MovieChat Forums > Hillbilly Elegy (2020) Discussion > Spoiler Alert: The mother was trash....

Spoiler Alert: The mother was trash....


How many times could that so-called "mother" put her kids in jeopardy? Horrible boyfriends, drugs, violent outbursts, etc. Her son (and daughter) should've cut her off and never looked back. I don't know if I've ever hated a character in a movie that damn much! Also, the grandparents kept bailing her out & making excuses for her behavior. She never had to experience the consequences of her stupidity & weaknesses, like making the poor child pee in that cup for her drug screen. Lame!
The movie was a long, dragged out Jerry Springer episode about a pathetic, spoiled, selfish, narcissistic slob who had no business having kids! She destroyed everything in her wake! Her son is very lucky he got out from under her manipulations!

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"Her son is very lucky he got out from under her manipulations!"

To me that was one of the primary failures of the movie. The primary dramatic tension of the movie is built around the lead character getting back to New Jersey to do his intern interview, while at the same time dealing with his mother's bullshit.

I kept saying to my wife, he needs to walk away. Him spinning in circles about where to put his mother is a waste of time. The movies prologue had this none sense about how she stay clean for 6 years after that.

That is absurd considering that then entire situation with the lead driving to Ohio after his mother OD'ed right before his interview never happened.

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For future reference - DON'T put the SPOILER in the title.
Instead, put it in the body - that way people can avoid it if they want.

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Putting "Spoiler" in the title is the proper thing to do. Anybody who sees it can avoid looking. Don't instruct people about how to post, it makes you look like a douche.

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the poster put the actual spoiler in the title along with the word SPOILER!

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Why would anybody read comments on a movie BEFORE watching a movie? That's so stupid!

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The only explanation I could give for grandma to keep helping her trashy daughter is because she knew what her childhood was like.
I don't know, Mom was definitely loopy...blowing up like she did at times? But she also had a pretty rough upbringing...and at least for me personally, the older I get, the more of a hard time I have judging people too harshly. There's just so much trauma going around, and it definitely shapes a person, you know? Some of us just aren't as strong as others.

But yeah, that was exactly what that kid needed to do...get the hell out of dodge there.

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From the outside its easy to judge. But when you are raised by a mentally ill person, and become an adult yourself, you can see why people keep trying to help the person out. But that was the message of the movie. Raising yourself out of the cycle of family trauma, and learning that no matter how much you love someone you have to let them help themselves at some point.

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