double down on the traumatic experience — let mom take this journey alone, this is not “Mother/Daughter Movie Night” material.
