Before I get to reviewing Smother, I must address the elephant in the room. WHAT is going on with Diane Keaton’s movie role choices in the past few years? Sure, she was adorable back in the day in Annie Hall, and even in Father of the Bride she held her own. She was also good in Something’s Gotta Give and (the underrated) The Family Stone. But then her career derailed.

Here’s a thought — maybe quirky and neurotic doesn’t play so well in your 50s and 60s (after all, there’s probably a very good reason we haven’t seen much of Debra Winger or Goldie Hawn as of late)?

Keaton has gone on to star in a string of mediocre, borderline terrible films, including Because I Said So and Mad Money. In fact, in recent years, Keaton has repeatedly played shrill, clingy, and overbearing (Because I Said So) or just plain not funny (Mad Money).

And then there’s Smother, a film about Noah Cooper (played by Dax Shepard of Employee of the Month), a physical therapist who is laid off/fired and heads back to his former employer, a carpet salesman, for work. Noah’s wife, Clare (played by Liv Tyler), is a teacher with babies on the brain and a loud biological clock, and she doesn’t care that Noah just lost his job — she wants to have a baby, now! Noah’s mother, Marilyn (played by Keaton), has never quite managed to cut the apron strings, and makes her presence known whether she’s with her son or not, leaving lengthy, scatterbrained phone messages while the couple screen their calls.

When Marilyn shows up one night and announces she thinks her husband (Noah’s father) is having an affair, she wheedles an invite out of them to stay at their place. Of course, she arrives already assuming her son will open his home to her, as she has her bags and pack of yippity yappity dogs in tow already. So the already overbearing mother is bunking with her son and daughter-in-law. Of course, Marilyn also decides she needs to get a job. So she applies to work where else but the very same place her son is now working, so they can sell carpet side by side.

Article Author: writnkitten

Juliet Farmer is a full-time freelance writer and a regular contributor to several websites and trade publications, as well as a self-proclaimed TV junkie with a penchant for books and movies.

Visit writnkitten's author page — writnkitten's Blog