Mama's Boy Movie
Storyline
TAGLINES PLOT SUMMARY
Eccentric Jeffrey Mannus is 29 years old and still lives at home with his mom, Jan. He sees no reason to alter this arrangement, but his perfect world is upended when Jan meets Mert, a motivational speaker. Mert successfully woos Jan and moves in on Jeffrey's territory, something Jeffrey will not tolerate. Jeffrey enlists the aid of an unlikely ally, an aspiring singer-songwriter, Nora, with an anti-establishment penchant and a soft spot for him. As the war between Mert and Jeffrey escalates, something unprecedented happens — slowly, to both his own surprise and horror, Jeffrey discovers his inner adult.
| Jon Heder | Jeffrey Mannus |
| Jeff Daniels | Mert Rosenbloom |
| Dorian Missick | Mitch |
| Eli Wallach | Seymour Warburton |
| Marcos Akiaten | Shaman |
| Luke Barnett | Cool Guy Skater |
| Dennis Cockrum | Bus Driver |
| Rhys Coiro | Trip |
| Adam DeVine | Alhorn |
| Geoffrey Gould | Computer store customer |
| Simon Helberg | Rathkon |
| Chris Kerner | Football Jock |
| Jeremy Kramer | Frito's executive |
| Richard Kreps | Paramedic |
| Dinker Mehta | Pizza delivery man |
4.90 out of 10 (187 votes)
Visitor Reviews
Two thumbs up for Manwich!
posted on 22 Aug 2009Hey guys, I don't understand why everybody is knocking this film. I didn't think it was great, but it was good. I first saw Jon in his breakout film Napoleon Dynamite, and yes, it was pretty funny. He played a geeky guy in that movie, and a lot of people found his character kind of a geek in this movie. However, I liked him in this movie, probably because I was a geek in high school and I kind of bonded with his character. However I did not live at home with my Mom til I was in my 30's.Jeff Daniels, well, you either liked his character or you didn't. I personally liked his character, he plays the kind of character that you love to hate. Diane Keaton, I thought was brilliant as the Kool-Aid Mom. She's the kind of mother that every kid wished they had. Anna Faris, it's funny, because I'm used to seeing her in comedies like the Scary Movie series, however, I loved her playing the straight character for once. It's great to have another good upcoming star.This movie was pretty funny, however it did have a serious side, the storyline was okay, the acting was pretty good. I wouldn't buy this movie, but I liked watching it.
Very funny film
posted on 13 Jul 2009Great film, typical Jon Heder movie. Perfect for a lazy Sunday. A funny film which left me wanting to watch more.A definite must see if your a fan of Jon Heder, like myself!!.. Must say though my favourite Jon Heder films still remain the sameSchool for scoundrels and Napoleon dynamite, two very, very funny films!..The characters are all acted reasonably well,although some can be considered 'irritating' in certain places. Definitely rate mama's boy as a film to watch.A funny ROM-com with a twist.
Below average comedy
posted on 04 May 2009Starts really well, nice intro and build up for the main characters but after about 5 minutes, the charm is lost.The character is in the same mould as the main protagonist from American Pie and Loser without the supporting cast or innovative storyline that made the Pie movies more of a commercial success.Let's be honest - Heder's acting was pretty poor. Keaton, Daniels and Faris did their best but had no substantial plot or script to get their teeth into The movie just plods on without any pace or clear logical storyline justifying its length.The ending is about as predictable as they come - so predictable I've ticked the spoilers box for this one line.My advice: avoid at all costs unless you really really have nothing else to do/listen to or watch and even then you'll feel the producers just cheated you out of an hour and a half of your life.
Below average
posted on 05 Mar 2009This film is about a 29-year-old man who does not want to leave his mother's side. When his mother gets herself a date, he does everything to spoil it."Mama's Boy" could have been a good film with good jokes and mischievous fights, but unfortunately it turned out rather mediocre. There is a serious lack of chemistry between the characters, which makes any of the relationships unconvincing. Jon Heder comes across as a very annoying and irresponsible person, and that kills of any of the remaining fun of the film. It is also a pity that Anna Faris is delegated to such a minor supporting role. In short, "Mama's Boy" is a below average comedy.
