Highly Overrated But Still Good

what a terribly boring film. I'm sorry but this is absolutely not deserving of best picture and will be forgotten quickly. Entertaining and engaging cinema? No. Nothing performances with flat faces and mistaking silence for subtlety.

Each character in this movie — down to the smallest one — is an individual rather than a type, prone to spontaneous changes of mood and sometimes amusing outbursts of pettiness or ill humor.

Very good movie overall, highly recommended. Most of the negative reviews don't have any merit and are all pollitically based. Give this movie a chance at least, and it might give you a different perspective.

"My Mother the Car" is generally offered as the worst sit-com ever. Is it? No.In fact, "My Mother the Car" fits smoothly in the confines of 1960s sitcoms. Why should a talking car be any different than a talking horse ("Mr. Ed"), or shows about genii or witches in domestic settings? The 1960s had a wild imagination for television, setting its sitcoms on desert islands, in German POW camps, or with families or monsters or utter weirdos. Critics hated them, from the simple "fish out of water" classics like "Beverley Hillbillies" and "Green Acres" to the really far-out examples. Critics (who evince no sense of humor) prefer the issues-oriented serious "sit-coms" that came along in the 1970s, where the actors emote too much before live audiences.The best 1960s sitcoms stretched the imagination, and "My Mother the Car" fits right into that mode.Furthermore, "My Mother the Car" had several things going for it. Its hero was played by Jerry van Dyke, not as talented as his brother Dick but no slouch. Its recurring villain, the man who keeps trying to get the car in question, was played by a funny and experienced comic, Avery Schreiber. And the car was voiced by bona fide film and TV star Ann Southern. And like so many of the best 60s sitcoms it had a catchy theme song that explained the premise every week for newcomers.So what went wrong? First of all, the scripts aren't funny. Not all classic sit-coms of the 1960s were hilarious: "I Dream of Jeannie" hardly had to produce great scripts with beautiful Barbara Eden running around in a skimpy harem costume. But "My Mother the Car" doesn't have a sexpot ambiance.Second, Jerry van Dyke's family is just annoying. In shows from "Mr. Ed" to "I Dream of Jeannie" etc. the star (Alan Young with Ed, Larry Hagman with Jeannie) has to look like a lunatic to his family and neighbors because only he knows about the magic; and while this theme had variations ("Bewitched" had an entire community of witches) by the time "My Mother the Car" rattled up the premise was tired.Third, below Van Dyke and Schreiber, the cast wasn't impressive. Maggie Pierce, playing the wife, comes off as mean rather than bemused by her husband's antics; and the children are annoying.Fourth . . . it's just carelessly cobbled together. In one episode Schreiber gets his comeuppance by stepping on a skateboard and winding up in a garbage can. When he first steps on the board, however, it doesn't go far and he blatantly gives it another push, undercutting the comedic element, such as it is. That should have been reshot. And the whole series is full of that. Combine that with lackluster scripts and you wind up with few laughs.Finally, how could the hero's mother be reincarnated as a car that was clearly made before she died? Surely, it's possession--a far more interesting premise, but perhaps too edgy for the times.One is nostalgic for the days when a series was given a chance (the much-later "Newhart" had few laughs in its first season but the network stuck with it). But two seasons of this show, which should have been wackier, is far too much.In the final analysis, "My Mother the Car" is unfairly condemned. Its premise was perfectly in line with imaginative sit-coms of the time. The problem was, it had no laughs to speak of. A comedy's first duty is to be funny, and an unfunny comedy is a failure. The worst sitcom ever? By no means. But it may be one of the least funny sitcoms that lasted so long.

