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My Mom's New Boyfriend (2008) More at IMDb Pro »

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20 out of 24 people found the following comment useful :-
Decent rom-com, if a little forced ..., 26 May 2008

Author: rsgeorge5 from Germany

Saw this film last night by chance. Past the time quite nicely, but what with it being something of a comeback for Meg Ryan I guess people will be expecting quite a lot ...

Well, Ryan is good, but she's still just Meg Ryan. She has never been a big favourite of mine (especially since the interview with Parkinson that she did in the UK!) she seems to just be on screen. From Sleepless In Seattle, to You've Got Mail, to When A Man Loves A Woman, she nevers gets into a role as much as I'd like. People talk of her being one of the leading ladies of romantic comedy, but when compared to the likes of Cameron Diaz, Sandra Bullock, Julia Roberts and even Catherine Zeta Jones, I always question her 'greatness'. Just look at the physical comedy: it always seems forced and at the very least placed and safe, she's just not as free to do anything and to look really silly, say like Bullock or Diaz often do in this genre.

Banderas is his usual sexy and funny self, he is great in rom coms, tongue wedged firmly in cheek, bringing all the fun and frolics he gets up to voicing Puss In Boots in the Shrek films to his physical self here ... great fun.

Colin Hanks is good as the worrying son of Ryan. It's kinda a little weird seeing him in this role, after Ryan's famous partnering on screen with his father Tom Hanks, but he pulls it off well, and you get a sense of his predicament ... but never anything more really ... writing problem, more than acting performance.

Selma Blair is under-used in what could have been a fantastic role for her. One minute she's a little crazy,loving Hanks' eccentric mother, and wanted a bit of nookie whilst everyone is out of the house ... the next she's trying to convince as a (somewhat) serious FBI agent, jumping into the car to catch some criminals. She says "I'm coming with you" because "this is family". So is she gonna try and get Banderas off the hook? Or protect Ryan's character? It just feels messy ...

I don't know, there are things to like here, and things that just felt like they were following a format ... I don't need rules to be changed up all the time in every genre, but when you have a good premise and actors totally able to pull of some great pysical comedy, then switch to romance (Banderas, Hanks & Blair I'm talking about) it's just a shame not to utilize that.

A 6/10 from me. Fun to pass the time, but nowhere near the rom com heights of While You Were Sleeping, Notting Hill, The Holiday, Pretty Woman or My Best Friends Wedding for example. Meg needs to try harder ... to be nice and for a hit!

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49 out of 89 people found the following comment useful :-
Completely charmless mess, 9 May 2008

Author: intelearts from the big screen

Just horrible, horrible, horrible.

We didn't laugh - not once.

Just about every scene is set up to deliver a flat joke.

Honestly, we LOVE comedies, but this was neither comedy, or romantic. The plot about the Mum (Meg Ryan) whose son is in the FBI (Colin Hanks - who here acts as though he has a large plank inserted right up him especially in his scenes with Selma Blair) - starts with Meg Ryan losing 200lbs of fugliness suddenly becomes beautiful wealthy vivacious and sexy, much to the son's embarrassment, is just tooo much. When a suspected wanted international art thief (Banderas) falls for her and the son is on the case the so-called fun begins. But it just ain't fun. At all. What ensues is a comedy of errors and misunderstandings that is just plain toe-curling embarrassing.

This is one of the weakest comedies it has ever been my immense discomfort to see - nothing shines - and the target audience is what? Women in their 40s? - I suggest anyone would be just plain insulted by the lack of anything construing the most basic brain food here - there ain't one smart line or original scene - it truly is neither comedy or romance.

The only positive is that this is totally harmless and won't offend,but it won't entertain either, it really is lobotomy food...

This is seriously one of the turkeys of the year and deserves to not only go straight to DVD but straight into the DVD bin...

Does no-one's careers (Especially Hanks) any favours ... avoid like the plague...especially if you're fans of any of the actors...this will be, I guarantee, one they want to forget in a hurry.

