Jacobs's low-fi third feature forges unique stylistic territory for the American independent film.
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08/24/09
Momma's Man (2008)
90
%
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:41
Fresh:37
Rotten:4
Average Rating:7.6/10
Consensus: Moody yet touching, Momma's Man successfully illustrates with elegant simplicity the struggles of a man consumed with his adolescence.
Synopsis: After a holiday visit with his parents, Mikey is headed to the airport to return to his wife and newborn baby. Except he doesn’t board the plane. Instead he returns to his parents’ loft in lower... [More]
Starring: Matt Boren, Ken Jacobs, Flo Jacobs, Richard Edson
Director: Azazel Jacobs
Reviews for Momma's Man
This simple but assured indie drama about the safety of childhood and the necessity of leaving it is particularly affecting because writer-director Azazel Jacobs draws so heavily on his own life.
05/29/09
The film is decidedly low-key. As such movies go, it’s enjoyable, though you might find yourself wishing Mikey would just pull himself together.
05/13/09
This is one of the most tiresome recent examples of American independent cinema.
05/13/09
It's a quiet film, with its own measured pace, but it has more painfully astute observations than most comedies with 10 times the budget.
05/13/09
Awkward pauses and gestures and moments of self-examination give it a rich texture. It’s a lovely work, sad and funny. A melancomedy, if you will.
05/08/09
Azazel Jacobs' film is an enjoyably idiosyncratic tribute to his own eccentric family, and it adopts a fascinatingly novel approach to the strange anxieties of thirtysomething men.
05/08/09
Slyly funny and genuinely original, Momma’s Man represents that rarest of things, a truly independent American movie.
05/08/09
Top CriticThis enjoyable lo-fi indie pictures an extreme example of a failure to sever the apron strings.
05/08/09
Top CriticIt’s a beguiling premise, and one writer-director Azazel Jacobs explores with skill, tenderness, and prodding wit.
05/08/09
Azazel Jacobs’ lo-fi indie comedy unfolds slowly but with patient precision.
05/08/09
Enjoyable, thought-provoking and emotionally engaging independent drama with a great central performance from Matt Boren.
05/08/09
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04/23/09
Perhaps the most indispensable cast member, however, is the Jacobs' dwelling, their residence since 1966.
10/24/08
The main character in Momma's Man shuffles through life like he's been poleaxed, and you may feel the same after you watch this slow-motion indie exercise about a grown-up who returns home and can't leave.
10/24/08
The production has a patient, observant tone, which almost disguises the fact that Momma's Man can't decide what kind of movie it wants to be.
10/24/08
The film drags at times, and watching Boren take Mikey further and further into a state of absolute immobility is difficult to watch, but his performance is so spot-on that you can't help but be drawn into figuring out what's going on with him.
10/18/08
It works from a specific place and lets audiences relate to that place, and the people in it, like trusted intimates.
10/03/08
On the surface, it's a straightforward low-budget tale about a grown man who visits his parents and refuses to leave. Yet deeper, darker currents move through Momma's Man, eddying around fears of letting go on both sides of the generational divide.
09/19/08
... insightful and involving...
09/18/08
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