What if Ma’s crazy? Get home safe Ma: Movie Review

Denton — Octavia Spencer’s acting abilities are a given, her performance gives the movie and character more life than the storyline did.

I enjoyed this movie although I couldn’t tell if it was of the horror or Sci-Fi genre at first, IMDb.com has it listed as a mash-up of horror and thriller.

This movie actually follows two storylines, Maggie and her mother move back to Ohio where her mother is originally from after her parent’s divorce.

Maggie is absorbed into a ready-made group of friends, a seemingly normal coming of age story. The story unfolds in a predictable way until the kids are standing in front of the local haberdashery asking adults to buy them alcohol.

Sue Ann a veterinary tech and native of the small town (Octavia Spencer) happens across the group, and within a few minutes realizes she was bullied by their parents in high school. The bullying she endured has apparently (not at first) affected her mental state a great deal but she manages to be a functioning member of the community.

The details of the bullying she endured as a high school student are gradually unfolded over the course of the movie. Her obsession with her classmates has not been an issue until she happens across their children from what we can tell. However, there is foreboding in the attention she pays to their faces and details of the car they are in.

It seems as if the story will continue as normal from there, she startles them as they are leaving the store to return their change a seemingly normal exchange and she is gone. There are several unexpected plot twists relationships, that are gradually unfolded giving her obsession with each child its own life.

Octavia Spencer takes on the persona of a lonely middle-aged woman being maybe a little too friendly with teenagers, in an effort to enjoy some of the pleasures of high school. The storyline takes you through the budding relationship between Sue Ann and the kids. She feigns concern and authenticity in an effort to create a place where the kids are comfortable and drunken parties become a norm in her basement.

The teenagers think they have the best luck in the world when they have this kind of opportunity thrust upon them out of nowhere. Sue Ann’s intentions are seen as genuine, so even as Maggie starts to be skeptical, she has a hard time convincing the rest of the group that something isn’t right.

Midway through the movie, Sue Ann kicks things up and the term psychological thriller is very appropriate to categorize this movie. Her mental state seems to come completely undone when the kids aren’t showing up as much as they used to.

Sue Ann’s obsession and longing to relive high school as a popular kid gets the best of her, and the movie comes to a climactic end.

This movie was very suspense filled and left me covering my eyes when I could tell something frightening was about to happen. Another delightful chapter in the uptick in horror films with minority lead actors. Writer, Scotty Landes did a good job of addressing the stereotype of the “token” black friend with the interaction between Sue Ann and Darrell.

Overall, I would give the movie three out of five stars the characters could’ve been more developed than they were. There were a few relationships that needed more of an explanation to be relevant to the movie at all.