Tedious!
posted on 01 Mar 2009Yet another "son who won't grow up" flick, and just the other recent like entries. Heder in another bad wig, channeling Napoleon for, what, the third time? Anna Faris is forgettable, as always; Jeff Daniels phoned this one in from another state, at least; and Diane Keaton...how does one become typecast this late in a career? Do not bother. Nothing is said here that hasn't been covered many times over. I will say this; it's about a hundred times better than "Failure To Launch". There are very few amusing bits in the movie, unless you think Eli Wallach cursing is funny. Ha, Ha! He's old and he dropped the f-bomb! Tee, hee, hee. Pitiful!
Not Worth 4.9
posted on 26 Jan 2009I thought this was an excellent movie. There is lots of potential from the big names in this film (Eli Wallach what an actor). Jeff Daniels though played his role terribly.Some say it is a bit of a copy of Failure To Launch and Mr Woodcock. Failure To Launch is a romantic comedy and Mr Woodcock is crap. This is so much better. It also seems to aimed at an older audience then just teenagers. I think for Tim Hamilton's first directing job it is excellentIts just disappointing that Warner Bros. have pushed this film out of the limelight. It is quite a good film and better then most in the "teenage" genre.8/10
In "Top Ten" worst movies I've ever seen
posted on 08 Jan 2009The wife and I saw a preview of this movie while watching another DVD and thought "Jon Heder, Diane Keaton, Jeff Daniels and Eli Wallach, it's gotta be better than summer reruns, so I ordered it from local library. Well, any episode of "Lawrence Welk" would bring more laughs than "Mama's Boy". I actually felt sorry for the actors for having to read the script in the privacy of their own homes and I couldn't imagine what it must have been like for them to have to actually say their lines in front of a camera. Perhaps, at least, maybe next time they're offered a movie of this sort, they'll "Just Say No!' A one anna two....
Not Worth a View
posted on 19 Nov 2008This movie is poorly conceived, poorly acted, and poorly written.Jon Heder is terribly annoying, and cannot escape the same Napolean Dynamite routine. Self-obsessed and ignorant.Furthermore, Diane Keaton plays the same manish, overly obsessed mother, who cares too much and yet not nearly enough about the lives of her children (see Because I Said So). Anna Faris, though i generally like her, plays a vapid idiot in this film as well.Jeff Daniels is passable but nothing special. Please, skip this film if you want to keep your soul.
No dice after Napoleon Dynamite
posted on 28 Jul 2008John Heder was absolutely horrendous in this movie. I felt like I was watching a bad college kid act for the first time in a student film. Anna Farris was par for the course, not good, but not horrible (plus she's cute). Dianne Keaton should have known better. Jeff Daniels was the only saving grace in this movie (even though it was poor judgement on his part as well). All in all, I would avoid this at all costs. I'm just glad I didn't pay to see it! John Heder will forever be stuck in the typecast role of' the dorky kid,' unless he does some SERIOUS work on his acting chops.
