Netflix’s new film The Mother has become the number-one movie on the platform after opening last weekend, but also set an unwanted record in the process.
The flick stars Jennifer Lopez as an ex-assassin that is forced to come out of retirement to save her daughter, despite the fact they haven’t spoken in a while.
It’s been a success with the viewers, enjoying the biggest opening weekend of any film so far this year on Netflix, but it hasn’t exactly proven a universal smash with the critics.
To be fair, the viewers’ opinion is probably the one that will matter to those who made the film, but critical opinion can play a big role in the success of a project too.
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Lopez herself has been praised for her role in the film, but the lukewarm reviews from critics have seen it receive just a 45 percent positive review aggregate on Rotten Tomatoes.
For anyone who knows what they do over at Rotten Tomatoes, that is a ‘rotten’ rating rather than a ‘fresh’ score.
In the audience rankings, things look a little better, with 71 percent rating it ‘fresh’.
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The unwanted record is for New Zealand filmmaker Niki Caro, as it’s the lowest Rotten Tomatoes score of her films.
Caro is known for work on films such as 2002’s Whale Rider, as well as 2015’s McFarland, USA, and the 2020 live-action version of Disney classic Mulan.
Other than two films which haven’t ever been rated on the website – therefore we can’t really say anything about them – all of Caro’s seven other movies have been rated ‘fresh’ except for this one.
However, as we’ve said, it’s the viewers' opinion that matters the most, and they’ve been tuning in by the million.
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Earlier on this week, Netflix announced that more than 87 million hours have been spent watching the movie within three days of it being released.
It’s top of the charts in 82 countries around the world, too.
That means it is comfortably the biggest opening weekend any Netflix original movie has had this year, beating Jennifer Aniston and Adam Sandler’s release Murder Mystery 2.
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If you’re keen to see what The Mother is all about, you can watch it now on Netflix.
The official synopsis reads: “A military-trained assassin comes out of hiding to protect the daughter she's never met from ruthless criminals gunning for revenge.”
As well as Lopez, the film stars Joseph Fiennes, Gael Garcia Bernal, and Lucy Paez.
Topics: Netflix, Jennifer Lopez, Celebrity, Film and TV
Tom Wood