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What Movie Is Perfect To Watch With Mom This Mother's Day?

By Pajiba Staff | Film | May 12, 2017 |

By Pajiba Staff | Film | May 12, 2017 |


Mother’s Day is Sunday, and just as there are all kinds of moms there are all kinds of movies that are perfect to watch during that holiday visit. The Overlords share theirs below, and we invite you to share your suggestions in the comments.

Brave. The movie about a teen girl is a metaphorical bear to her mom, and turns her mom into a literal bear. I saw this in theaters as part of my job, then peeled off from my fellow critics to call my mom and apologize, basically for ever being a teenager. I remember distinctly feeling my mom didn’t see me for me when I was in high school. And watching Brave, I realized it wasn’t that, it was that she knew the world would play nicer with me (angry, weird, outspoken me) if I could just play its game. We still take very different sides of this issue, but Brave helped me see that hers comes from a place not of censorship but caring. And now, it’s a movie that’s not only something we enjoy watching together, but also that she shows regularly to my nieces, “So they can learn to be strong and brave just like their mom, aunt, and grandma.” —Kristy Puchko

Overboard has been a movie that Mom and I have watched together a million times when I was a kid, but not recently. It’s a problematic movie if you look at it with even the tiniest bit of scrutiny, but we are both willing to let it go. Why? Kurt Russell and Goldie Hawn are a comedic fantasy couple and the innate 80s-ness of the entire flick transcends any gripes about the plot. I know we will cackle, giggle, and wax poetic about Russell’s hair and Hawn’s reactions to peasant life. Then when the movie is over, we’ll pepper our interactions with quotes for weeks to come. Perfection. —Jodi Clager

Hidden Figures It doesn’t feature any flesh-eating zombies (which would disappoint my mom as she loves The Walking Dead and Fear The Walking Dead) or Steve Harvey doing his own version of KIDS SAY THE DARNDEST THINGS, but it features Black women, and Black women being awesome and doing great, inspiring things. So it’s something I know she’d like and enjoy.—Brian Richards

Home Alone — You see, Mom? This is what it was like growing up with you. You were NEVER around. I had to chase off all the bad people by myself, and where were you? Gallivanting around Europe, while I was left by myself with a box of cereal and microwave pizza. Oh sure, you’d come back every once in a while, but you’d just leave again! That’s why there are four sequels, Mom. Because you were never around, and I got stuck in New York City by myself, or had to fight off North Korean terrorists, or get left alone in a haunted house. NO MOM, that didn’t actually happen to me. They’re metaphors, Mom! Metaphors for a childhood without the love of a mother! Happy Mother’s Day, Mom. —Dustin Rowles

Saving Private Ryan. HEAR ME OUT. During my freshman year of college I was struggling with the transition, and I came home one weekend, and Saving Private Ryan was on. My mom watched it with me and was like, “Well, this is good to put all your problems in perspective, I bet!” And it really was. You know that scene in Bridesmaids where Kristin Wiig is watching Castaway at her parent’s house and sobbing over Wilson? It was kinda like that. —Victoria McNally

I would want to watch a double feature of Beloved and Moonlight with my mother, because the first one she specifically avoided because she and her privilege thought, ‘I don’t want to watch a depressing movie,’ which is basically the story of my Mom’s life. It’d be nice if I could force her to confront difficult movies about race, and that’s what Mother’s Day is for, right? And then we’d watch Moonlight, and maybe she’d not only shut-up about La La Land but we could bond over Andre Holland. —-Grainger Heavensbee

When I was a kid, I always remember The Sound of Music being a relative constant once we hit the VCR stage in our lives, but I never quite got why. It wasn’t until I was in college, when I brought my girlfriend home to meet my parents, that the level of my mom’s adoration for the film sunk in. The conversation went something like this:

Me: This is my mom and dad, and my sister Liesl.
GF: Hi! Wait, your name is Liesl? Liesl and Kurt? Like The Sound of Music?
Me: Ha! Yeah, I guess so. But it’s not like we were named after the movie.
Mom: YES! YES YOU WERE.
Me: Wait, WHAT?
GF: This is the best day ever.

Yeah, it wasn’t until I was 20 that I learned that my mom loved that movie so much that she named us after it. I used to be embarrassed by it, but then I realized that the idea of this adoring family filled with love and song must have appealed to my mother, and if I’m being honest, that’s a fairly apt description of my family growing up. God knows we had some terribly rough times, but music was always a huge part of our lives, particularly for me and my father. I also ended up marrying that girlfriend, and we’ve done much the same - ours is a house filled with music and singing, and I wouldn’t change it for a thing. I’ve embraced it, and while it’s not my favorite movie, I’ll gladly watch it with my mom anytime.—TK