Quick Synopsis: A failing pub tries to revive its fortunes by brewing beer.

Thoughts going in: Have I seen a trailer for this? I’m not sure. Also, it’s weird Martin Clunes is doing films now. Wait, did that say Josie Long? Interesting. (spoilers, it did not say Josie Long, it said Josie Lawrence)

This is not the greatest film I’ve seen, but it’s enjoyable. It’s the cinematic equivalent of a piece of toast (I compare films to food way more than most people do, I should look into that). By that, I mean that no matter how perfectly it does what it needs to, it will never be your favourite. It sticks to a formula, and as such is kind of restrained by that. You can guess almost every single plot point in this film from the opening 10 minutes. It won’t surprise you at all. But it doesn’t really need to, this is not a film to analyse and pore over, it’s a film to sit and distract yourself, and it does that well. The dialogue is razor sharp, the characters are loveable (and fully fleshed out, even the background ones have minor details to them which help you know them), and it will make you smile. The whole thing is just massively endearing and charming and, I don’t know, warm I guess is the word I’m looking for. You know how certain films have colours attached to them? I’d say this one is a warm sea blue. It’s just comforting and lovely, the kind of film the whole family gathers and watches on Christmas Day, in that post-dinner haze where you’re all too exhausted to move, and someone inevitably falls asleep on the sofa with their Christmas hat still on. It’s incredibly BBC, and I mean that as positive and a negative.

So yeah, don’t go out of your way to watch this, but if (actually, when) it comes on iPlayer, watch it immediately.

I’m actually genuinely annoyed that the opening paragraph of this review makes sense. Not because of any worries of accuracy, but because I just copied and pasted it from a review from 2022. Okay, the writer/director who made that movie (Fisherman’s Friends: One And All) also made Mother’s Pride, so it could just be said that it’s his style. So making two similar films isn’t too big an issue, right?

Except.

Except the Fisherman’s Friends review wasn’t the first time I used that paragraph, I used it (with minor word adjustments) in a review of Finding Your Feet, back in 2018. So this isn’t even a copy, it’s a copy of a copy. Yes, it’s well-made. But even if this is the first movie you’ve seen, you’ll feel you’ve seen it before. It did make me laugh, and it did make me feel things. So in some aspects, it is a success. It talks more about men’s mental health and depression/anxiety than most films dare, and the fact that even a the “I’m an old man who doesn’t like change” character is sympathetic to those issues is a nice touch. In fact, the film outright states that making light of mental health issues is a villainous activity. Which would hit harder if you didn’t get the feeling that every character is one minor inconvenience away from using ableist slurs.

It’s hard to criticise Mothers Pride, as there’s nothing inherently wrong with it. It just brings nothing new to the table. For a film which has clearly had a lot of effort put into it, it feels spectacularly lazy. Like I said, you won’t regret watching it. It’s too well-made for that. But it won’t inspire any passion in you once it’s finished. For a film about a musician, music really should play a bigger part in it, though.