Genre: Thriller/ Horror
Runtime: 99 minutes
Year: 2019
Starring: Octavia Spencer, Juliette Lewis, McKaley Miller, Diana Silver, Luke Evans, Allison Janney
Description: A lonely woman (Octavia Spencer) befriends a group of teenagers and decides to let them party at her house. Just when the kids think their luck couldn’t get any better, things start happening that make them question the intention of their host.
Review: Octavia Spencer is one of the best actresses of our time. As an incredibly reliable character actress, she has stolen the show many times in recent years, resulting in several Academy Award nominations and one win for her supporting role. It was only a matter of time until studios dared to give her a leading role.
“Ma” is about a group of teenagers in a little town. Maggie just moved there with her mother, who grew up there. Maggie makes new friends very quick. On the weekend, these teens have one goal: to get drunk. But as under-aged high-schoolers it’s not that east to get alcohol. When Maggie asks Sue-Ann to get them some alcohol at the local store, it appears she is the answer. She doesn’t mind getting them alcohol, but she also invites them into her basement, where the kids can have parties. It becomes their new hangout spot. But quickly they realize that Sue-Ann, who they call Ma, isn’t who she says she is and she has a lot of dark secrets.
Let’s start with the positive note: Octavia Spencer is phenomenal! It’s obvious she had a lot of fun playing this role and her performance is super strong.
The biggest problem this film has is the choices director Tate Taylor made story-wise. The timing and structure are all over the place. Some rather useless storylines last forever, while essential things are often thrown into the story suddenly. The film takes more than an hour to create an uncomfortable atmosphere, but when Sue-Ann finally gets on with it, things suddenly go into sixth gear. You almost get a whiplash from the changes in tempo.
The final scenes are really goo and I wished the film dared to be a bit more f***ed up overall.
Allison Janney is also in the movie. She plays a veterinarian and literally all she does is pop into a scene and tell Sue-Ann to get back to work. Such a great actor, but that’s all she has do to. Such a waste of talent.
The film could have been so much better and it’s thanks to Octavia Spencer’s great performance that the film is still interesting enough. But overall, due to the writing, it’s not as good as it could have been.
Rating: 2,5/ 5
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