Mother's Little Helpers (2019)

When Joy Pride, a groovy 70's burn-out on the caboose of the flower power movement, learns she has weeks to live, her estranged children come together to do right by a mother who always did... See full summary »

Director:

Kestrin Pantera

Writers:

Kestrin Pantera, Melanie Hutsell (co-writer)

Stars:

Kestrin Pantera, Breeda Wool, Milana Vayntrub

Cast

Credited cast:
Kestrin Pantera	...	Sadie Pride
Breeda Wool	...	Julia Pride
Milana Vayntrub	...	Lucy Pride
Sam Littlefield	...	Jude Pride
David Giuntoli	...	Dave
Melanie Hutsell	...	Joy Pride
Cool Benson	...	Nurse Cool
Rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Tara Karsian	...	Auntie Trashcan
Rick Overton	...	Danny Ray
Amy Jayne Pilikowski	...	AmyJayne
Mike Rose	...	Felipe
Luis Sosa	...	Officer Sanchez

Storyline

When Joy Pride, a groovy 70's burn-out on the caboose of the flower power movement, learns she has weeks to live, her estranged children come together to do right by a mother who always did them wrong. Mother's Little Helpers is a funny dysfunctional-family drama, based on true events and inspired by true lies, about how family ties can twist and tear you - and though they may not break you, they might send you to prison. It explores the "OK, Boomer" relationship between the free love generation and those left to clean up the mess.

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Taglines:

It's better not to ask for forgiveness or permission.

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Genres:

Comedy | Drama | Family | Music

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User Reviews

A little dissapointed

Mother's little helpers was a film that didn't dive into the themes it talked about enough and gave a very superficial take on this family coming together. The film is way too slow at the beginning and characters don't exactly react to certain aspects of the plot to the extent I thought they would when the film was unfolding, for example their were instances when a character would be upset about something and then another event will take place they would go back to being happy again in a short amount of time and it felt a little jarring. It also hit a point when the most interesting element of the film in the 3rd act hit and it felt a little underwhelming due to an underwhelming build up.

On the positive side you can tell the filmmakers put a lot of passion into writing the dialogue and crafting the movie, there were transitions in the film where they would cut to the characters in their childhoods and then go back to them now which felt like an interesting use of juxtaposition. Kestrin Pantera, Sam Littlefield and Melanie Hutsell's characters also felt like they got full character arcs, which is fitting as these three were the strongest actors in the film. However, the rest of the cast almost felt like filler and they didn't get very satisfying arcs in their story.

Overall I was fairly disappointed by Mother's Little Helpers which is a shame as you can really see the passion they put into making this. I would have loved to see more emotional weight to the consequences of the film as well as more satisfying arcs for some of the side characters.

Details

Official Sites:

Official Website

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

5 May 2020 (USA)

Also Known As:

Mother's Little Helpers

Company Credits

Production Co:

Bold Management & Production, KP2 Productions, Subtractive

Technical Specs

Runtime:

99 min

Color:

Color