The Bad Mother's Handbook

      In my post about the Green Lantern I talked about how many super hero movies deal with father son issues.  Well, here is a movie all about mother daughter issues.  The whole movie is about the relationship between a mother and her child, most specifically her daughter.  Wow! I am just now realizing this has been on my mind quite a bit lately.  I have been very focused on the musical Little Women for the last few weeks, which is also about a mother and her daughters.  As I have mentioned I have three daughters of my own and come from a family of four daughters, no brothers.  Just last week I was talking to my mom about watching my daughters grow into young women and she asked "Have you thought about what it is like to watch your daughters go through child birth. And then raise their own daughters." That really hit me because to be perfectly honest, no I haven't thought that far ahead.  My oldest is 18; it isn't as far away as it used to be.
       After that conversation I just happened to watch The Bad Mother's Handbook (2007). This movie deals with all of that, really. It is three generations of women all living under one roof. Catherine Tate (Starter for 10, Doctor Who (2005), Love and other Disasters) stars as Karen Cooper, a single mom trying to raise her teenage daughter and take care of her elderly mother who isn't really all there these days.  Nancy, the elderly mother, is played beautifully by Anne Reid (Coronation Street, Hot Fuzz). She was wonderful to watch. Holliday Grainger (Bel Ami, Daddy Fox, The Illustrated Mum) plays Charlie. Charlie is a straight "A" student who does everything she should, for the most part.  She is also a 17 year old girl trying to find her place in the world and figure out who she is. 
      The Bad Mother's Handbook is a made for TV British movie. It isn't a "Hollywood Blockbuster".  There are no car chases, no explosions, no computer graphics. It is just a beautifully written film about being a mom. There are some interesting twists to the storyline, Karen finds out about a huge family secret her mother has been keeping and Charlotte, who goes by Charlie, finds out she is pregnant. Charlie's mother, Karen, doesn't deal with either of these things very well.  Charlie's pregnancy is a reminder of her "mistake", she wanted more for her daughter then to be a single teenage mother.  Enter Daniel, played by Robert Pattinson (Remember Me, Bel Ami, Water for Elephants) Daniel is a new transfer student, Charlie is asked to help him adjust to the new school, you know, show him around and such.  When Charlie finds out that Daniel's dad is a doctor she begins to ask him a lot of questions about pregnancy and Daniel ends up being a huge support for her over the next nine months. 
      This is a very different kind of movie but I really enjoyed it.  It is a very touching story with well written characters.