From Steel Magnolias to Barbie, we break down 10 essential films perfect for the Mother’s Day weekend watchlist.
There is a type of film that is often referenced in movie discourse. They are films that feature names like Eastwood and Neeson. And usually involve a wooden ship, a submarine, or a taciturn man on a horse. We’re talking, of course, about the Dad Movie. Much ink has been spilled and many jokes have been made about the Dad movie and what content it contains. But what of the Moms? What of the women who raised us? What of the true MVPS? Where is their canon of films? Look no further. It is here. These are the movies for the Moms. If you need a film to watch with a mom this weekend, here are the ten films that make up the classics of mom cinema.
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10. How Stella Got Her Groove Back
Year: 1998
Director: Kevin Rodney Sullivan
Mom never truly loses her groove and thus usually has no need to get it back, however on occasion Mom feels as though she may have possibly misplaced her groove. That is why she needs to live vicariously through Stella. Stella fulfills mom’s fantasies of being pursued by a handsome man 20 years her junior. HSGHGB has it all: Taye Diggs, beautiful beaches, groove, getting it back, “Luv Me Luv Me” by Shaggy.
9. The English Patient
Year: 1996
Director: Anthony Minghella
The thing about a Mom movie is that they are mostly very chaste. If a film gets too steamy, it might cease to be a Mom Movie and become a movie for Mothers. The English Patient rides right along that line. There is a scene in the desert in a car that is just about as steamy as any in the Mom movie canon. The English Patient was the subject of a classic Seinfeld episode in which Elaine seems to be the only person in New York City who doesn’t like the movie. This is proof that The English Patient is Mom canon because Elaine is the polar opposite of Mom. She is everything Mom is not, thus The English Patient is everything Mom is. The English Patient has it all: That Ralph Finnes, That Naveen Andrews, a wet blanket husband, planes, trains, and steamy automobiles.
8. Steel Magnolias
Year: 1989
Director: Herbert Ross
There are six huge reasons why this is one of the most Mom Movies of all Mom Movies.
- Sally Field
- Julia Roberts
- Dolly Parton
- Shirley McLaine
- Daryl Hannah
- Olympia Dukakis
Read that list again. Are you kidding me? Oh and I didn’t even mention that this film also contains Sam Shepard, Tom Skerritt, and Dylan McDermott. Shepard was as unique an actor as there was in Hollywood in that he could be (and was) that taciturn man on a horse in a Dad movie, and he could also drive the Moms wild in Steel Magnolias. Steel Magnolias has it all – tragic deaths, town grouches, women friendships, deep southern accents, The Queen Dolly Parton.
7. Out of Africa
Year: 1985
Director: Sydney Pollack
Meryl Streep is probably your mom’s favorite actress. Not really a surprise because Maryl Streep is close to everyone’s favorite actress, but the problem with Streep’s filmography is, while there are certainly delights, it is chock full of Sophie’s Choices, Kramer’s litigation against Kramer, dingos eating babies, and some very morose deer hunting. Luckily, right in the dead center of her incredibly successful 1980s run she takes the time to get romanced by Robert Redford. Redford’s face is very important to moms. Out of Africa has it all: A wet blanket syphilitic husband, an independent man who needs to be tamed like the wilds, Robert Redford’s face.
6. Barbie
Year: 2023
Director: Greta Gerwig
Moms aren’t completely living in the Regency English past. They also want to live in their own past. A past where Barbie reigned supreme. Barbie is the most recent entry in the Mom Movie canon, and while It’s unusual for a Mom movie to have a joke about the band Pavement in it, the times are a-changing and the Mom movie canon is changing with it. No less than two(!) different friends of mine said their moms texted them asking if they’d seen Barbie. Barbie has it all: mothers and daughters, challenges to the standards of beauty, challenges to the patriarchy, and dissertations about how Matchbox 20 sucks and is also awesome.
