Motherhood 2009

Glenn Whipp, Los Angeles Times: Whiny and self-involved, Thurman's mother of two sees judgment around every corner and believes the universe has conspired against her because the bakery misspelled her daughter's name on a birthday cake. Read more

Amy Nicholson, Boxoffice Magazine: It scares straight any wishful daydreams about parenting, living in Manhattan and even looking like Uma Thurman. Read more

Michael Phillips, At the Movies: Motherhood gives upper-middle-class whining a bad name. Read more

Keith Phipps, AV Club: The film treats the responsibilities of parenthood like another film would treat cancer, as a dream-killing condition to be endured until it passes or kills you. As a contraceptive device, that works brilliantly. Read more

Wesley Morris, Boston Globe: You can see the movie wants to comment on all the frustrations of urban motherhood, but it does so only shallowly. How did having children kill Eliza's "fiercely lyrical'' fiction career? The movie isn't that political or reflective. Read more

Peter Rainer, Christian Science Monitor: Read more

Owen Gleiberman, Entertainment Weekly: [Thurman is] quite funny, but her performance is at once winning and overstated. Read more

Joe Neumaier, New York Daily News: Unfortunately, nothing here digs too deep. Read more

Lou Lumenick, New York Post: If Carrie Bradshaw ever trades her Manolos for sneakers and starts blogging about raising children, I pray she wouldn't be as tiresome as the heroine of Katherine Dieckmann's insufferable comedy Motherhood. Read more

Rex Reed, New York Observer: Many films have been made about the perils of parenthood, but none with a more attractive and entertaining mom on the verge of a nervous breakdown than Uma Thurman in Motherhood. Read more

Richard Roeper, Richard Roeper.com: Uma, overload. Overload, Uma. Read more

Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times: Read more

Amy Biancolli, San Francisco Chronicle: Read more

Nina Caplan, Time Out: I wouldn't care if she was at the epicentre of the movement for global peace: she's a happily married mother who looks like Uma Thurman, and my reserves of sympathy are limited. Read more

Claudia Puig, USA Today: [Motherhood] not only overdoes its premise, but it's hampered by several flaws. When it tries to be serious, it's too earnest, and when it tries to strike a chord, it's banal. Read more

Rob Nelson, Variety: Though pregnant with possibility, Motherhood fails to deliver. Read more

Michelle Orange, Village Voice: Dieckmann nails the look of a certain niche of urban neo-middle-class living, but the film's hyper-earnest tone and reliance on "day-from-hell" New York cliches overwhelm those details. Read more