Christian dishonesty *SPOILERS*
Up front: I am a Christian. But I am ashamed of Christians who would dishonestly give this film such high ratings, simply because it lacks swear words. It also lacks quality in the script. I thought the filmmakers had previously done a good job with the drama OCTOBER BABY, but this supposed comedy was God awful, about uninteresting, whiny people, with messages all over the place and themes that felt as tacked on as Post-It notes.
The actors did their best with it, as did the cinematographer and sound man. But the script was TERRIBLY amateurish, both structurally and within individual scenes. A movie about motherhood should have a point beyond some platitude unsupported by the film overall. And a comedy is supposed to be funny! I mean, the protagonist's victory is a mommy blog that was never introduced as a goal until after she'd achieved it -- OFF SCREEN! It was also structured so poorly that it fostered a message that can be boiled down to this: God loves you but don't expect that to make one bit of difference -- your life will still be a wreck, so you'd better get used to it.
What!?
The wisest, most well-adjusted person in the whole film is a tattooed biker who "has drifted away from God." The best "mom" in the movie wasn't actually in the movie: It was tough-guy Bones' mother who came home every night -- after leaving him alone as as little kid while she worked (!) -- and told him God loved him. But, since Bones is an illustrated man who has been in and out of prison, that news apparently did him no good. And since the protagonist mom needs advice from this tattooed ex-con, God certainly hasn't done her much good either!
One plot hole after another, one flat joke, one whine after another, one unintentional message after another in a script that took 15 minutes to reach its inciting incident and half an hour to get to its premise... yet it was released by a major Studio (Sony). Was no one affiliated with the Studio or the production company capable of writing -- or critiquing -- a script before the cameras rolled?
Yes, like most Christians I want more clean, uplifting films. I do. When I say I wish there were more "good movies," I don't just mean high quality. I do mean morally good. But for Pete's sake, if we don't hold our fellow Christians to a reasonable standard of quality, and give them a pass every time they make a movie without 4-letter words, we will continue to get -- and reward -- the makers of crummy movies like this.
We deserve better, and God deserves better from us. We are never going to influence the world with half-baked, sub par dreck like this.