Rent Momma's Man (2008)

A premature mid-life crisis. - Momma's Man review by CP Customer

Momma’s Man revolves around the character of Mikey. On a short trip to New York on business Mikey uses the opportunity to stay with his artist parents. After a brief visit he leaves to return home to his wife and newborn child in L.A, but after his flight is cancelled due to bad weather he’s forced to return to his parents cluttered bohemian loft apartment which was once his childhood home. After a couple of days struggling to get a flight, Mikey beings to look through his old belongings, finding old letters from high school girlfriends, playing guitar, reading old comic books and visiting an old childhood friend. Soon he begins to come up with excuses to extend the visit with his parents, by emotionally blackmailing his wife, telling his employer he can’t return to work as his mother is sick, lying to his parents about his wife having an affair and finally just turning his mobile phone off so no one can contact him. Hiding away in his parents loft his behaviour and mindset becomes more and more inward-looking to the point he can’t even leave the apartment. Filmed on a tiny budget Momma’s Man is a film which will undoubtedly divide opinion, some will see it as a boring hour and forty minutes in which not much happens and some will see it as a slow paced and gentle look at a grown man’s breakdown and decent into emotional adolescence to avoid the pressures of adult life. Personally, I enjoyed it and while it was a bit too long it was the central performance from Matt Boren as Mikey which held the film together. The direction from Azazel Jacobs was gently paced and had some wonderfully subtle moments which were often heart warming and painful to watch. While not to everyone’s taste, if you like low-budget independent cinema then this is well worth a look.