The Perfect Family

source: The Perfect Family

As a person raised in a strict Catholic community it warmed my heart to see this movie. I wish it was shown at every Catholic church in the world because the acceptance and forgiveness in this movie is more in keeping with the teachings of Christ than the hate that is spewed by the sheep in his name. How anyone could think this is anti-catholic when it is all about what it means to be a real follower of Jesus and about God's love for all his creations. The only unbelievable thing was that the mother would be able to forgive herself and accept her children when the reality is many Catholics will reject and harm their children rather than question their self-serving dogma.

Watching the first part of this movie, I enjoyed the acting and story. As it progressed, the agenda became clearer focusing on the Kathleen Turner character as the "problem". Is it so nutty to honor our marriage vows and encourage our children to do so too? Our parents and grandparents didn't think so. I guess everybody's desires must overrun any other commitments and the rightness or wrongness of any said desires must not be questioned. The only real "freak" is the old fashioned Mom. I question that. The Catholic Church seems to be a free target now when every other group must not be slandered. I doubt most people who happen to read this would agree because when we want to see things that justify us, thats what we see and most of society likes to think it is right no matter what it does.

This movie sticks out like a rancid sore thumb among the rest of the Lifetime movies. After looking it up here, we find that it was originally a real movie released to theaters, and made a whopping fourteen thousand. The star of the great movie Serial Mom Kathleen Turner is a fine Catholic woman up for an award that has a prize of lifetime absolution. What a bunch of hateful stereotypical hooey. Absolution is given just for the asking. How such hate at a group of people is allowed in this day and age is mystifying. And the priest from the Thorn Birds again as a priest here? Really?

This movie as a whole was worthless and the meaning could be derived from any generic Hallmark card. There is absolutely no conflict resolution, only illogical acceptance. Every possible Catholic stereotype can be seen presented slyly through each scene. At first I couldn't tell which direction the movie would take, by at the abrupt ending that punched me in the face I was left very unsatisfied.

Beginners Anne Renton, director, and Paula Goldberg and Claire V. Riley, writers, had a good idea when framing this story about a mother's bigotry hidden under the cloak of Catholicism, and the film could have been extremely pertinent in today's milieu of the President's sanctioning of same sex marriage. The problem is the script is so weak and pasted together that it gives very little weight to the actors to bring off the message that could have been important. Yes, some viewers may rile that the film is anti-Catholic but it is not - it is just anti-prejudice. Eileen Cleary (Kathleen Turner, crippled by a weak script until the very end of the film), a woman who devotes 98 % of her life to tending to her church duties and caring for the elderly who are house bound and other good Christian deeds, has been nominated as Catholic Woman of the year: the other nominee is Agnes Dunn (Sharon Lawrence), an almost equal do- gooder - both nominated by Monsignor Murphy (Richard Chamberlain). Eileen's family must be approved for the award and that is when the balloon of Eileen's glee seems to pop: her husband Frank (Michael McGrady) is an alcoholic who has been sober 15 years and must attend AA meetings; her son Frank, Jr (Jason Ritter) has left his wife and family for a manicurist whom he loves; and her daughter Shannon (Emily Deschanel, a successful 30- something lawyer and 5 months pregnant, is about to marry her girlfriend Angela (Angelique Cabral) in a same sex wedding to be performed by Father Joe (Scott Michael Campbell). Eileen is disturbed that Anglea's parents (Elizabeth Peña and Gregory Zaragoza) approve and will host the wedding. Desperate to win the award, Eileen is conflicted between shame over her family and still desiring to do the right thing by them. Unable to accept any of their choices her family begins to splinter, with even her husband threatening to leave. How it all turns the corner is when Eileen finally reveals a secret of her own she has always had to hide for fear of being judged a bad Catholic. The ending is the best part of the film as it finally shows Eileen to be a more complete human being and things seem to fall in line. The cast tries hard to make this all work and succeed as far as the script will allow. Katheen Turner, looking cosmetically and adipose altered, struggles with her role, but by film's end she seems to succeed in conveying the message of the film. Grady Harp, May 12

