Smother (II) (2008) User Reviews

An Off-Kilter Screwball Farce of a Needy Mother and Her Put-Upon Son

[EUyeshima · 6/10 · 17 February 2010]

I have an unexplainable fondness for this slight, oddball 2008 comedy. It's not the catastrophic train wreck others would have you believe it is. Instead, director/screenwriter Vince DiMeglio has concocted a screwball farce with off-kilter characters that alternate between endearing and irritating, often in the same moment. The film is by no means a significant milestone in cinema, but it does generate some unexpected laughs mostly due to Diane Keaton's freewheeling performance. The Oscar-winning actress may appear to be slumming here, but her dexterity is put to the test as one incredibly needy and critical mother.

Usually a second banana in films, Dax Shepard ("Baby Mama") plays Noah, a physical therapist who gets fired and wants to change his luck by starting his own practice. Married to Clare, a schoolteacher who wants to have a baby badly, he finds his wife's cousin Myron, a dweeby screenwriter wannabe, parked on the couch. Later, Noah's mom Marilyn drops by unexpectedly after a big fight with his father. She moves in with her five dogs, all named Sammy Higgins, and together they find jobs at the carpet store where used to work. Her flighty incompetence gets them both fired, and things get even worse from there.

Shepard relies heavily on a deadpan delivery to carry his performance. Liv Tyler ("The Lord of the Rings") is sweet as Clare, and Mike White ("The Good Girl") manages to make his creepiness oddly likable. But it's Keaton who amps up her innate zaniness to draw a beleaguered level of sympathy to a character that could have been buried in sitcom-level clichés. For evidence, watch her work the scene in the Denny's-style restaurant or trade barbs with Shepard in the funeral scene. Production values are on the modest side. The 2009 DVD features an entertaining commentary track from DiMeglio (who reveals that the story is somewhat autobiographical) and a brief making-of featurette.

With a mother like this!

[jotix100 · 4/10 · 29 July 2010]

Some women are born to be mothers. Other women really do not get it right, so they s-mother! Which is the subject of this lame comedy recently shown on a cable network. We thought it might have been the case of a film so bad, that it was sent directly to the land of the DVD!

Actually, not having a clue as to what "Smother" was about, but thinking, how bad can a film be with Diane Keaton and Liv Tyler in its cast, we decided to take a chance. Well, this movie was the perfect example of good intentions going stray. The problem is a screenplay that does not hold any surprises. As written by Tim Rasmussen and directed by Vince DiMeglio, the movie does not go anywhere.

Part of the problem might be Diane Keaton's character. She is the mother from hell; she is irritating and completely out of control. Ms. Keaton is a good actress, but this movie will not add to her CV. Liv Tyler is totally wasted. The only one that is saved from this disaster is Ken Howard, who is seen as the father. The other question in our mind was: what was the purpose of casting Mike White at all?

An OK film, an OK acting...

[sweetyboni · 5/10 · 11 August 2008]

The film was an "OK", but I expected more because of the actors. Yes, Diane Keaton was great, as always, but even though, she didn't touch me so that I could enjoy her acting all the time. I can't comment about Dax Shepard, this is the first time I saw him in a movie, but I guess he was OK. Liv Tyler, come on! She could put a little more effort. But after all she was OK too.

The whole film though... What a mess! I was so bored at times that I wanted to turn into the next charter and still be bored. I certainly expected a lot more, but it's an OK and that is still something we can put on.

One of the worst films ever made,

[jaybob · 1/10 · 18 May 2009]

In over 70 years of watching movies,This has to be one of the very worst comedies ever made. Mel Brooks, Mike Meyers & a few other have made some very bad comedies, this however is the absolute bottom of the barrel.

It is unfunny from the very opening,to the tacked on scene during the credits.

Diane Keaton who I normally like must have needed her paycheck badly. She desperately needs to re-learn her craft.

Dax Shepard (I do not know who he is),needs a better director,to show him how to act.

Liv Tyler is also not up to her role.

Mike White needs to find another character,he has done this same type person a few times too many.

Ken Howard who started out years back as a first rate actor, also not as good as he used to be.

There is nothing decent I can say on this attempt at movie comedy.

Ratings: * (out of 4) points 25(out of 100) IMDb 1 (out of 10)

Condascending Sacharine Fiasco

[guringo · 1/10 · 13 August 2008]

Whatever happened to Keaton is what I want to know.

