Set in the unglamorous city of Albany, New York, around 2016, "The Good Mother" is a film that initially feels like it's straight from the headlines, particularly with its focus on the opioid crisis. Its protagonist, Marissa Bennings, portrayed by Hilary Swank, is an Albany Times-Union journalist. However, any semblance of authenticity dissipates as the film's implausible plot unfolds.
The movie begins on a disheartening note. Marissa is on her couch, nursing a hangover, with a half-empty bottle on her coffee table. This scene sets the tone for her character-disenchanted and irritable. Her life takes a dramatic turn when her son Toby, played by Jack Reynor, interrupts a workplace meeting to break devastating news: Marissa's other son, Michael, is dead.
Michael had been estranged from the family due to his escalating heroin addiction, but ironically, his death is not drug-related. Instead, he's the victim of a mysterious drive-by shooting. Toby thinks Ducky, Michael's friend and a partner in some questionable activities, is the one who pulled the trigger. However, Marissa suspects that the situation is more complicated.
This is where Paige, Michael’s pregnant girlfriend, enters the picture. After a volatile introduction at Michael’s funeral, Marissa reluctantly lets Paige into her life. Their uneasy alliance, formed out of mutual love for Michael, becomes the most captivating element of the film, even more so than their half-hearted attempt to solve Michael's murder. This inquiry loses steam and is overtaken by other events as the film progresses.
About an hour into its runtime, the movie takes a melodramatic turn, introducing developments that shift the film from believably grim to outrageously absurd. These plot twists undermine the gritty atmosphere painstakingly by the director, Miles Joris-Peyrafitte, making one wonder why such effort was put into crafting a realistic setting if it was to be so quickly abandoned.
The film's lack of focus is its Achilles' heel. Joris-Peyrafitte seems more concerned with eye-catching cinematography than with building authentic characters and situations. "The Good Mother" does offer a few compelling moments, such as Karen Aldridge's brief but emotional monologue as part of a grieving circle. Yet these high points are fleeting, and the main characters, including Swank's Marissa, remain underdeveloped.
In the end, the film doesn't even clarify who the "Good Mother" actually is. It could have made a powerful statement by embracing life's ambiguities and complexities. But instead, "The Good Mother" starts promisingly but devolves into something less impactful. It opens with a bang but concludes in a disappointingly anticlimactic manner.
