Lazy Film Critic Movie Reviews
Mom and Dad
So recently I rented the Nicolas Cage thriller 'Mom and Dad', a movie I'd been excited for for some time. Whether you think he's a terrible actor or a full blown genius it's hard to deny that as an actor he never fails to entertain. The premise of Mom and Dad is that there's a subliminal message being broadcasted across America that's causing parents to go nuts and try to kill their kids. It's a morbid concept, but one rife with opportunity for entertainment when the main characters dad is played by Hollywoods madman Nicolas Cage. Unfortunately, and shockingly, the movies entertainment value comes nowhere close to its full potential.
Don't get me wrong here, this is not a boring Nicolas Cage performance. When he's in the movie, he's fun, he's so much fun. It's screaming, erratic, lunatic Nicolas Cage at his most batshit insane, and it's wonderful. What's less wonderful is how little screentime he actually has in this movie. From a director who has delivered fun stupid Nicolas Cage before even if the overall movie wasn't good, it's downright shocking how little Nicolas Cage is in this movie, especially so considering how much he is undoubtedly the best part.
As if that's not bad enough, it really doesn't help that the best word that can be used to describe this horror comedy about parents going kill crazy is boring. It takes an unnecessary amount of time to set things up for the explosive third act when the actual action starts happening, and even once it does start its like the movie is willingly trying to stay away from it at all times after that. Intermittent flashbacks and moments of weird and badly written dialogue distract from the real meat of the movie, and it's unfortunate because had the movie had some focus and structure there could have been something really fun here.
And all of this might all be okay, if not for this movie doing the one thing that anyone who reads this blog knows I hate more than anything - it has a bad ending. If you read this blog regularly, you may know my stance on endings, I think when it comes to movies a good ending or a good third act can be that determining factor that brings my rating up from a 3 to a 4 or even a 5, and the other way around a bad ending can turn even a good movie into garbage. And make no mistake, Mom and Dad is the latter, with what is without a doubt the worst movie ending I'll see in 2018 and possibly the worst ending since 2013's The Call. I doubt the last seconds of this movie could even pass for an ending under any qualifier, since it just kind of stops. Mid-sentence as well, I won't give specifics because of spoilers (although at this point it should be clear this movie isn't getting a recommendation), but the movie just cuts to black in the middle of a sentence of what really should be the third act of the movie. It's really stupid and despite not liking most of the movie up to that point this ending really drove it home for me.
Final Rating
Mom and Dad isn't the worst movie of 2018, but that doesn't mean you should see it. Nicolas Cage is a lot of fun, he's arguably the only reason to watch the movie, and even then it probably won't be long before someone uploads a compilation of his scenes from this movie, so there's nothing to recommend here.
Final Rating
Mom and Dad isn't the worst movie of 2018, but that doesn't mean you should see it. Nicolas Cage is a lot of fun, he's arguably the only reason to watch the movie, and even then it probably won't be long before someone uploads a compilation of his scenes from this movie, so there's nothing to recommend here.
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