For Albert Brooks’ fifth effort as writer/director/actor, we head to 1996’s Mother. In this flick, Brooks plays John Henderson, a popular science-fiction writer.

Though successful in his profession, John fares less well in his personal life. As he finalizes his second divorce, John decides to confront the issues he encounters with how he relates to women.

John decides that his concerns relate to his relationship with his mother Beatrice (Debbie Reynolds). To facilitate this, he moves back home to live with her, a choice that creates a lot of conflicts.

Largely inspired by a viewing of 1991’s Defending Your Life - Brooks’ fourth feature – I decided to delve into his back catalog. I already wrote up 1985’s Lost In America back in 2017, but I took in 1979’s Real Life and 1981’s Modern Romance not long before I got to Mother.

I have to admit Brooks’ first two movies disappointed me. Brooks started with short films, and perhaps it took him a while to figure out how to create a project worthy of feature length.

Though not without flaws, Lost and Defending worked better, as Brooks managed to turn them into fairly coherent stories. Sure, they could still come across as episodic, but they flowed better, and that trend continues with Mother.

Actually, the best aspect of Mother stems from the interactions between Brooks and Reynolds. I don’t really buy them as mother and son – they just don’t seem related – but the pair work so well together that I can ignore those issues.

As usual, Brooks plays the “Albert Brooks Character”, but he seems more at ease here than he did in those earliest films. Even if I don’t truly swallow Reynolds as his mother, the pair show an easy chemistry.

“Easy” could also describe a lot of the jokes, as Brooks doesn’t exactly tread fresh paths in terms of mother/son conflicts. Mom is stubbornly frugal and doesn’t understand modern technology – those kinds of jokes date back forever.

Nonetheless, Brooks finds funny ways to explore these tired concepts, so they seem less beaten-down than might become the case. Though I don’t know if I’d call Mother a knee-slapper, it prompts a good array of laughs.

Again, the connection between Reynolds and Brooks becomes key. She seems too young and too “all-American” to be his mother, but their chemistry works to overcome those issues.

My biggest complaint about Mother stems from its subplot that involves John’s younger brother Jeff (Rob Morrow). Whereas John suffers from a strained relationship with Beatrice, Jeff remains a mama’s boy who seems unable to cut the umbilical.

As a story on its own, Jeff’s tale could work. However, as part of this particular film, the Jeff elements seem superfluous and they go nowhere.

Brooks simply doesn’t devote the energy or running time necessary to create the John/Jeff friction necessary for the sibling elements to succeed. Jeff never meshes with the rest of the story, and all the time we spend with him seems wasted, as the film really should concentrate on John/Beatrice instead.

Despite that misstep, Mother becomes a winning comedy. It lacks relationship insights but it offers enough entertainment to compensate.

Footnote: at one point, John berates Jeff because he spent $50,000 on a Mickey Mantle rookie baseball card. Jeff made the right call: 25 years later, that same card sold for $5 million.

Mother appears in an aspect ratio of approximately 1.85:1 on this Blu-ray Disc. This became an appealing presentation.

Overall sharpness seemed positive. Interiors felt a smidgen soft, but that appeared to represent the source, and the majority of the flick seemed accurate.

No issues with jagged edges or shimmering materialized, and I saw no edge haloes. Grain came across as natural, and I witnessed no print flaws.

Colors seemed natural and looked fine. While they didn’t stand out as impressive, they came across as intended.

Blacks appeared deep and dense, while low-light shots became appropriately delineated. No one should expect a visual showcase from Mother but the Blu-ray reproduced the source well.

Though not memorable, the movie’s DTS-HD MA 2.0 soundtrack felt satisfactory. Don’t anticipate fireworks from the soundscape, though, as it offered a low-key affair.

Music spread around the room. Otherwise, much of the mix focused on ambience, with moderate involvement during scenes on streets or in bars or a mall. These remained modest, though, so the soundfield never became more than decent.

Audio quality worked fine, with speech that felt natural and concise. Music showed nice range and impact.

Effects followed suit. As noted, they didn’t tax my system, but they appeared perfectly adequate. This became a more than acceptable mix for a mid-90s comedy.

How did the Criterion Blu-ray compare with the DVD from 2001? Though the DVD came with a 5.1 mix, I’d feel hard-pressed to note any real differences in their soundscapes. The lossless DTS-HD MA mix seemed a little warmer, but the two remained pretty similar.

On the other hand, the Blu-ray boasted vastly superior definition, colors, and blacks, and it also lost the DVD’s print flaws. This turned into a huge step up in terms of visual quality.

A few extras appear here, and we find a new Interview with Writer/Director/Actor Albert Brooks. He chats for 26 minutes, 18 seconds.

Brooks discusses the project’s origins and development, thoughts about his family and how they impacted the film, cast and performances, story and characters, sets and locations, photography and visual design, and overall thoughts. Brooks delivers a lively and informative overview.

Next comes a circa 2024 Interview with Actor Rob Morrow. This conversation spans 11 minutes, 36 seconds.

Here we locate notes about Morrow’s role and performance, working with Brooks, and his experiences during the shoot. Though not nearly as good as the Brooks interview, Morrow offers a reasonably useful discussion.

In addition to both teaser and theatrical trailers, the set concludes with a booklet that presents photos, credits and an essay from critic Carrie Rickey. This turns into a nice finish to the package.

Though Mother comes with some clunky and stale elements, Albert Brooks finds enough wit to make it work. He pairs well with Debbie Reynolds and this largely becomes an amusing flick. The Blu-ray brings good picture and audio along with a small array of bonus features. I’d like more in terms of supplements, but this still becomes a fine release of the film itself.

To rate this film visit the DVD review of MOTHER