Mother

Albert Brooks

Overview

Albert Brooks' comedy Mother comes to DVD from Paramount with a 1.85:1 widescreen transfer. Audio is offered in Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound in English or Dolby Surround in French with optional English subtitles. The only extra feature is the theatrical trailer. This disc is a standard release that should be adequate for fans of the film.

Product Details

Release Date:	02/13/2001
UPC:	0097363324744
Original Release:	1996
Rating:	PG-13
Source:	Paramount
Region Code:	1
Presentation:	[Wide Screen]
Sound:	[Dolby Digital Surround, Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround]
Time:	1:43:00
Sales rank:	25,317

Special Features

Widescreen version enhanced for 16x9 TVs; Dolby Digital: English 5.1 Surround; English Dolby Surround; French Dolby Surround; English subtitles; Interactive menus; Scene selection; Theatrical trailer

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits

Albert Brooks	John Henderson
Debbie Reynolds	Beatrice
Rob Morrow	Jeff
Lisa Kudrow	Linda
John C. McGinley	John's Buddy
Isabel Glasser	Cheryl
Peter White	Charles
Billye Ree Wallace	old woman in grocery store
Rosalind Allen	Woman at Gas Station

Technical Credits

Albert Brooks

Monica Johnson

Albert Brooks	Director,Screenwriter
Richard Graves	Asst. Director
Monica Johnson	Screenwriter
Lajos Koltai	Cinematographer
Herb Nanas	Producer
Kim Ornitz	Sound/Sound Designer
Charles Rosen	Production Designer
Harvey Rosenstock	Editor
Scott Rudin	Producer
Judy L. Rustin	Costumes/Costume Designer
Marc Shaiman	Score Composer,Songwriter

Scene Index

Scene Selection
0. Scene Selection
1. Divorce Proceedings [4:56]
2. Designated Driver [2:53]
3. Too Green [2:18]
4. Call Waiting [3:06]
5. Favorite Authors [4:10]
6. Jeff [5:36]
7. "Mrs. Henderson" [2:18]
8. Picture Phone [1:07]
9. The Experiment [1:43]
10. The Food Museum [5:06]
11. "In My Room" [5:58]
12. The Market [8:45]
13. Food Questions [5:03]
14. Good Luck and Bad Luck [8:27]
15. A Man Around the House [1:44]
16. An Approval Problem [4:32]
17. Mama's Boy [3:22]
18. San Francisco Zoo [1:55]
19. Missing Mommy [4:53]
20. Charles [5:02]
21. By Beatrice Barlett [5:11]
22. A Failure [6:45]
23. Two Writers [5:23]
24. End Credits [3:21]

Menu

Main
Play
Theatrical Trailer
Set Up
   Menu Group #1 with 24 chapter(s) covering 01:43:44

Editorial Reviews

Albert Brooks' Mother would be a winning achievement if only for providing Debbie Reynolds her best showcase in years, which many critics thought should have earned her an Oscar nomination. But it also makes a natural next chapter in Brooks' career-long, painfully honest examination of how neuroses stunt his recurring character type, which is as thinly autobiographical and sardonically humorous as the characters Woody Allen writes for himself. What more Freudian way to get at issues of self-loathing, romantic dysfunction, and writer's block than to have his character move back in with Mom? Brooks' deadpan frustration works wonderfully alongside the deceptive congeniality of Reynolds, a passive-aggressive woman who's frugal with both her money (she's been preserving a frozen block of cheese for years) and her positive reinforcement. Reynolds strikes a quirky balance between ingrained mothering that has become rote by repetition, and the seeming indifference bordering on resentment she has developed for her son. The film is basically a series of embarrassing episodes that flesh out their hilariously complex relationship -- she gently berates him with backhanded compliments, he openly challenges her long-standing idiosyncrasies. The character study provides the film steady propulsion toward a resolution that helps them see each other as real people, rather than family members long ago taken for granted. And when this involves Brooks grappling with his mother's ongoing sex life, well, that's just the writer/director at his stomach-churning best.

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