Being a mother has been the best job I’ve ever had, although the toughest, it has been the most rewarding. It’s not a 9-5 job or a Monday thru Friday gig, you don’t get holidays off, overtime or health insurance. Don’t expect a 401K or dental plan, nor is there any retirement, because your job and the duties that go along with it never end, no matter how old your children get, or where they move…near or far.
As a mother, your duties will change over the years, yet stay the same…trust me. You’re a chef from the very start, from 3 a.m. feedings to after school snacks or making their favorite meal on holidays or birthdays, not to mention the lunches and dinners you make daily. You’re a housekeeper, a toy finder; a detective of sorts. When one of your children can’t seem to find a particular shirt, folder for school, backpack or baseball glove, it will be your special “finding skills” that save the day and avert a catastrophe. You will also be an educator from how to tie a double knotted shoelace to manners, how to solve relationship troubles or how to build a first place history fair project. Mostly you will teach your children how to think for themselves and become independent individuals.
Otherhood is about three women whose sons grew up together. The women are best friends and have gone through the highs and lows of friendships, marriages, and motherhood. Feeling alone and forgotten on Mother’s Day, the three women take an impromptu road trip and drive to New York to see their grown sons and make them love them again.
Patricia Arquette, who plays Gillian, still treats her son like a child. She is adamant that he asks out a new girl that goes to the same synagogue as she, since they haven’t really talked since she told him she didn’t like his ex-girlfriend. He is still very much in love with her, though.
Helen, who is played by Felicity Huffman, is very much about appearances – of herself and her family. She doesn’t want to be old, nor look it. While still trying to hold onto her youth, she is also holding onto her past with her first husband which makes her furious at even the thought of him. Her son, who she knows is gay, and he knows she knows, never thought to sit her down and tell her face to face so when she finds out that he told his father and never told her she feels even more alienated. Angela Bassett plays the part of Carol, a widow who buys flowers for herself like they were from her successful son who is a magazine art director. She isn’t happy about the magazine he works for or the women he surrounds himself with at times.
Of course as you can imagine, each of the boys are surprised to see their mothers, and each of them have their own story to tell, troubles to work out, and relationships to repair but also to build upon. The women learn a lot about themselves through the eyes of their sons and from each other. They learn how to grow individually, they learn how to let their children be men and let go of some of the control they were desperately holding onto. Otherhood is the epitome of a chick-flick but a good lazy day movie to enjoy.
Y’all, being a mom is a lot of responsibility whether you have one kiddo or one hundred and one. Your job is never really done, and you really don’t ever want it to be…a mom is only human, we love to be needed by our children. I think back to when my boys were little, they needed me to cook for them, help them with school work, be a playmate, counselor, chauffeur, a nurse, and a disciplinarian among other things…and like a Momma duck with her ducklings, you can help them get to where you think they need to be, and hope they are strong enough to swim and fly by themselves. I’m not a perfect parent, I made many mistakes and probably will make some more, but I do my best, I love them more daily and can’t be prouder of the 2 that call me Mom!
Otherhood is a Netflix original and is rated R.