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8 out of 9 people found the following comment useful :-
feel good family comedy with a bit of action, 27 June 2008

Author: beregic (beregic@msn.com) from Canada

first things first: Colin Hanks, as well as his character Henry Durand should have not been part of this feature; the character is way to stereotypical,i kept having such thoughts as "what a moron!" throwout the whole movie; the "actor" is probably one of the worst i have seen lately. Antonio Banderas, Meg Ryan and Selma Blair do all the work and bring the real laughs, sympathy and charm. Colin Hanks is one of the worst miss-casts i have seen in some time, and because of that the movie suffers. there are many gigs that he is literally killing off, especially in the first part.besides some of his really stuck-up idiotic dialogs, his body language and delivery are absolutely abdominal(forced at best). the movie would had been way better without him! also his role here would had been best played by Owen Wilson, as first example that comes to mind.while i enjoyed George Gallo's "ok" direction, he should pay better attention to such as an important aspects. oh my...and beside that God forbid if there are any such FBI characters , even remotely close to reality.

few other positive/negative thoughts: the introductory scene gave me a bad first impression, i got afraid this would be some "b" rated feature. another dumb scene would be the one having 30 or so FBI agents briefed on a possible theft of a statue(30...heh...give me a break)but once passing the "fat" Meg Ryan and getting the "regular" sized one, things picked up for me))) she and Antonio Banderas are interesting and fun to watch , a whole different approach as compared with "the assassin". the plot is quiet lame, the heist makes no sense at all, but good enough to work for a "feel good" comedy in the end. there is even a "twist" that only makes matters worse as seen from a plot integrity aspect. the Albanian family is the funniest "gig" i think.

well my score would 6 and that mostly because Antonio Banderas is in great shape, even if comedies are not really his domain.Meg Ryan is good too but towards end her character has nothing original to offer, too stereotypical.

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8 out of 12 people found the following comment useful :-
It's a good laugh!, 15 May 2008

Author: Gordon-11 from Hong Kong

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

This film is about a beautiful mother, whose son is in the FBI, falling in love with an international art thief.

Initially I found the sound effects that accompany scene changes annoying. After I decided to live with those effects, I found "My Mom's New Boyfriend" quite enjoyable. It is comedic to see Henry in such a difficult role with obvious conflict of interest. Colin Hanks is likable, and he handles his conflicted role well. It's not easy to act professional, embarrassed at the same time! The dramatic twist about Tommy in the end is quite unexpected. It feels a little contrived, but it provides the Hollywood ending that makes people feel good. I think it also serves as a satire towards the lack of communication between governmental agencies.

It's quite hard to believe Meg Ryan as a mother with such a grown up son though. Meg Ryan looks so young and beautiful, and she is so unconvincing as a mother. It's the only drawback of "My Mom's New Boyfriend", otherwise it gave me a good laugh.

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9 out of 15 people found the following comment useful :-
Meg Ryan's worst movie!, 23 June 2008

Author: Tarafa from Syrian Arab Republic

i think this is the worst of Meg Ryan's movies, i'm really a big fan of her, she's one of the most gorgeous actress in Cinema, and she'll always be the queen of romantic comedy, and i liked most of her choices in the past, even the not so-good movies of her , she was able to make them worthy watching, but this film is just bad in every possible way?!

it's boring, not funny, flat and predictable . nothing in this movie is interesting nor original, it's not comedy, not romantic, not thriller and not action. i've never felt uninterested of completing watching a movie that Meg Ryan appears in before.

if you are Meg Ryan fans then i recommend to avoid this movie. if your not, then avoid this movie as well.

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4 out of 6 people found the following comment useful :-
Scraping the bottom of the barrel..., 10 August 2008

Author: michael-3204 from Portland, OR

I'm usually pretty forgiving when it comes to romantic comedies, especially those out of Hollywood. They often are borderline insipid, clichéd, predictable, and dull-witted, but those that aren't completely inept still manage to entertain to varying degrees. Unfortunately, "My Mom's New Boyfriend" falls way below the grade and fails even at being mildly amusing.

