The Stream: The plot is unnecessarily complicated and kind of dumb.

The Big Screen: Jennifer Lopez is living her action hero fantasy.

The Final Bill: It’s pretty meh except for some decent action sequences and Jennifer Lopez doing the most.

– Trip Fontaine
Director: Niki Caro
Writers: Misha Green, Andrea Berloff, Peter Craig
Stars: Jennifer Lopez, Lucy Paez, Omari Hardwick, Joseph Fiennes, Gael García Bernal, Paul Raci
Genre: Action, Thriller
Rating: R for violence, some language and brief drug use
Runtime: 1 hour 45 minutes
Production Companies: Nuyorican Productions, Vertigo Entertainment
Platform: Netflix on May 12, 2023

What’s up, Streamers! In the second half of the Bennifer Double Feature, you can enjoy the Netflix original movie, The Mother, starring Jennifer Lopez. In the afterglow of Mother’s Day weekend, here is a movie that focuses on the extreme lengths a mother will go to in order to keep their child safe. Yes, it is wrapped in a ridiculous and convoluted plot, but Jennifer Lopez is doing the most with the least. Here’s what you can expect from this Mother.

Jennifer Lopez stars as “the Mother.” Her defining characteristics are her undying determination to protect her daughter and her long, sun-kissed hair. In The Mother, the Mother begins as an informant for the FBI on some arms smugglers, Lovell (Fiennes) and Alvarez (Bernal), who she used to broker deals for until she found out their other unsavory activities. The Mother was also formerly romantically involved with both Lovell and Alvarez and is pregnant by one of them. As these things go, she is tracked down before she can make a deal with the FBI for safety. When the Mother gives birth, she ensures that the child will remain safe from Lovell and Alvarez by giving the child away and living life isolation. Of course, it can’t be that easy or there wouldn’t be a movie. High octane, motherly hijinks ensue.

My biggest problem with The Mother is that the plot doesn’t make any sense. There are so many easier ways for the Mother to protect her child than the one she chooses. Omari Hardwick plays the main FBI special agent on the case, and he doesn’t make good decisions that would lead to either the Mother or the child being protected from the villains. Furthermore, the villains don’t make good decision either. If they really wanted to kill these people, it could have been so easy to track them down and take them out. There are too many coincidences, conveniences, and cliches to count in this action movie to be believed.

On the other hand, there are some good action sequences (there are also some laughable sequences). Jennifer Lopez is truly fulfilling her action hero fantasy. She gets to run, fight and shoot down faceless henchmen throughout the movie. It’s not entirely convincing as she looks like she came from the stylist in every frame, but who cares! She looks great doing it all. There has to be some suspension of disbelief, right? You watch a movie called The Mother for the Mother and Jennifer Lopez delivers.

Ultimately, The Mother is a decent thriller, but it has a dumb and unnecessarily complicated plot. There are some good action sequences, and Jennifer Lopez is giving her all to the role. The movie fits in with all of the other Taken-esque action thrillers, but it is unfortunately pretty forgettable overall. I suggest only a handful of popcorn if you are catching this one on Netflix.