Have we, umm, run out of “mannish” roles for Hilary Swank? Most of Hilary’s career has been defined by the ability to play gender-confused roles much better than any in which her femininity is accepted without question. Hence, with Hilary Swank playing the titular role in The Good Mother, I was dubious.
And I was right to be dubious, but not for Swank’s acting; I think she does fine here. I mean, sure, in the film, she doesn’t exactly give birth, nurture, swaddle, or any other of traditional motherly acts – in fact, she’s a bit of an alcoholic and willing to express pain in the form of violence instead of tears, both characteristics of which I think we associate more with men. Maybe I’m discounting exactly how “mannish” this role is.
Marissa (Swank) has just lost her younger adult son. He was a drug dealer or a user or both and met the violent end that so many in the profession seem to meet. Perhaps inspired by her older son, Toby (Jack Reynor) -an Albany cop- and the fact that she’s a journalist (back in the time, I assume, when there were still journalists), she wants to track down whomever is responsible for his death.
At the funeral, Marissa recognizes Paige (Olivia Cooke), her dead son’s girlfriend and proceeds to beat the tar out of her -blaming Paige for his death- that is until she realizes that Paige is currently 
carrying her grandchild. Ah, so you both want justice here, huh? Looks like you’re on the same … page.
The Good Mother is technically acceptable, but realistically troubled. It’s not like there are bad, unmoving, or egregiously unrealistic scenes in the film, however, it suffers from a protagonist who ain’t all that likable and a massive WTF?! in act III. How massive? It might account for the 5.3 on imdb as of this writing by itself. In addition to these pain points, there’s an overarching one where the film doesn’t really know what it wants to be. Is it a standard drama portrait of pain? Is it a slice of life for the lower-middle class? Is it an unlikely friendship? Is it a murder mystery? Sure, a film can be more than one of these, but The Good Mother feels like it never commits to any of them, hence leaves the audience more puzzled than satisfied.
At some point, one has to wonder if the title is ironic. I don’t think it intends to be; I think we are meant to believe Marissa is The Good Mother and the actions she takes describe what The Good Mother would do. However, is she, though? I don’t want to spoil anything but … motherhood is defined by offspring, no? And if your offspring all turn out to be zeroes, well, sure, that could be coincidental or genetic or dead father or any number of reasonable explanations, but it’s still gonna be hard to conclude “Good Mother,” no?
A mother lost her son to the street
And yet could not admit defeat
So she teamed, I know
With the girl friend widow
And now they solve crimes when they meet?
Rated R, 90 Minutes
Director: Miles Joris-Peyrafitte
Writer: Madison Harrison, Miles Joris-Peyrafitte
Genre: Pick ‘em
Type of being most likely to enjoy this film: Hopeless followers of the Hilary Swank story
Type of being least likely to enjoy this film: Realists
