A lost, confused comedy

Writer/Director George Gallo jumbles together plotlines borrowed from To Catch A Thief and Mama’s Boy in this confused comedy about a young FBI agent Henry Durand (Colin Hanks) who finds himself having to spy on his sexually liberated mom, Marty (Meg Ryan) and her new boyfriend Tommy (Antonio Banderas).

Henry comes home to visit his mother after spending three years away to find his once overweight and depressed mother now trim and sexy. Henry’s fiancée (Selma Blair) likes Marty and so do all the men in Shreveport, including Tommy, an art thief who is in town to pull off a heist.

The humour is expected to come from Henry’s embarrassment at spying on his mom even in the bedroom. But the laughs are woefully sparse. In fact, Henry’s obsession with his mother appears to be a complex Oedipus problem.

Director Gallo appears to have lost control of the narrative entirely. He prefers to jump forward to Tommy’s tryst with art thievery and his romance with Marty rather than shore up the narrative with a bit more of exploration. His attempt to conjoin two disparate films into one makes the narrative appear shoddy, and amateurish.

The once-charming Ryan appears jaded. The casting of Colin Hanks (Tom Hanks’ son) as Henry was meant to generate interest but fails to do so.

There’s zero chemistry between Ryan and Banderas. This film is a hotch-potch of stories without any synergy.

My Mom’s New Boyfriend
Cast:  Antonio Banderas, Meg Ryan, Colin Hanks, Selma Blair, Enrico Colantoni, Trevor Morgan, Marco St. John, Eli Danker, Aki Avni, Paul Sampson
Director: George Gallo
Rating: ***