A redemption comedy requiring kindness in the viewing
posted on 31 May 2008It's clear that Jon Heder is a controversial comic actor. 'Napoleon Dynamite' was a great favorite among young people, some of them of course, and established immediate cult status, but is dismissed by many. Heder is a comedian who is more than willing to play the fool. His performances are effortless; they just flow out of him naturally. He becomes whatever embodiment of absurdity he's handed, be it a geeky high-schooler ('Dynamite'), a preening skate star ('Blades of Glory'), or a lazy young adult who's turned into an a-hole due to his fear of facing life on his own ('Mama's Boy'). Unfortunately Heder's embodiments are so successful some audience members can't separate the actor from the role, and they turn on him. 'Variety's' stringer critic in the only mainstream review you can still find online says, completely inaccurately, that Heder is simply doing a reprise of his 'Napoleon Dynamite' role in'Mama's Boy.' The consistent panache with which Heder impersonates obnoxious geekiness every time doesn't mean it's the same character. Each of those three has his own quite separate motives and personality. But like I said, Jon Heder is an acquired taste, one many seem incapable of acquiring. People find Jeffrey's up-front selfishness (again, not meant to be taken seriously) so repugnant, reactions to the whole film become so totally negative right off the bat that comments show a misreading of practically every main character, except maybe Anna Faris' Nora Flanagan. She is a caricature too, but nobody seems to mind or even notice. But like Daniels' Mert, she's nice to Jeffrey until she can no longer be, and Jan (Ms. Keaton) can never be any other way with him -- that is, till tough love finally forces her to ask him to move out. Actually this is very nice stuff -- deceptively so: viewers seem to mistakenly suspect something much more negative and ugly about to happen, but if you read Jeffrey carefully, his meanness is only skin deep. It's rare that any movie, let alone what appears at first a rather dark comedy, is so full of human decency. After all, even Jeffrey tries to do harm, but winds up not really succeeding. It's because of this prevailing decency that Jeffrey can convincingly come to his senses and become in his turn a good person, like Jan, Mert, Nora, and Seymour. This is an age-old function of comedy: to reunite people and bring about redemption. Despite a strong tendency revealed on this site to reject this movie and declare it a clinker, it could never be that with a cast of this caliber doing very good work. And it's not a clinker at all, just a low key comedy that, if you tune into it, has some good laughs and leaves you with a good feeling. Jeffrey, the useless slacker who's living off his mother at 29, is Heder's most darkly conceived character so far. It's essential not to take him too seriously. It's all just a pose, though a pretty sad one, if taken seriously. Otherwise, everyone delivers fine performances, and they play it pretty straight. Ana Faris is a superb comic actress, but she's astonishingly real and natural in her scenes with Jeffrey. Her performance allows us to see that he could be attractive, if he would stop being weird and using people. Diane Keaton also is real and natural as his mother, and Jeff Daniels, a splendid and supple actor in a role that could be made maudlin or a caricature, also turns out to be a good guy, who treats Jeffrey as if he were normal, hoping that he will turn out to be in the end. This is a comedy about redemption. Of course the 'Say Anything'-mimicking ending is a little too easy, but hey, this is a comedy, and a pretty simple one. Eli Wallach's old man tells Jeffrey "I'm 91 f---in' years old": this great, tireless character actor actually is that age in real life. And Wallach has acted in six more movies since this one was made two years ago. What a guy! And overall, what a great cast! And let's not forget to mention the always interesting Mary Kay Place. This film seems to have been virtually dropped from the Web's records. It was reviewed when it came out briefly in theaters, but now all you can find is a scattering of mediocre and superficial DVD reviews and, because it promises to keep a record of all the films that come out, the one in 'Variety.' Unfortunately the 'Variety' critic, like too many of the Users on this site, did not take a very close look at what he was writing about, and his observations are of very little use. Fortunately there are a few who recognize that this is, though not a great piece of work, a quite entertaining and watchable one, in which good actors give winning, natural performances, and Heder again shows his special fearlessness and ease at embodying a comically repulsive (but underneath not unappealing) young man.
I feel sorry for the cast...
posted on 09 May 2008...except for Jon Heder. This guy tanked the entire movie.The plot sounded entertaining. A 29 year old slacker son(Heder)still lives with widowed mom (Keaton)who happens to meet a new love (Daniels). Slacker son is jealous and anxious to lose his comfortable life and tries to sabotage the relationship. He also meets a girl(Faris).I really liked the performance of Daniels and especially Faris but whoever casted Hader would be better of selling hot dogs at the beach. Heders performance is annoying, which would be a good thing since he plays an annoying guy, problem is he is to bad an actor to loose this act making this guy likable in the finale. At the end you still wish you can personally punch the guy in the face and you're upset about the end. In the future every movie with this guy will be a no go for me!
Because I Said So is practically an Oscar-worthy film compared to this mess
posted on 25 Apr 2008I like Diane Keaton. In fact, she's my favourite actress. But this annoying movie makes her almost unlikable. I saw Because I Said So and thought I enjoyed the movie until I watched it on Sky Movies and realised how bad it is. Then, after that I saw this rubbish. It made me want to strangle everyone in it, including Keaton. No, wait, especially Keaton. I wanted to dump her head in my horse's muck. It's got good actors and actresses in it, and they all tried their best, but nothing can ever make me like this film at all, not in a million years. Try Mad Money, The Family Stone or Something's Gotta Give if you want a good Diane Keaton movie, but don't watch this if you want to be impressed. No, really, don't watch it at all even if you like rubbish movies. Keaton even said herself the movie wasn't that good...YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!
