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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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.
8. 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!
6. 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. 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.
3. 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.
2. The English Patient
Year: 1996
Director: Anthony Minghella
The thing about a Mommovie 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 classicSeinfeld 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.
1. 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.
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