Official Trailer
Rating: 5.4/10 | Genre: Drama, Fantasy, Music, Thriller | Runtime: 112 min
Starring: Anne Hathaway, Michaela Coel, Hunter Schafer, FKA twigs, Sian Clifford
Mother Mary is a mess, but it’s an interesting mess. The movie wants to be three different things at once: a character study about friendship, a music industry thriller, and a supernatural drama. It doesn’t really nail any of them, but watching it fail is somehow more engaging than a lot of movies that play it safe.
Anne Hathaway plays Mother Mary, a massive pop star who’s been out of the spotlight for a few years. She’s making her comeback with a huge concert, but right before it happens, her old friend Sam shows up. Sam is played by Michaela Coel, and she used to design all of Mother Mary’s costumes back in the day. They had a falling out that’s never totally explained, which is actually one of the movie’s biggest problems.
The first hour is decent. Watching these two women circle around each other, trying to figure out if they can actually be friends again, is genuinely interesting. Hathaway and Coel have real chemistry. There’s a scene where they’re going through old photos in Mother Mary’s apartment and it feels honest. You believe that these people cared about each other once.
But then the movie gets weird. And not in a good way. Without spoiling too much, there’s this whole supernatural element that kicks in around the midway point. Mother Mary starts seeing things. Hearing things. The movie is trying to say something about guilt and regret, but it just becomes confusing. The thriller elements feel tacked on, like the screenwriter wasn’t sure how to make the second half interesting enough.
FKA twigs is in this movie for maybe ten minutes total, which feels like a waste. Hunter Schafer plays a member of Mother Mary’s entourage and doesn’t have much to do. Sian Clifford is better as Mother Mary’s manager, someone who’s clearly worried about the star falling apart before the big show.
The music is the best part, honestly. The songs that play during the concert finale are actually good. I wouldn’t download them or anything, but in the moment they work. The choreography is sharp too. If this movie leaned harder into the music aspect instead of whatever the ghost story stuff is, it might have been something.
The pacing is all over the place. At 112 minutes, it should move pretty quickly, but there are stretches where nothing happens. Then suddenly we’re rushing through plot points that needed more time. The ending doesn’t really land either. It tries to have this big emotional moment but by that point I’d checked out.
Look, I didn’t hate Mother Mary. I was invested enough to keep watching. But it’s one of those movies that feels like it could have been great with some serious rewrites. The bones are there. The actors care. There’s just too much going on and not enough commitment to any single direction.
If you’re into Anne Hathaway or Michaela Coel, you’ll probably watch it anyway. Just go in knowing it’s a bit of a sloppy experience. It’s worth a watch on a streaming service when you’re bored, but I wouldn’t go out of my way to catch it in theaters.
Conclusion
Mother Mary is an ambitious movie that doesn’t quite pull off what it’s trying to do. The character work between Hathaway and Coel is solid, but everything else feels rushed or confused. It’s not bad enough to regret watching, but it’s not good enough to recommend either. A frustrating middle-of-the-road experience.
What did you think? Did the supernatural stuff work for you, or did it feel out of place like it did for me? Let me know in the comments.
Where to Watch
Rent on: Amazon Video