5. Pride & Prejudice (TV Mini Series)
Year: 1995
Director: Simon Langton
A costume drama where the circumstances keeping our lovers apart are just that they’re both being annoying? Count mom in! The BBC Pride and Prejudice (a miniseries, but canon as a movie) is such an impactful entry in Mom Movie canon that its tendrils can be felt in Mom Book canon as well. Screenwriter Andrew Davies felt like there was a scene missing from Jane Austen’s classic novel. A scene where Mr. Darcy emerges from a pond soaking wet in a white shirt. He was right, and if Jane Austen could be resurrected, after we explained what movies are, she would watch the scene and realize that that is exactly what her novel needed. Colin Firth as Mr. Darcy and his wet shirt inspired Helen Fielding to write “Bridget Jones’s Diary” which was then adapted into a film starring Colin Firth. Moms rejoice! The Mom Movie ouroboros persists. Pride and Prejudice has it all: costumes, drama, pride, prejudice, Regency English manners, true love overcoming all, wet shirts.
4. The Preacher’s Wife
Year: 1996
Director: Penny Marshall
Moms love the holidays. Moms also love the holidays and Whitney Houston. They also love a love triangle, and The Preacher’s Wife has all those things. It also doesn’t hurt that one corner of the triangle is a literal angel. The Preacher’s Wife contains both ends of the hunk spectrum. For the thoughtful discerning mom they have Courtney B. Vance, and for the mom who isn’t kidding herself they have Denzel Washington. On top of all that, Whitney Houston at the peak of her powers joins the fray to belt out gospel songs and contribute to the best selling gospel album of all time. The Preacher’s Wife has it all: Denzel’s Smile, men in suits, moral lessons taught by angels, love tested, love embraced, and pizza.
3. Blue Hawaii
Year: 1961
Director: Norman Rae Taurog
Moms usually like Elvis more than The Beatles, because boy could he move those hips. And move them he does, to tunes like “Aloha Oe” and “Rock-A-Hula Baby.” Blue Hawaii is also the first appearance of “I Just can’t Help Falling in Love With You,” a song which Moms would definitely choose to be the mother-son dance at your wedding if it wasn’t so weird. Blue Hawaii’s exotic locale places it firmly in moms’ Q-zone, because Moms love to travel even if it’s only through the power of cinema. Blue Hawaii has it all – Elvis’ deep baritone, crooning, tropical beaches, ukulele ballads, and a reminder that a Blue Hawaiian is a cocktail and maybe mom wants one right now!
2. Dr. Zhivago
Year: 1965
Director: David Lean
Moms love tragic romances. They don’t even mind if it’s very long. It could even be very very long! Moms will love it regardless, especially if it stars a hunk like Omar Sharif. Dr. Zhivago is about lovers kept apart by circumstance. “Circumstance” plays a large part in the mom movie canon. Circumstance is the great obstacle heroes in mom movies must routinely overcome to consummate their love. Sometimes “circumstance” is a wet blanket husband. Sometimes it’s an overbearing father. And sometimes it’s a Communist revolution. Julis Christie and Omar Sharif play lovers that can only be described as “star-crossed.” Sharif plays Zhivago, a Doctor, and a poet? And a musician? And a DOCTOR? He’s a true triple threat. Dr. Zhivago has it all: Omar Sharif, men in (communist) uniform, tragedy, revolution, gulags, and true love.
1. An Officer and A Gentleman
Year: 1982
Director: Taylor Hackford
Moms love hunks. Moms also love putting the word “that” before a hunk’s name. “I love that Jon Hamm.” “You know who I like? That Billy Dee Williams.” In the 80s there was no bigger hunk than That Richard Gere. Gere was such a hunk in the 80s that the rumor mill had to stir up a story about him, some unfortunate gerbil, and an orifice. They did this because they were threatened by his hunkitude. An Officer and A Gentleman squeezes that hunkitude down into a stark white suit. Eat your heart out moms. AOAAG has it all: Debra Winger, men in uniform, honor, tragedy, love, and a man carrying his lady love in his arms while all their friends applaud. It’s the ultimate Mom Movie.
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