Wonderful Movie

Powerful

It is an exhilarating, distressing, funny and profound film, with one of the more memorable film scores in years,

The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

Greetings again from the darkness. Just when it seems everything we say or do is offensive to someone and most every topic is considered politically incorrect, a movie shows up that seems to say it's OK to be offensive if you are trying to make a worthy point. It's kind of like someone defending their actions by saying "I'm not a racist – I have an African-American friend." Helicopter parenting is defined as an overly involved parent who thinks they are best serving their kid by staying involved in every detail of life – from homework to activities to love life. As sad as this phenomenon is, this movie from director Salome Breziner and writer Duke Tran is so exaggerated, a more appropriate title would be Chainsaw Mom. Nia Vardalos (My Big Fat Greek Wedding) stars as the clueless and relentless single mom obsessed with her son … especially the uncertainties of his sexual orientation.Ms. Vardalos seems to have patterned her approach to the role after some of the wide-eyed over-the-top characters of Keenan Thompson from SNL. This is beyond caricature and it's also beyond annoying. The character is not believable in any sense, and is fortunately offset by more grounded performances from Jason Dolley, who plays her unfortunate son, and Mark Boone Junior, who plays her ex-husband and his father.There is absolutely nothing wrong with taking on a topic like teenage sexual ambiguity/confusion with a comedic approach; however, much of this comes off like a cheesy sitcom. The only thing missing is the laugh track … and maybe Vardalos hiding behind a potted plant while wearing Groucho glasses and mustache. I say maybe, because it's possible the latter occurred during one of the many segments where I was rolling my eyes or shaking my head in disbelief.Fortunately, there were some genuine father and son moments between Dolley and Boone. In fact, Boone's performance is so good, it's like someone changed the channel every time his character appears. Dolley and Skyler Samuels (The Duff) also have some very sweet and believable scenes together. It's just a shame that a moment as poignant as the confused son asking his father "When did you know you were straight?" is offset by mom publicly humiliating her kid and herself in yet another unimaginable display of inappropriate and cartoonish behavior.The supporting cast also includes Kate Flannery (TV's "The Office"), Gillian Vigman (The Hangover), and Dallas' own Hockaday girl Lisa Loeb – who has a role as a teacher, and wrote the song for the opening credits.Confusion over sexual orientation in teenagers is certainly a topic worthy of film treatment, as is the cultural phenomenon of helicopter parenting. The slapstick comedy approach seems to overwhelm the first message, while the 1980's sitcom style destroys any commentary on the second. The only person who thinks a boy's best friend is his mother is Norman Bates. And Hitchcock showed us how that turns out.

This movie is hysterical!!! Found myself bursting out in laughter at home - so much so that my roommate ended up coming out of her room and watching it with me. Nia is priceless as a single mother trying to keep her son from flying the nest. It's funny and sad and honest and packs a punch that got me and my roommate into a really interesting discussion about high school. I thought the casting was perfect too. Really loved Jason Dolley (never heard of him before watching but would watch other things with him in it) as the young kid and his bf is so cute (and handsome). Mark Boone Jr. was awesome as the dad too - Mg that dinner scene with the young gay guy was so funny!If you're looking for a laugh out loud flick this is it!

This movie has little plot and zombie-like "acting" which puts the deep freeze on anything you might want to get out of the film. Aside from Ms. Vardalos, there's a reason the rest of the cast is made up of unknowns and little known bit players. Ms. Vardalos is astonishingly horrible in this and quickly making herself even less relevant than she's already become by being in amateur movies like Helicopter Mom.There are zero redeeming qualities about this movie and everything from the cinematography to the wardrobe makes it look like a bad student film.The only thing that's funny about this film is that apparently the sales company, distributor, production company, producer and/or director are posting bogus positive user reviews to try and trick people into watching this thing. 99% of the people see right through it which makes the losers behind this movie even more pathetic than they already are for putting out a trashy movie like this. The very few critic's who even bothered reviewing this movie unanimously panned it.Even if you can download this thing for free off the internet, your time is worth far more than subjecting yourself to 80 minutes of stupidity.

I really loved this sweet little film. I've been a big fan of Nia Vardalos ever since "My Big Fat Greek Wedding," and I found her performance in this movie equally as charming and fun. Vardalos is so different from most modern movie stars. She really represents a honest and unvarnished American woman, and I always find her refreshing to watch. She's a talented comedian- able to be both funny and earnest at the same time. The relationship between mother and son in this film was heartwarming and real; you really see a mother struggling to do everything possible to help her child succeed- even if she sometimes makes mistakes. That's something that every mother can identify with! And on top of all of this I'm really glad that we can have a family comedy in 2015 that champions gay acceptance...with a twist ;) Bravo Nia! I'm a big fan!