Mom's Day Away

Have absolutely nothing against or any bias against Hallmark. Although it does have its fair share of mediocre and less films, it does also have ones that are above average and more. This was obvious in its 2014 output, with a notable example of the latter being 'A Ring by Spring'. Was not entirely sold on the premise for 'Mom's Day Away' to be honest, it didn't sound particularly interesting on paper and was really preparing myself for hating the characters, not a nice feeling watching anything.

And that was the case with 'Mom's Day Away', one the worst cases of it when it comes to any of my recent film watches. Which was as uninteresting as it sounded, some Hallmark films have made interesting and charming films out of unappealing concepts but 'Mom's Day Away' is not one of those. While not hating it, with there being a few good things, and there were worse 2014 Hallmark films (i.e. 'My Gal Sunday'), it just didn't come together for me and was difficult to sit through to be perfectly honest.

Bonnie Sommerville does give a very committed and honest performance and it was easy to feel for her character up to a point. Actually despite the character writing being less to be desired the acting was fine.

Production values are slick enough.

Most of the characters however were incredibly annoying and impossible to like, there are films where one is supposed to dislike the character but the unlikeable character criticism is valid if the unlikeable character never really develops, is one dimensional and has their flaws taken to extremes. And all of that is the case here, have not seen children this hostile, inconsiderate and ungrateful for a long time and the film really overdid it. The mean spirited treatment of the lead character was also overdone. Did feel for Sommerville's character on the whole, but do think that she should have been more assertive and been clearer about how her treatment was making her feel.

Didn't like the script either, which had a lot of forced, tired comedy that would have belonged better in a 70s sitcom, over-sentimental drama and mean spirited banter. Complete with a rather awkward flow. The story is dull, quite thin (especially later on) and has no surprises, the charm, heart and fun factors being low and the tension even lower. There is nothing special about the music, which was forgettable at best, or the routine direction, while the ending was far too neat and very undeserved.

Overall, weak. 3/10.

Laura Miller (Bonnie Somerville) is a stay-at-home mom. It's Mother's Day weekend and nobody seems to notice other than her daughter's school assignment. Her dream of Paris is fading as her husband (James Tupper) cancels. An eaten school cake is the last straw and she decides to stay with her successful single sister Trish (Ona Grauer) who has a great boyfriend.

Her family is completely inconsiderate. They're rather annoying when they need to be adorably clueless. The cake is a prime example. It's adorably clueless to take little bites. It's annoying that they finish it off. When they run over the pot, they should comment on it. Her adventures aren't that adventurous. It's set up for one of those girls go wild adventures but this is the all together PG version. Nothing really happens. The only thing that happens is something sad with Trish's boyfriend. The family's lesson learned is a little too earnest. The whole movie needs better jokes. However, stay-at-home moms may find joy in this story.

It's Mother's Day Weekend and life is just as swamped as ever with her routine. So Bonnie Somerville wakes up, walks out for the weekend with her old friend Ona Grauer and leaves Dad to make a hash of dealing with the kids in this blandly written but well performed Hallmark TV movie.

Most of the jokes in this one are about the level of 1970s television situation comedies in which the perfectly nice kids drive work-befuddled dad up the wall -- think "Brady Bunch". As such it would make yet another of the interminable series of rote Hallmark movies celebrating some holiday or other. Miss Somerville, however, takes the same sort of rote lines and situations that appear in every other movie and converts them into a funny, neurotic character.

There's still that annoying music score that tells you before anything happens what this particular scene is going to be about and how you should feel about it. It's clearly not the fault of the composer, but someone needs to have a stern word with the musical director. Valerie Biggins, I'm talking to you!

The family is a disaster. In fact, all the cliches about an unruly and inattentive family are shown to prove it. Yet somehow the tone remains mostly upbeat. Yes the kids seem to have been trained to let mom do all the work. It is a sort of parody of that kind of family. So mom gets disgusted and takes off with her unmarried and glamorous BFF. Much of the movie is them having a great time. They have such a good time that Laura, the mom, even outdoes Trish in the fun department. The parody is that Laura becomes a sort of Trish. Meanwhile back home .... Let's just say that maybe the kids and husband do love the mom.

If you want to look at this as a story about a good family, there are lots of details to ruin that, at least for a while. I saw a comment to the effect that kids and people don't change overnight, but maybe deep down these kids were raised right but drifted into bad habits.

As I said, the tone was mostly upbeat with some fun antics followed by some sappy sentimentality. Sure it was totally predictable. But it was fun. Bonnie Somervile does a nice job keeping the mood light while she transforms.

The plot is fairly simple. There are no great surprises. There is an implied tension of the threat to the marriage, but there is never really a threatening feel.

There is a subplot about Trish and her lifestyle. Again no great surprises.

I enjoyed it. Watching in 2024, it is nothing like most of what appears on Hallmark on a Saturday night these days.

This was a cute Hallmark movie. I bought it to watch on Movie Night with my wife and we both enjoyed it. Always looking for something clean and cute to watch, and happy when I find it. James Welch Henderson, Arkansas 2/18/2021