As Mother's Day nears, a group of seemingly-unconnected people in Atlanta come to terms with their relationships with their mothers. Sandy is a divorced mother of two boys whose ex-husband, Henry has recently remarried a younger woman, Tina. Sandy is still getting used to this when she meets Bradley, a former marine, in the supermarket. Bradley's wife Dana, a Marine Lieutenant, has recently died, leaving him with their two daughters and missing her terribly. Miranda is an accomplished author who gave up her only child Kristin for adoption at birth; as the adult Kristin has her own daughter and mulls over marrying the father, she contemplates the missing part in her life and her friend Jesse encourages her to search for her birthmother. Jesse and her sister Gabi have their own issues with their parents, who they feel are too racist and homophobic to be in their lives: Jesse married and had a son with an Indian-American and Gabi married her girlfriend Max and adopted her son. They're surprised when their parents suddenly show up, and plenty of catching-up is in order.
Cast
Production
Development
In April 2013, Dennis Dugan confirmed that he would next develop Garry Marshall's comedy filmMother's Day.
Casting
On June 30, 2015, four cast members were announced, Julia Roberts, Jennifer Aniston, Kate Hudson, and Jason Sudeikis, with the film to be directed by Garry Marshall and scripted by Anya Kochoff-Romano and Lily Hollander. Brandt Andersen produced, along with Wayne Rice and Mike Karz. On July 22, 2015, Open Road Films acquired US distribution rights to the film, and it was revealed that Matt Walker and Tom Hines would co-write the script. On August 21, 2015, Ella Anderson joined the film's cast to play Vicky, Sudeikis's character's daughter. On August 26, 2015, Timothy Olyphant, Britt Robertson, Shay Mitchell, Jack Whitehall, Loni Love, and Aasif Mandvi joined the cast. On October 6, Hilary Duff was confirmed to appear, but she declined due to scheduling conflicts with filming the second season of her show Younger.
Filming
on the film began on August 18, 2015, in Atlanta, Georgia. Though shooting her part required only four days, Julia Roberts was paid $3 million.
Release
Mother's Day was released domestically on April 29, 2016 by Open Road Films.
Reception
Box office
Mother's Day grossed $32.5 million in the United States and Canada, and $15.9 million in other territories, for a worldwide total of $48.4 million, against a production budget of $25 million. In the United States and Canada, pre-release tracking suggested the film would gross around $11 million from 3,035 theaters in its opening weekend, trailing fellow newcomer Keanu but besting Ratchet & Clank. The film grossed $2.6 million on its first day and $8.4 million in its opening weekend, finishing 4th at the box office, behind The Jungle Book, ', and Keanu. In its second weekend the film grossed $11.1 million, finishing 3rd at the box office, behind ' and The Jungle Book.
Critical response
On review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 8% based on 157 reviews and an average rating of 2.9/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "Arguably well-intended yet thoroughly misguided, Mother's Day is the cinematic equivalent of a last-minute gift that only underscores its embarrassing lack of effort." On Metacritic, the film has a score of 18 out of 100 based on 30 critics, indicating "overwhelming dislike". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B+" on an A+ to F scale. Richard Roeper gave the film zero out of four stars, saying, "...nothing could have prepared us for the offensively stupid, shamelessly manipulative, ridiculously predictable and hopelessly dated crapfest that is Mother's Day." Peter Bradshaw, writing in The Guardian, gave the film one star out of five, calling it "as feelgood and life-affirming as a fire in an asbestos factory neighbouring a children's hospital."