Actually I don't, I crawled away, heaving, thinking she must owe half the bookies in Vegas, or maybe not, maybe she was just brainwashed, blackmailed and bored to death. Rich enough to adopt a third-world country, she somehow had to star in yet another cookie-cut, cliché-ridden drool'athon, based on the same character-franchise she's been rehashing since 'Father of the Bride'('91). You'd think she's going head to head with Mr.Bean.

(Spoilers)

So hubby (Dax) get's fired by obnoxious son of boss, his mom (Keaton)leaves his dad after classic row, and crashes over with her own dog-show in tow, oh those little rascals. Hubby's got cold-feet for diaper-duty, wifey's clock a-ticking and hey, let's toss in a space-cadet as second house-guest for good measure, all in one day because that's so funny and original. Wife gets fed up and walks away, mom leaves dad for space-cadet and the couple makes up in time for closing credits, 86 very long minutes later.

Now if you have to have a space-cadet, he can't be devious as well, he can't scheme some excuse for his stayover, and if mom leaves dad, she can't hop into a cab dressed as a pumpkin just because some scriptwriter agonized over how to cheer thing up.

Plus that gag whereby they invite her in only to then discover she's got her canine entourage in the cab has got to be outlawed by now. And you only get one obnoxious 2-dimensional boss to denigrate. Another movie-killer would be the movie-script the space cadet is toiling away at, supposedly more lame than the actual one, again, dejas-ad-nausea.

Liv Tyler doesn't seem happy here, her voice was weird at times, it had me wondering if they later had her redub some of it, and she's a smart one, she's handled great roles and we'll forgive her for Jersey Girl, it was disaster-prone, could happen to anyone. Dax Shepard was watchable and that's being generous considering the material.

Personally, it's the director, the screenwriters and especially the producers that I would love to see tar'n'feathered before shipped to Guantanamo as playthings for the prisoners, and that's me keeping this 'lite'.

Forgettable.

[hpeirano · 3/10 · 24 June 2008]

Totally forgettable. Specially because of the weak acting. This is the first movie I've seen with Dax Shepard. To my surprise, he's been around since the late 90's. I thought he was a newcomer, since his acting was so bland. I could say the same about Liv Tyler. Although I've seen her do well in other movies, she gave Clare Cooper a strange personality. Liv is not the kind of actress that will give the character a fiery, emotional personality like Diane Keaton would be able to, but it was pretty strange to see her say her lines in whisper mode. It seemed that altogether there simply wasn't a very good chemistry going on between the actors, and I think Diane Keaton sensed that as well. She's a fantastic actress, but seemed just a bit over the top in this movie. It felt like she just wanted to get this movie over as soon as possible. I wouldn't blame her.

Essentially unwatchable

[firstalittlebackstory · 1/10 · 21 November 2009]

Watching Smother was perhaps the longest not-quite-90-minutes of my life. There wasn't a laugh to be had; in fact, I don't remember ever cracking a smile. Diane Keaton was horridly unfunny as a middle-aged chain-smoking dog hoarder, the textbook overbearing mother character, a relentlessly irritating woman who clearly suffers from some kind of personality disorder. She is manipulative, conniving, melodramatic, childish, narcissistic, and worst of all, boring.

I suppose I should briefly mention the other characters, but why bother? It was just a long string of movie clichés--the dippy, socially inept distant relative who's just trying to break into "The Industry", the gruff and long-suffering but somehow still lovable father, the mild- mannered wife who just can't take it anymore (but eventually moves beyond the discord and resignedly comes home), the herd of unhousebroken dogs who like to chew throw pillows while everyone is away, etc.

God, what a snore. I've never been a Diane Keaton fan and Smother only reminded me why. Overacting is overacting, no matter how many pictures you did in your prime. Her attempts at physical comedy were especially humiliating. What was the director thinking?

While I like Dax Shepard and can even sometimes tolerate Liv Tyler, their performances were so lackluster and dull that it was clear that neither actor gave a damn about this movie. That was okay, because neither did I. Keaton's endless self-absorbed prattling was intolerable and at times Shepard's dislike for her seemed genuine. By the end of the movie I wanted to slap her myself.

Awful.