First, it isn't necessary for a movie like this to be smart or particularly realistic, but it should have some integrity so that we can actually believe in the characters. Here, in the prologue, we see Henry Durand (Colin Hanks), who clearly has a close relationship with his Mom, Marty (Meg Ryan), leaving home and Mom behind to start a job with the FBI. Flash forward three years, and Henry returns home -- apparently, without even once having visited or talked to his Mom in all that time. Now I'm sure the FBI requires a certain amount of secrecy, but it sure doesn't require its agents to cut off all communication with their nearest and dearest for three years. Right off the bat, the phoniness of the set-up sinks any chance at viewer empathy with any of the characters.

Second, the characters themselves are about the most unlikeable I can think of in any romantic comedy I've ever seen. I'd rather spend a weekend locked in a cell with Barbara Stone (Bette Midler's character in "Ruthless People") than 15 minutes with the insufferably egotistical, vapid Marty Durand. Ryan is just awful here, and I usually enjoy her performances. She badly overplays Marty's zany qualities with ticks and vocal histrionics that are way over-the-top, and she seems to have lost whatever limited gifts she had for physical comedy. Maybe the knife slipped and the surgeons cut something else out when they were redesigning her face. She looks like she's trying to look like Michelle Pfeiffer and failing miserably. It has to be the worst performance of her career, and probably the worst of the year. Hanks, perhaps trying to counterweight Ryan's annoying performance, is as lifeless as a paperweight. He glowers and scowls through the film. Neither Antonio Banderas nor Selma Blair have enough to do to make much of an impression, though Banderas manages at least to be somewhat charming through the muddle of the storyline. Actually, the only genuinely funny performance in the film is from Trevor Morgan, in a small part as a young stud Ryan dates.

The film piles bad jokes one on top of the other and beats to death what wasn't particularly funny the first time -- the Italian chef who pines for Marty, the FBI agents' jokes about how hot Marty supposedly is, etc. I guess it does this because it has nothing else to do. There's just nothing going on here, no romance, almost no comedy, certainly no suspense, and we lost logic in the first five minutes. The only thing that can recommend this movie is seeing the crack-up of a once gifted actress. There's a certain fascination in that, Ryan's performance is a slow-moving train wreck. I hope she gets it together and comes back in better form next time.

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4 out of 6 people found the following comment useful :-
Nothing too offensive, 9 June 2008

Author: sitenoise from San Francisco

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

A few chuckles, a little bit of plot, and some star power. I wish there'd been more Selma Blair on screen. I like her but ... her part could have been played by anybody.

It's kind of scary when Meg Ryan smiles (her face is a disaster, but her lips are freaky) but other than that she looks good and can still pull off her Megness like no one else. There are a couple scenes that are pure Meg. When Antonio is fawning over how hot she looks, she responds "Yeah! I know!" Only Meg could do that and not make everybody sick. In another scene she gets mad at him and throws a fit, punching and screaming into the air. Antonio just watches until its over and is speechless (so was I) but for a genuinely soft-spoken "Wow." It was nice to see those scenes. Meg's still got it and Antonia doesn't seem like he's going to lose it any time soon.

It was a pleasant surprise to see how good Antonio looks. Maybe I just haven't seen him in a while. I've always liked him in comedies. If you like Antonio, you'll love the scene where he ends up with each hand in a glass of water (or white wine?). Antonio could charm the socks off ... I dunno, somebody who really needed their socks.

That's what these kinds of movies are all about, right? How good do our stars look? How much we enjoy seeing our favorite celebrities prance about ... acting.

There's a light twist at the end so everybody can be happy. Upon reflection it explained a few unanswered hmmmm's from previous scenes but I didn't see it coming because I wasn't expecting it; I didn't need it and I had forgotten about those scenes because this isn't a movie you keep score on. That's cool.