Kathleen Turner was great as a neurotic and psychopathic mom in Serial Mother. When I watched the trailer of The Perfect Mother, I laughed, and so I expected to find in it the same folly as in John Waters' comedy. Eileen Cleary is a mother and a devout catholic. She happens to be nominated against her best enemy for the award of the catholic woman of the year. If she wins, she will receive the greatest prize : the absolution of her sins. To be elected, she needs to be assiduous at church and in her charity works, but she also needs to have a perfect family. The trouble is, her husband is a former alcoholic, her son has just left his wife and kids for the manicurist next door, and her daughter is gay, and pregnant. The accumulation of clichés as obstacles can be funny in a comedy, but not here. The film – except for some good lines and Turner's acting – is pretty boring. I didn't laugh, I barely smiled. It takes ages to actually start, and when it does, it doesn't go very far. Eileen is in a quandary : she has to choose between her family and her faith. What will she do ? I mean come on, this is a comedy, we all know how it is going to end. The problem is not the end really. The problem is that the scenes that are supposed to illustrate Eileen's conflict with her family, and her own dilemma, are not funny, but they are not sad either, or deep. The film remains on the surface so as not to shock anyone. It remains politically correct, full of good intentions, so of course, it fails as a comedy, and it also fails as a drama. Don't waste your time watching more than the trailer. Read my other reviews on http://filmcritiks.wordpress.com/

I don't see how this film is even called a comedy. The acting is not very convincing at all and the entire premise of the story is old and tired. Do we really need more movies making religious people look stupid? This movie is essentially a slam on Catholics and not even a good criticism of the faithful. I am not a church-goer and I found this film to be downright offensive. In addition it is a completely immature view of the subject of religious intolerance and "behind closed doors" lives of so'called religious people. Kathleen Turners voice is unfortunately not very pleasant and downright hoarse. This made the film very hard to listen to...I'm not saying that to be cruel, her voice is just raspy and manlike and hard to take. The move moves extremely slow and is just boring really. One of the worst movies I have rented in a while.

I'm surprised at such a low score for this movie! First, please know that I was born, baptized, and raised Catholic. I've since moved to another religion, but not for any "Catholic hate" reasons at all. So I have a STRONG knowledge of Catholicism. It seems MOST of the negative reviews claim it's "Christian/Catholic bashing"... I would wonder how many of those folks actually WATCHED it or just wrote a review based on a presupposed notion. There is NO Christian bashing at all IMO. Just portraying people such as I've known all my life the way they are, and the portrayal isn't bad in any way, as far as I'm concerned. Overall it's very balanced - yeah there's a few potshots at Catholics ("I don't have to think... I'm Catholic") but overall, the portrayal is VERY accurate to my Catholic upbringing and those in the faith I know today. Sure, hardly ANY nuns still wear the habit - but it's just little things. By and large the portrayal I thought was fair on ALL SIDES, not only for the Catholics but all the other characters. I'll be honest and say I FULLY EXPECTED a "Christians are stupid knuckle dragging Neanderthals" flick - I expected to shut it off half way through. Instead, I watched the whole thing and rather enjoyed it. The movie itself actually plays quite well - Kathleen Turner takes a bit of getting used to because of her very deep, manly voice... but overall, it has a nicely done "indie" feel to it in every way. No, it's NOT an award contender in any way - some of the acting is rather stiff and forced, the plot is predictable, and there are quite a few clichés and stereotypes. But it's VERY watchable, totally held my attention, was touching in places, and ENJOYABLE to watch right up to the end for me. Give it a shot - don't let the negative reviews implying it's a "Christian bashing" flick deter you.

Despite the reviews that say it's an anti-Catholic movie, it's not. It's a movie about a family, and the mother happens to be Catholic and struggling between her reality and the reality of the church to which she belongs....which happens to be Catholic. Just sit back and watch the movie - it's got some nice, thought-provoking dialog and if you have to tear a movie down because it makes you ask questions....then maybe you should focus on your own life and stop watching movies! Mister Ritter is also a treat to watch, so much like his father, who would be proud to see what a nice actor his son has become.