The Mother is a 2023 American action thriller film directed by Niki Caro with a screenplay by Misha Green, Andrea Berloff and Peter Craig, from a story by Green. The film stars Jennifer Lopez, Joseph Fiennes, Lucy Paez, Omari Hardwick, Paul Raci, and Gael García Bernal. It is about a former US army operative (Lopez) who partners with an FBI agent to rescue her teenage daughter after she is kidnapped by criminals. The Mother was released on May 12, 2023, by Netflix mixed reviews from critics.
Plot[]
Cast[]
- Jennifer Lopez as The Mother
- Lucy Paez as Zoe
- Omari Hardwick as William Cruise
- Joseph Fiennes as Adrian Lovell
- Gael Garcia Bernal as Hector Alvarez
- Paul Raci as Jons
- Jesse Garcia as Tarantula
- Yvonne Senat Jones as Sonya
- Edie Falco as SAIC Elanor Williams
Production[]
In February 2021, it was announced Jennifer Lopez had joined the cast of the film, with Niki Caro directing, from a screenplay by Misha Green and Andrea Berloff, with Netflix set to distribute.
In September 2021, it was announced Joseph Fiennes, Omari Hardwick, Gael Garcia Bernal, Paul Raci and Lucy Paez had joined the cast of the film. In October 2021, Jesse Garcia and Yvonne Senat Jones joined the cast of the film.
principal photography began in Vancouver on October 4, 2021. On January 11, 2022, filming was suspended due to the COVID variant outbreak.
In March 2022, filming took place on the Spanish island of Gran Canaria, using the old town of Las Palmas as a city in Cuba. The Gabinete Literario, located there, was used as a casino. The south of the island was also chosen to film a party in a villa.
Release[]
The Mother was released by Netflix on May 12, 2023
According to Samba TV, the film was watched by 2.8 million United States households over it's debut weekend. By Samba's data, the film over-indexed by 33% among Black households and 25% among Hispanic households. Between it's release and June 2023 the film totaled 249.9 million hours watched (equal to 127.07 million views), the most of any Netflix original during that span.
Reception[]
Rotten Tomatoes reports that 43% of 114 critics' reviews were positive, with an average rating of 5.1/10. The critics' consensus reads, "The Mother is a welcome opportunity to see Jennifer Lopez in action hero mode ― albeit one that's frustratingly content to coast on genre clichés". On Metacritic, the film has a score of 45 out of 100, based on 26 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews". The Guardian rated the film a 1 out of 5 stars calling it a "abjectly formulaic and inert Netflix thriller".
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