Very dumb, not the very worst movie ever, but not that far from it

[spenrh · 2/10 · 24 December 2018]

This bad movie was just what I said in my title up top. Diana Keaten was once a likable actress who I enjoyed in films like 1987's "Baby boom", 1995's "First wives club", and Steve Martin's wife in both "Father of the bride" movies (1991 and 1993). However after the turn of the new millennium, she seemed to turn to more annoying desperate overacting. Her 2003 film with Jack Nicholson "Something's gotta give" was her first sign of that, but she was not as bad in that as she was here. At least there Keaton had one fairly amusing part, and it was funny how it was done, they showed a montage of numerous 5 second scenes of her crying non-stop in the car, then in the shower,...etc. That's exactly what I felt like doing after watching her and the other characters here in "Smother".

Many post-2000 movies have these ridiculously over-the-top bosses, such as Dax Shepard's boss at this movie's start, who yell and fire their employees in ways that are both extremely unfunny and cringeworthy ("Cat and the hat" had a boss who was even more cringeworthy in that same style, when I had the misfortune of watching that atrocity with my then 6 year old nephew (a movie which turned out to be horribly in appropriate for 6 year olds)). Keaten's cringeworthy behavior in "Smother" begins when suddenly showing up at Dax's house to move in. She first, of course, shows up with the "nesessary" 5 hyper rambunctious little dogs that always must come with this type of plot, and she shows up wearing a stupid pumpkin costume while screeching away the second she's there. Seriously? Then she continues her nonstop screaming, over-the-top (OTT) acting, and airheadedness. This is all the last thing that Dax wanted, and the last thing that I wanted.

Of course we first get Dax's wife Liv Tyler (but the only fairly tolerable character in this movie) pleading for him to chill out about it and give her a chance. Then we get Liv's brother Myron, who I really really disliked, also barging into their home almost around the same time as Keaton, and using some supposed upcoming writing seminar as an excuse to stay. Myron had absolutely no problem with gluing himself to their couch long-term, stealing Dax's toothbrush to brush his feet, and clipping his toenails practically in Dax's face. Then, there's Dax's new boss at a carpet store who also possesses the typical OTT 21st century movie-boss attitude. He hires Dax and Keaten, but with the condition of being an ultimate jerka** and telling them that they better shut up and deal with it or else hit the road. He makes suggestive gestures behind an elderly lady customer? Not ok. He makes it crystal clear that Dax and Keaten better do what the hell he says and ask no questions. But, with knowing by this time in the movie what Keaton's character is like, will she mess the job up for both her and Dax with her overbearing behavior and airheaded slip ups? Does a bear s*** in the woods?

Then there's Keaten's husband (and Dax's dad) who she walked out on for suspecting him cheating. Then Keaten stupidly decides to keep stealing Dax's car in the middle of the night to go spy on him outside their house. Then, he shows up at Dax's household making more waves in annoying and unfunny ways, and of course at the one moment Keaten has like ten guests over there so there's a big scene being made in front of all of them. That's just obligatory.

On another note kinda interesting, at one point Dax's dad sits with Dax while watching an old 1950s film with June Allyson, fast forwarding through each scene she's in and saying how he can't stand her. When I first saw this movie back in around 2009, I thought that Dax's cranky sour grandmother living with his dad was supposed to be June Allyson, now old, and that was the reason he didn't want to watch her scenes in the movie. Of course that wasn't it though, these 21st century movies don't know how to come up with good interesting ideas like that anymore. I've seen a few of June Allyson's films now though, and I like her. And I enjoy many classic films from the 1930s, 1940s, and 1950s, most of them are much better than most modern 21st century movies, "Smother" being one on that long list of them

Then there's the scene of grandma dying. But the way they did it here was awful. She dies at the bowling alley in her electric wheelchair, stoops over which makes her motionless body push into the button which rolls her chair right down the lane into the bowling pins as her now dead body falls off the chair into them making a strike, followed by the monitor showing "turkey strike!!" complete with "gobble gobble" sounds heard. This movie trying to make her death scene funny was bad enough, but then doing it in the dumbest way like this was so unacceptable. This is yet another example of why I don't care for many 21st century comedies. Then, there's the next stupid annoying scene at grandmother's funeral, with Dax and Keaten going back and forth to the podium up front ranting back and forth to each other having a hissy argument in front of everyone. I mean, really?

