GOOD MOTHER, THE

(director/writer: Miles Joris-Peyrafitte; screenwriter: Madison Harrison; cinematographer: Charlotte Hornsby; editors: Taylor Levy, Damian Rodriguez; cast: Hilary Swank (Marissa Bennings), Madison Harrison (Mikey), Norm Lewis (Jim), Olivia Cooke (Paige), Jack Reynor (Toby), Dilone (Gina), Hopper Penn (Ducky), Karen Aldridge (Laurie), Larry Fessenden (Gary); Runtime: 89; MPAA Rating: R; producers: Shaun Sanghani, Siena Oberman, Emma Tillinger Koskoff; Vertical; 2023)

“Swank’s committed performance is the best thing about this gritty but disappointing drama.”

Reviewed by Dennis Schwartz

Writer-director Miles Joris-Peyrafitte  (“Dreamland”/”As You Are”) tells of a working-class family torn apart by the opioid crisis that undergoes several twists and halfway through it mistakenly transitions into an unsatisfactory generic thriller.

It’s co-written by Madison Harrison.

Marissa (Hilary Swank) is an Albany, New York, journalist and a recovering alcoholic, whose estranged son Mikey (Madison Harrison) has been fatally shot in the street. Toby (Jack Reynor), her cop son, suggests the investigation be left to him. But mom doesn’t listen and instead teams up with Mikey’s pregnant girlfriend Paige (Olivia Cooke) to figure out the motive for the shooting. They learn it’s over a dispute her son has with those trafficking fentanyl, as they locate a seedy underground network of dealers and junkies. The women then must recognize that Mikey is no innocent.

The pained Marissa has requested from her editor (Norm Lewis) a leave of absence from work and thinks about writing some articles to expose the impact fentanyl is having on her community.


Swank’s committed performance is the best thing about this gritty but disappointing drama.

REVIEWED ON 9/13/2023  GRADE: C+.