Apparently there is a second life, at least for TV shows. One of the rerun stations has resurrected My Mother the Car, and I haven't seen it since it first ran. To be honest, I doubt if I watched more than one or two episodes back then. So I have been able to catch a few episodes and have decided there was chemistry and likability between Jerry Van Dyke and Ann Southern or at least her voice, but the rest of the family cast were horrible. The family members were just miscast. I guess this was a high concept idea that failed to click on any level as a comedy. But it did work as a crime drama: Knight Rider. Audiences were ready for a talking car if it was high tech and had a male voice. Right concert but wrong implementation. Given the current proclivity to make "Blockbuster" movies from failed TV shows, I can't figure out how they missed this one.

"My Mother The Car" was without a doubt one of the worst TV shows of all time,but it was not the shortest running TV show of all time. In fact the series ran a full season--30 episodes,all in color,which is much more than most shows give us in a year these days. Now,this wasn't the stupidest concept for a TV-series,but I can think of several that are far off worst than "My Mother The Car". Its amazing that the network which ran this series,NBC-TV,gave it the green light for its one season on the air,from September of 1965 to May of 1966. Lets face facts: This was originally to be titled The Jerry Van Dyke Show,since his older brother,Dick Van Dyke had his own series which was on a rival network. But here is the scenario: A family man is surprised by the reincarnation of his departed mother(voiced by Ann Sothern)into a form of a mid-1920's Porter automobile that talks to him whenever his family isn't around. Sounds familiar? The show was created by the writing team of Chris Heyward and Allan Burns,whom after this would go on to write and create for the shows "Get Smart", "The Mary Tyler Moore Show","Barney Miller","All In The Family",and so much more. Also produced by legendary producer/director Rod Amateau,whom was behind classic 1950's-early 1960's shows "Burns and Allen","Love That Bob","Dobie Gillis","Mister Ed",and so much more.Was "My Mother The Car" one of the strangest concepts ever devised for a TV show? Not exactly given some of the scenarios that came before it: (1) A sister in a covenant in Puerto Rico,who flies around,weighs 90 pounds and befriends a casino playboy;(2) A gorgeous female genie lives with her astronaut "master";(3)a sexy female witch with super magical powers lives with her advertising executive husband and is being meddled into affairs by the female's mother,who is a witch too; (4)a family of ghouls and their Frankenstein monster of a father live in a middle class neighborhood;(5)a owner who has a talking horse takes over a suburban household and basically wrecks havoc too;(6)two beautiful ladies bring in a man into their house and makes them their roommate;(7)several castaways are shipwrecked on a uncharted island where they make the best of things in order to get along;(8)three gorgeous models are detectives working for a playboy millionaire named Charlie? THESE ARE THE STRANGEST CONCEPTS EVER DEVISED FOR TELEVISION. Not to mention comedies based on dead people,and a world full of talking chimps,horses,dogs,cats,robotic cops,superheroes,secret agents and variety shows. They had a lot of that during the mid-1960's and 1970's.....From "Topper" to "F-Troop","The Ghost and Mrs.Muir","Mister Terrific", not to mention in the same category Ann Jillian's one time sitcom "Jennifer Slept Home" to "Manimal"..now those are strange concepts? Who remembers the variety series "Pink Lady and Jeff" not to mention "The Brady Bunch Variety Hour",and "Howard Cosell's Variety Hour",or "Donnie and Marie" and to an lesser extent,"Me And The Chimp?" Now these were the worst variety shows of all time!!!!Most recently,for those who have never seen My Mother The Car,the series,cable channel TRIO has resurrected this series from the graveyard of bad TV shows and part of its biggest FLOPS of all time. It also gives those who have never got a chance to see a great comedic talent like Jerry Van Dyke,which in my opinion was at his best here. A grand showcase of brilliant talent as only Jerry Van Dyke can deliver on cue along with Ann Sothern who is perfect as the voice of the mother. Catch this lost series on TRIO,pop culture TV!

VERY far from the worst TV show of all time. Granted that the ideas for stories probably would have grown thin had this series lasted any longer than three years or so. It did have it's moments of humor and it did last for 30 episodes which is a lot more than a lot of other real Turkeys!