Better than its rating here
posted on 08 Mar 2008Jeff Daniels does his usual respectable job, Keaton mostly keeps the hysterics at bay, Anna Farris adds some dimension to her standard stoner chick, and Heder tries his best to not delve too deep into the Napoleon Dynamite well. Sarah Chalke is always a nice addition to any cast too. This is a decent indy movie, not great but far better than the 4.9 here. It was a victim of its marketing as much as anything. The story starts strong and finds a reasonable resolution without resorting to slapstick or painfully implausible plot twists. The cinematography was better than average - there's a great shot of Keaton framed by kitchen cabinets early on, and the lighting/exposure and set design are reminiscent of Little Miss Sunshine. Well worth picking up as a weekend rental or throwing in the online queue for some light viewing.
A mess caused by Heder's annoying performance.
posted on 01 Feb 2008Oh my goodness. This was a real big mess that just couldn't help itself. Jeffrey (Jon Heder) is a 29 year old man still living with his mum (Diane Keaton) and not planning on going anywhere. Until his mother meets a rich businessman named Mert (Jeff Daniels) who she may be getting married to.It would have been an OK movie if Heder didn't play his Jeffrey so annoying, from the very start there is no chance of liking him and it only gets worse and worse. In the end, we are supposed to like him, but there was no reason to as he hadn't changed from the selfish brute that he was at the beginning of the movie.Keaton doesn't look to even be trying and is in horrible form after 2007's Because I Said So. Not to mention the shocking chemistry between Heder and Keaton, and where supposed to believe that their mother and son? The only saving grace is Jeff Daniels and Anna Faris although they don't look very interested either. Apart from a few little smiles, this film really doesn't deserve to be called a comedy simply because there is barely anything to laugh at! If your in the mood for a recent Diane Keaton flick watch Mad Money or Smother which are a lot better than this abysmal effort.
Jeff Daniels delivers another nuanced performance...
posted on 23 Dec 2007...in an otherwise ghastly, misbegotten, would-be Oedipal comedy.I was the lone victim at a 7:20 screening tonight (3 days after the movie opened) , so there is some satisfaction in knowing that moviegoers heeded warnings.The bloom is off Jon Heder's rose. The emerging double chin isn't his fault; but rehashing his geeky kid shtick in another bad wig simply isn't working. It would be another crime if this were to be Eli Wallach's last screen appearance. Diane Keaton will probably survive having taken this paycheck - basically because so few will have seen her in this, the very worst vehicle she's chosen in the last few weeks.Sitting alone in the theater tonight I came alive (laughed, even) whenever Daniels was given the latitude in which to deliver the film's sole three dimensional character. He really is among our very best actors.In summary, even Jeff Daniels's work can't redeem this picture.
If I saw this in a theatre I may of hated it,seeing it on DVD it is not that bad,
posted on 28 Aug 2009Mama's Boy is a first directorial effort of Tim Hamiltion & written by Hank Nelkin. For a first effort,they get mild thumbs up from me.Jon Heder plays a spoiled insufferable 29 year old brat & nerd first class. . I do believe most of my readers know what spoiled brats of any age need. YES they need a good hard spanking, This would have been a much better comedy if any or all of the other main players spanked him.Diane Keaton looking great, plays his long widowed Mother. Jeff Daniels looking too heavy,play Dianes suitor.Anna Feris ( a newcomer to me) plays the love interest to our nerdish hero.Eli Wallach ( a spry young 91 year old) is Heder's employer & friend.The film is silly & stupid at times,BUT I did enjoy the goings on.Its really a family type film, no nudity, very little violence,no foul language.NO car crashes or explosions, just silly stupid fun.As I noted at the beginning,If I saw this in the theatre at todays inflated prices, I may felt my time was wasted,I saw this as a rental on my DVD, This probably should have been a TV movie,The running time is only 93 fast minutes.Ratings: *** (out of 4) 77 points (out of 100) IMDb 7 (out of 10)