The Good Mother

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11/05/2023 Can a court determine how we should live, how we should love, how we should raise our children? Anna Dunlap wants to be a good mother The late actor-director Leonard Nimoy helms Diane Keaton and Liam Neeson based on the novel by Sue Miller Keaton plays Anna, she has a daughter, Molly but the father is out of the picture Years go by and they both live in Boston Anna falls for a man named Leo But trouble starts when her ex-husband returns and sues for custody of their daughter over an accusation Anna and Leo are caught in the middle of a dispute This explores feelings and beliefs about children's exposure to adult sexuality and challenges society's growing reliance on the courts to settle matters A lot of this is a courtroom drama so that may be less exciting for certain viewers I half expected this to just focus on Keaton and Neeson and the child, plus the ending is a downer But the performances are wonderful even if it feels like a Lifetime feature See more Steve D 02/28/2023 Frustrating but never quite as powerful as it thinks it is. See more 09/18/2013 "The Good Mother" is a bold and daring film that raises a lot of issues but unfortunately only resolves some of them satisfactorily. For a Hollywood movie from a major studio it touches on some very adult themes, and I appreciated its frankness. Screenwriter Michael Bortman doesn't shy away from the taboo subject matter; instead he tackles it head on and that was something I admired. However, you can't help but continually questioning the character's judgment, so much so that it begins to eat away at the picture's credibility. Diane Keaton seems to elect her own happiness over what's best for her daughter, and her and her co-star Liam Neeson maddeningly say every wrong thing they can in the courtroom. There's no way the movie coule end any other way than it does, and once again I applaud the sense of realism, but you still have to challenge these people's warped way of thinking. Keaton gives a predictably strong lead performance, but Bortman never seems to have her best interest in mind. Still, I was intrigued in the proceedings and found the film to be very refreshing in so many ways. The premise involved me, and I was more than willing to follow this every step of the way. Once you get past the baffling opening ten minutes that focus on Keaton's childhood, that is. I'm still not sure what that was supposed to tell us. There is an interesting story here, and "The Good Mother" has a lot going for it, but it also leaves a lot of unanswered questions in its wake. Like its characters, it makes one bad judgment call too many. See more 11/28/2011 The Good Mother is a very sad story about a single mother of a daughter who is being raised in a different manner, with a more liberal understanding of life. While all of it is good at the beginning Anna (Diane Keaton) meets a man at the local laundry mat (Leo, played by Liam Neeson). Here things start to go south. With a lot of misunderstanding and a heart breaking ending this is something not for the faint of heart. I would recommend this to anyone in a divorced family, maybe it would show what horrible things that parents put each other through. See more 09/01/2009 Still quite a thought provoking movie, so was probably quite controversial when it first came out... See more 08/24/2009 Depressing movie, but had very worthy performances, especially by Diane Keaton. See more Read all reviews

The Good Mother

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