Mother, Couch (2024) Review: More Perplexing Than Feeling Intrigued in this Otherwise Mostly Well-Acted Dark Comedy
Older people tend to be very stubborn, like clinging to the past and unwilling to change their views or beliefs about something. But in the case of the titular elderly matriarch played by Ellen Burstyn in Mother, Couch, her stubbornness sees her refuse to move away from a green couch in a furniture store called Oakbed’s Furniture.
Why she wouldn’t budge remains a mystery and not even her two adult sons, David (Ewan McGregor) and his older brother Gruffudd (Rhys Ifans), manage to convince her. Their sister, Linda (Lara Flynn Boyle) soon arrives and figures the best way for their mother to get off the couch is to call 911. But David doesn’t want to make a big deal out of it. And yet, he can’t seem to solve the problem no matter how hard he tries. Gruffudd and Linda, in the meantime, aren’t helpful or as concerned as David is about their mother’s insistence on staying put on the couch.
Such an oddball premise reminds me of something Spike Jonze, Charlie Kaufman or Michel Gondry would make in their films. Swedish director Niclas Larsson, who got his start directing short films and music videos, made his feature debut here and even pulled a double-duty adapting Jerker Virdborg’s 2020 novel, Mamma i soffa. He manages to assemble a stellar cast with McGregor delivering one of his best performances in recent years as the frustrating David, who has to put up with his half-siblings’ (Gruffudd and Linda) ineffectual ways of doing things. Not to mention he already has his hands full dealing with his stubborn mother (Burstyn making quite an impression playing a character who spends her time predominantly on a couch).
Ifans’ all-too-casual and laidback Gruffudd somehow reminds me of his Spike character but minus the vile personality in Notting Hill. Then, there’s the long-missed Lara Flynn Boyle, making the best use of her screen time playing a foul-mouthed and chain-smoking Linda. The rest of the supporting cast, however, is rather underutilised, namely Taylor Russell as the comely daughter of the store owner, Bella and the same also goes for F. Murray Abraham’s dual roles as identical twins, Marcus and Marco. Lake Bell shows up as David’s wife but is largely relegated to a thankless role.
Mother, Couch has something to say about a dysfunctional family as broken as these characters (the mother, David, Gruffudd and Bella). But whatever metaphorical attempt surrounding a stubborn mother who wouldn’t leave the couch for some reason raises more baffling questions than answers. We do learn that David, Gruffudd and Bella don’t always see things eye to eye. David happens to be the only person in the family who cares about his mother the most. He is seen making the most efforts to solve his family situation.
And yet, as I watched the movie trying to piece together the whole offbeat stubborn-mother-on-a-couch scenario, the story grows more frustrating and confusing. It slows down significantly in the middle, making the movie’s otherwise 96-minute length feel like a chore getting to the point. By the time it reaches the third act, it ends with a disappointing payoff that goes nowhere. The thing is, Larsson’s overly ambiguous direction, coupled with his wildly inconsistent pacing doesn’t bring much of a positive outcome to keep me invested with the story.
Most of the cast may give their all and Larsson deserves praise for capturing the feel and look of idiosyncratic visuals with the help of Chayse Irvin’s atmospheric cinematography and Christopher Bear’s moody score. But they aren’t enough to overcome the narrative shortcomings, which is frankly, a waste of an opportunity for Larsson’s potentially great debut feature.
