Honeymoon with My Mother

Movie review by Barbara Shulgasser-Parker, Common Sense Media
Honeymoon with My Mother

Common Sense says

age 15+

Mother-son comedy has sex, nudity, and language.

NR 2022 110 minutes
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Parents say

age 10+

Based on 1 review

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A Lot or a Little?

The parents' guide to what's in this movie.

What Parents Need to Know

Parents need to know that Honeymoon with My Mother is a remake of a 2006 film, Honeymoon with Mom. The Spanish comedy looks at the interdependent relationship between an outgoing mother and her hapless adult son as he recovers from a breakup. Adults kiss, smoke marijuana, and drink a lot of alcohol. References are made to sex (including a threesome) and a woman bares her breasts briefly. Language includes "f--k," "s--t," "ass," "damn," "hell," "bitch," "bastard," and "crap." In Spanish with English subtitles.

Community Reviews

rating movies
rating movies Adult
September 10, 2022
age 10+

Great movie for kids

It is a wonderful movie to enjoy with your kids.

This title has:

Educational value
Great messages
Great role models
See all 1 parent review

What's the Story?

HONEYMOON WITH MY MOTHER begins as Jose Luis (Quim Gutierrez) is dumped at the altar. He's a sad sack who's gone from one bad relationship to another. He's already paid for the no-refund luxury honeymoon on the island of Mauritius, so depressed and unwilling to have fun, he goes with his lively mother, Mari Carmen (Carmen Machi of The Tribe). Mom is energetic and gregarious but, married to a stick-in-the-mud, she's never had an outlet for her adventurous soul. The resort specializes in a focus on love, passion, and romance to the degree that Jose Luis and his mom pretend they are married just to be allowed to stay in their honeymoon suite. The setting is beautiful but all they do is argue. Jose Luis is a pill, wallowing in his self-pity while Mom goes galivanting with a handsome salt-and-pepper photographer. Gradually, mom's love of life infects her dull son and he starts cracking smiles and getting to know his mother.

Is It Any Good?

Honeymoon with My Mother is a hybrid, not just of comedy and pathos, but also of good script and awful script, good story and terrible story, character consistency and inconsistency. Jose Luis starts as a clueless and annoying dolt who never smiles and never thinks of anyone but himself. Mom starts as a flighty squawk box who says anything that pops into her head. It takes a full hour for the filmmakers to dump those intolerable versions of the lead characters and give them personality transplants that make the second half of the movie feel watchable, however implausible. Suddenly Jose Luis is capable of smiling. Suddenly Mom has the good sense to keep her mouth shut now and then. All of this feels like progress, not just because the movie improves, but also because it gives the talented and charming Carmen Machi room to show what a terrific and lovable performer she is.

It also leaves a truly stupid and unsuccessful comedy behind, presenting instead characters who sound a lot more like actual human beings. But as they get more serious, inconsistencies still plague the plot. How can Mom be the overprotective parent Jose Luis claims has been impeding his independence all his life at the same time as being the courageous adventurer we see before us? The final ten minutes of a smiling and dancing Jose Luis don't compensate for the drudgery of the previous 90, but at least he appreciates his perfectly good mother.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

  • Families can talk about what the movie wants to say about relationships between parents and their adult children. Do you think different points of view are portrayed in a balanced way? Why or why not?

  • How does the tone of a movie affect the believability of its message? Does the tone of the movie change in a way that alters the way the audience feels about the characters and their situations? How so?

  • What happens to an audience's involvement when tone changes unexpectedly, or when characters suddenly seem to be inconsistent or unrealistic?

Movie Details

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