SHAMEFUL WASTE

Rating: 2/10 (27 May 2018)

After wrapping this flick, Jennifer Lawrence has to be saying "what was I thinking?"
90% of this particular movie is fixed either on her face or the back of her head, all with a handheld camera. How fun is that? You'll end the movie carsick.
Lawrence has the unenviable task of looking perplexed, surprised, and disgusted at the constant arrival of unwanted guests in her remodeled Victorian. You'll feel like you're watching Chevy's CHRISTMAS VACATION without the humor.
MOTHER! is a frustrating and unceremonious examination of weird house guests, including Ed Harris and Michelle Pfeiffer, who simply want a place to rest their head. Is that tedious? You bet.
Why does Lawrence's husband, Javier Bardem, entertain and house these guests against her wishes? Frankly, like Rhett Butler, we don't give a hoot.
The movie will find you taking deep breaths, not from shock or dismay, but sheer boredom or anger at the appalling insensitivity of Bardem to his wife Lawrence.
Perhaps if Bardem reprised his Oscar-winning role as serial killer Anton Chigurh, our 2 hours of this misery might be justified. Didn't happen.
For two hours I thought I was watching a new "hip" version of ROSEMARY'S BABY, but that didn't happen either.
Instead, there is no real closure to this movie and we find that Lawrence has been a simple chess piece in a loop of never-ending abuse. If you really LIKED this movie, you need therapy. It's really painful to watch.
Aronofsky, the Director, likes to throw spaghetti on the wall hoping that enough critics will see the Mona Lisa there somewhere. I suppose if you put 1000 monkeys in a room with 1000 typewriters they will eventually come up with GONE WITH THE WIND.
But this strategy, like Aronofsky's strategy, means that audiences will have to figure out just what he's pitching to us on his way to stardom. I don't want to take that train. It's a very bumpy trip.
My fellow critics have asked the same question: What exactly is the theme of MOTHER!? Perhaps it's a biblical allegory? Or perhaps it's a protest piece from the misogyny suffered by women? Or perhaps it's a statement about the failure of the world to address homelessness? Or the trials of remodeling your Victorian? Take your pick. It's a bunch of spaghetti on the wall.
Skip it and watch ROSEMARY'S BABY, a classic horror flick with a great director, Roman Polanski. It has a shocking finale but it least it has closure.
MOTHER! is so darn vague, it's plot so loose, that it would make a great dribble painting by Jackson Pollock. Don't subject yourself to this cinematic nonsense by Aronofsky.
If you paid good money to see this, ask for a refund. I gave it 2 stars because I liked the brief visuals of the Canadian countryside where this was filmed.
Jennifer, you need a new agent!