Then after the stupid funeral quarreling, we get some motel lounge with Keaten loudly and very out of tune singing Madonna's "Borderline", while obviously still angry. It's like there weren't enough annoying scenes already.

I did sorta like Liv Tyler's character, but just a little bit, and she was the only one I thought even that of. She's nice and attractive, but she was even better in 2004's "Jersey girl". And she gets upset and leaves Dax at one point, I sort of didn't blame her.

Not to bad considering Keaton's recent form..but Tyler is ridiculous!

[Dan-I-am · 6/10 · 8 October 2008]

Diane Keaton is going through a really rough couple of years. Lets check her last few movies:Because I Said So-Shocking film and didn't go so well at the box office, Mama's Boy- Shocking film, horrific at the box office and Mad Money-A good movie in my book, but a poor box office return.

So where does that leave Smother? Here we have a mother who moves in with her son causing chaos in her son's life. Its a fun comedy, but with nothing new or exciting that we haven't seen before. Dax Shepherd steers the ship, and is actually not to bad as the lead who's life just keeps getting harder and harder. As for Keaton, well she is a lot of fun as the annoying mother who doesn't want to move out of her son's house. She plays it rather well and her character is actually quite likable. She has great chemistry with Dax and together they make a great team.

So what flaws this movie if not Keaton, who has been out of form for so long? Its Liv Tyler, her performance is so fake and forced that you find yourself cringing at each word that comes out of her mouth. She is not believable at all and in a scene of her being angry she is practically laugh worthy! Its good to see Keaton slowly getting back into form after her shocking last couple of movies, Mad Money not included. But Liv Tyler needs to try harder and she is the real problem with this film. But other than that, Smother is a not bad comedy for a lazy afternoon.

Some funny moments

[phd_travel · 3 November 2011]

The scenario is annoying Mom moves in with son and wife. Expected this to be a bit strained given the subject matter. Actually it was unexpectedly funny in parts. Dax has some good sarcastic lines. Liv Tyler's is pretty but her little girl voice is a bit annoying at times. Diane Keaton is good given a role that could be a bit tiresome. She is very slim and it's nice to see someone who has let herself age naturally. She can play so many roles that others who have had plastic surgery can't.

The writing has some unexpected humor. Don't really see the jokes coming from afar. The funeral scene is quite hilarious. Overall it's okay to watch if you have the time.

Dianne was awesome !!!

[bradpittsbodyguard · 8/10 · 26 September 2007]

I saw this film last night and I throughly loved it. Dianne as always is a piece of art. She never got out of character and I have met someone exactly like her. I have never been disappointed with Dianne's work and you definitely won't be with Smother. The combination with Dax and Dianne really clicked and it worked. This film is perfect for any age and is really a nice change of fresh air that is out there. This film is a feel good movie and highly recommend it. This is perfect for those who feel that their parents are smothering them. I see Dax is starting to have a future as he seems really natural with his character. My advise: GO SEE IT !!!

I loved the movie!

[khaled-19 · 10/10 · 22 August 2008]

I didn't expect too much from this one, although I'm hugest Diane's fan, but I thought it sort of "Mama's boy". It was a very pleasant surprise, that it was really NICE movie!! It's a shame, that it hadn't wide release!!!!! First of all, Diane's playing my own mother first part of the movie, and I laughed hysterically!! Marylinn is eccentric and crazy, but it's not Diane Keaton's own craziness and eccentricity. She invented some really hilarious behavioral mannerisms, so it really makes you laugh hard. Second part of movie Diane's playing me 30 years later from now, and that's why I cried... It was my own speech on Helen Cooper funeral: "I spend all my life, trying to please anybody and be whomever they expect me to be, but just not REAL ME. And for what? I prefer to stay alone now, than be surrounded by the strangers, who pretend to be my family" (not exact quotation, but it just exactly ABOUT MY OWN LIFE, people... It makes me think seriously, do I want to find myself in the same miserable condition at 60,like Marylinn Cooper?.. Liv Tyler is a sweetheart and Dax Shepard is REALLY GOOD too. My husband laughed at the scene, where manager in carpet-store teaches Noah how to sell carpets behind the old lady. And also, I'm sorry, but the moment of Helen Cooper death is Hilarious!!!! So, the movie is really worth watching! I truly loved it! Thank you, creators!