Kids, eh? Snorting, slurping, farting, chewing little bundles of joy that they are. Motherhood explores a day in the life of a typical Noo York mom, as she attempts to juggle her responsibilities as well as write a piece that explains ‘what motherhood means to her’. Sound a little schmaltzy? Yeah. It is. Uma Thurman’s natural charm almost saves this piece, but at the end of the day it’s a little to wrapped up itself to be memorable.

Happy Mother’s Day

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Writer-director Katherine Dieckmann’s low budget comedy centres on blogger Eliza (Uma Thurman) as she and husband Avery (Anthony Edwards) prepare for their daughter Clara’s sixth birthday party. While her man goes out to work, Eliza contends with a troublesome film crew on her block in Manhattan, a belligerent girl at the local bakery who has misspelt the icing message on the cake, and a flirtatious delivery boy (Arjun Gupta), who makes it clear that he would like to handle much more than Eliza’s bags of groceries. Ricocheting from one potential disaster to the next, Eliza must also find time, somehow, to submit a competition essay on the meaning of motherhood.

Family History

Uma Thurman is funny and frazzled as the stressed out mom, and the supporting cast (including Minnie Driver and Anthony Edwards) are all charming and witty. The problem is that the story is so simplistic and the premise so tired (‘how does she fit it all in in this modern age’) that it’s rather difficult to find anything really original about the film. It’s not quite funny enough to be a comedy, there’s not enough of a plot for it to be drama, it just sort of is. There’s a wink to current society with the inclusion of the blogging aspect, but apart from that there’s very little to suggest this film couldn’t have been made 10 or even 20 years ago.

All in all, Motherhood is a gentle enough way to spend 90 minutes, with all the obligatory slap-stick comedy and heart tugging moments you’d expect. As long as you’re not looking for something shockingly original, it’s enough fun to leave you satisfied. But to be honest, we’ve come to expect more from Uma over the years, and hope that she returns to her kick-ass roots in her next role. Apron strings just don’t suit her.

Did you believe in Uma’s maternal instincts? Let us know below!