More reviews at sitenoise-atthemovies.blogspot.com

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4 out of 6 people found the following comment useful :-
Good but not great, 12 May 2008

Author: compmend from United States

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

This movie kept me interested and entertained but, there seemed to be something lacking for me. Meg Ryan, looked like a cross between Joan Rivers and Jack Nicholson, as the Joker, and it was hard to relate to her wacky character who seemed to be on speed, crank, or something.

There where some funny parts and Colin Hanks played his part well I thought, though casting Meg Ryan as his mother felt unnatural to me.

Antonio Banderas played the same character he plays in all movies he stars in, with emphasis on his looks and accent and no consideration for his acting, which was only his average, not exceptional.

One of the high points of the movie for me was seeing Selma Blair, who I have admittedly have a small crush on since I first saw her in Legally Blond. Though I thought that she did not have a large enough part in this movie to really judge her acting.

The movie has a surprise ending, that actually caught me off guard, and that is a good thing in my opinion.

All in all, this movie was worth watching and I felt that the money I spent was not wasted, but, don't watch this expecting to use your brain at all or you might be disappointed.

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Much more interesting and entertaining than I thought it would be., 27 July 2008
Author: TxMike from Houston, Tx, USA, Earth

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

This was a free rental from my local public library so all I risked was my time. With its rather low IMDb rating I wasn't expecting much. After watching all of it I concluded that it is better than many of the poor reviews say it is.

Meg Ryan is Marty Durand, a middle aged mom of one who has sort of let herself go. Her husband must have not been a very good person because we find out that he died in prison. Marty is frumpy and badly overweight.

Marty does have a fine son, Colin Hanks as Henry Durand, who also happens to be an up-and-coming FBI agent. He is going away for an assignment that takes him away from their Shreveport home for 3 years, during which he must had had little or no contact with his mother. As she is seeing him off at the airport, and sitting on the floor drinking a soda, a passing person pitches a quarter into her soda cup. This is her wake-up call that she looks like a vagrant and she heads towards a better lifestyle.

The movie picks up 3 years later, when Henry comes home and finds this strange woman in his back yard, lounging beside a pool they didn't have before. He is shocked to find this slender, beautiful woman is his mother. She explains later that she had some really look luck in the stock market, and she also got herself into shape. But she was enjoying it too much for Henry, as he realized when a guy even younger than himself came to pick up his mom at 10:30PM and ride away on a motorcycle.

At the state fair, Marty is hit in the head by a flying model helicopter, owned by Tommy (Antonio Banderas), and when she comes to is surprised to see this attractive man. He seems to fall for her also, and about the same time Henry finds out the FBI is tracking Tommy, suspected of being an international art thief. (An opening scene at the Louvre in Paris hints of that.) So, much of the movie and its humor has Henry leading an FBI task force to listen in on and follow his mom, Marty, and Tommy to thwart the theft of a valuable sculpture being exhibited in Shreveport.

Selma Blair is Emily who is Henry's fiancé' and also happens to be an FBI agent.

SPOILERS: In the end when Tommy and his two partners are setting up to steal the sculpture, Henry correctly figures out what they are doing. He gets the drop on Tommy at night outside the museum, but Tommy tells him that Marty is in danger, that he, Tommy, is really a CIA agent, which they verify, and the story ends at Henry and Marty's house, with various people coming crashing in through doors or windows until the crooks are surrounded.

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1 out of 2 people found the following comment useful :-
I don't care- I liked it!!!, 24 August 2008

Author: paulinacastejon-1 from United States

The premise is uplifting and then crazy, but its a comedy! She did NOT lose weight to get a guy, but it was a byproduct of spiritual enlightenment and a change to a healthy life. It has risk and love, and comedy. You hope for a happy ending for all characters involved. Antonio is hot, Meg has a hot body, she's still pretty. the itsy bitsy spider was hilarious! The young acting mom and the old acting son is too funny. I suggest it for any woman, I am 37 and cute too... I relate to Meg's character very much. It would be nice to meet an Antonio Banderas... Its pure fantasy, A FOR FUN movie!!! People shouldn't get so worked up and just enjoy life. I may buy the DVD! Watch it for yourself and see what you think!

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