MOVIE REVIEW: “Mom and Dad” stars Nicolas Cage (Rage, The Wicker Man [2006]), Selma Blair (Cruel Intentions, Hellboy [2004]), Anne Winters (Sand Castles, The Tribe), Zackary Arthur (The 5th Wave, Transparent [TV series), Robert T. Cunningham, and Olivia Crocicchia (Men Women and Children, Accidental Love). It was written and directed by Brian Taylor (Gamer, Crank). When the world’s parents turn on their kids in hopes of killing them, Carly (Winters) and Josh Ryan (Arthur) must survive the murderous intent of their mom (Blair) and dad (Cage).

It’s been a while since I got my last Nicolas Cage fix, and this time around I took a huge hit (terrible analogy kids, I apologize). You can’t be a lover of film without seeing a good ‘ol fashioned Cage rage every now and then; of couse, this had to come through another horrific feature entitled “Mom and Dad.” Last year, I read an article on this interesting flick about parents killing their children and knew I had to see it. Of course it wasn’t on the top of my list, but it was on my mind as months passed. Now, due to a bachelors party, the time has come to see it. Boy was it awful…like, “I don’t know what I just saw” awful. I never knew that Brian Taylor directed this, mastermind behind hit films like “Gamer” and “Crank” that several people know and love (as if). He loves a discombobulated style that is both demonic and insane in nature, subjecting his characters to moments of lunacy and bloodshed that puts his viewers over the edge of sanity. I could only imagine being on set with the guy as he directs a shot, whether it is depicting Nic Cage singing the hokey pokey while destroying a pool table or a terrible car scene in the conclusion of the feature that has some of the worst visual effects I have seen in a while. Whatever have you, the bottom line is that this man is off his rocker, and if you can’t see that while watching this demented movie, then I don’t know what to tell you. The acting wasn’t good nor was the script, which gave logical reason as to why the characters are hard for anyone to play as. Really, the whole film mined the concept of parents killing their children with no regard to whether or not the characters were actually worth our time. In fact, I think they purposefully made these figures terrible people so that we wouldn’t care that they died; at least, it would make sense. How could I know? How could anyone know the intentions of the filmmaker of this whenever the movie is as abstract as it is? They never explain how the parents turn on their kids, nor the mechanics of their rage. There was a moment where the mom seemed to have turned back to her normal self towards the ending of the movie, but it was as brief as you can get. After a second, she resorted back to her malicious ways, and never reverted back again. I tried to find a reason to care for this film; maybe, just maybe there was something I was missing. It’s easy to think that way when it seems like Taylor purposefully made this movie bad. But, as I said, you never know. If anything, it’s his style that he takes pride in. The only saving grace that gave this film any points was its cinematography and intro credits. Not all of the cinematography was good, but there were some shots, mostly in the beginning, that were impressive. They dazzled in the intro credits, which were well-made and edited together to really deliver this pile of crap to my table. Besides that, there wasn’t much here for me, other than some good, insane Nic Cage moments. All of them didn’t make sense to the plot and only seemed to be there for the actor to go crazy, but at that point I didn’t care; you lose any semblance of critique one-third of the way through this, around the time the main girl goes to her friend’s house to hide out. Overall, “Mom and Dad” is all what it seems to be: a terrible, no-name direct-to-video that showcases Nic Cage’s wackiness through a convoluted plot. What’s worse is Cage isn’t even the main actor, but Anne Winters who plays the teenage daughter who, like the rest of the characters, I don’t give two craps to (excuse my language). If you want a fun night of laughs and anguish, then I’d recommend this flick; otherwise, steer clear of this dysfunctional family. FINAL SCORE: 11%= Burnt Popcorn

Here is the trailer: