The good mother

Cake

Crit

Ah, the calculus when a film has been badly reviewed while its star's performance has received raves: how good does the anticipated performance have to be to get me there despite the low expectations for the film itself? How low must the expectations for the film be to keep me away despite the reports on the performance? Sometimes it might come down to: how much else is there to see this weekend? In this case, the answer to that was: nada.

And no, it's not a great film--it's predictable, formulaic, except where it veers occasionally in an unexpected and fairly nonsensical direction. And yes, Jennifer Aniston is excellent as a grieving mother in pain as much physical as psychic, and in thrall to the drugs that dull the physical pain but only exacerbate the psychic. Ultimately, I think her performance makes a mediocre film watchable much more than the mediocre film undercuts her performance--but why choose: see her performance in a good film that convinced those who were paying attention more than a decade ago that she could act: The Good Girl.

Trailer

• Still Alice--How much longer must we hinterlanders wait for this?