25 Best Mother's Day Movies

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Lady Bird (2017)

The relationship between a mother and her daughter is complex. The desire for affection and acceptance runs as fierce as entertaining thoughts of murdering each other. In Greta Gerwig’s Oscar-nominated, semi-autobiographical directorial debut, this balancing act is brilliantly portrayed by Saoirse Ronan and Laurie Metcalf. Watch now

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Away We Go (2009)

Maya Rudolph stars in this Sam Mendes road-trip comedy about an expectant mother traversing North America with her husband, played by a shaggy John Krasinski, on the lookout for where to lay down roots. You’ll laugh, you’ll cry, you’ll want to call your mom when the credits roll. Watch now

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Mommie Dearest

Wire hangers. Defiance. Bette Davis. These are just a few of Joan Crawford’s least favorite things, according to the film adaptation of adopted daughter Christina Crawford’s 1978 same-name tell-all. Kudos to Faye Dunaway for getting those Crawford aesthetics spot on. Watch now

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Stepmom (1998)

Full disclosure: This movie didn’t make us cry. It made us whimper unintelligible yelps in the back of the movie theater in 1998. Julia Roberts, the dreaded soon-to-be stepmom, and Susan Sarandon, the woman she’ll never live up to, star in the four-seasons Chris Columbus classic that’s. all. just. too. much. Watch now

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The Babadook

Remember that time Joan Crawford went berserk over those wire hangers? Yeah, single mom Amelia (Essie Davis) is way scarier than that. Aussie filmmaker Jennifer Kent plays with themes of love and hate in her super-dark supernatural fairy tale that’s one part monster movie, one part Freudian thriller. Watch now

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Mr. Mom (1983)

This one could easily join the ranks of the best Father’s Day movies, too, thanks to Michael Keaton’s dedication to domestic duties. But we’re using this John Hughes-written ‘80s classic to give a shout-out to those working moms, who—like Teri Garr’s character—get going when going, you know, gets tough. Watch now

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Mommy (2015)

A Cannes Jury Prize winner and veteran filmmaker before age 26, Xavier Dolan is a marvel. As is his fifth film, Mommy, a frenzied, heartbreaking melodrama about a mother and the enfant terrible she’s trying to tame. This one will stick with you long after you raise the lights. Watch now

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The Joy Luck Club (1993)

Mahjong is a game of exchanging tiles. It’s also the game played when four Chinese-American mothers get together to exchange stories about their families in Wayne Wang’s film adaptation of Amy Tan’s bestseller. A sweeping drama about mothers and daughters, it’s definitely long. But so worth it. Watch now

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Mermaids (1990)

Behind every great mom is her eldest daughter holding down the fort. That is, until 15-year-old Charlotte succumbs to her raging hormones with the boy of her dreams in the top of a bell tower on New Year’s night. At least, that’s how it is in this June Roberts-written familial drama. Watch now

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Goodnight Mommy (2015)

You know about The Babadook, but did you catch this Austrian horror gem that turns an idyllic, secluded country home into a mother’s worst nightmare? “Mutter” returns home from surgery, but it isn’t the pain from her procedure she’s worried about; it’s whether or not her twins will be successful in killing her. Watch now

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Mildred Pierce (1945)

Nothing wrong with a Joan Crawford marathon. Once you’re done with Mommie Dearest, queue up this 1945 black-and-white Crawford noir, about a hardworking mother whose turbulent relationship with her spoiled social-climber daughter is really all she has. More into miniseries? Todd Haynes made a good one. Watch now

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Terms of Endearment (1983)

They don’t always see eye to eye but mother Aurora (Shirley MacLaine) and daughter Emma (Debra Winger) definitely connect on matters of the heart in this decades-spanning tearjerker from James L. Brooks. For those who’ve seen it, you know what you’re in for. For everyone else: tissues. Watch now

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Steel Magnolias (1989)

Sally, Dolly, Shirley, Olympia, Julia, Daryl—gang’s all here in Herbert Ross’s Southern-set seasonal affair that’s as comical as it is cathartic. At its core is the mother-daughter relationship between Sally Field’s M’Lynn and Julia Roberts’s Shelby, and, in the words of Clairee, it’s just “too colorful for words.” Watch now

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Soul Food (1997)

Everything in George Tillman Jr.’s soul-stirring charmer—right down to the butter on the bread and the Sunday dinner lessons—stems from Big Mama Joe (Irma P. Hall), the matriarchal glue holding a multigenerational Chicago family together. Screw the soup, this one’s fried chicken for the soul. Watch now

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Kill Bill (2003)

Nothing’ll stop Beatrix Kiddo from reuniting with her daughter, B.B. Not even the many members of the Deadly Viper Assassination Squad or the 80-plus killers in O-Ren Ishii’s personal army. And especially not the film’s eponymous antagonist, Bill, code name Snake Charmer. Now that’s a mother’s love. Watch now

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Postcards from the Edge (1990)

Shirley MacLaine and Meryl Streep take center stage as Hollywood starlet mother and Hollywood up-and-comer daughter. The Mike Nichols film pulls from Carrie Fisher’s incredibly personal journey through addiction and growing up in her mother’s shadow. and everything about it is pitch-perfect. Watch now

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Lion (2016)

Get ready to bawl. This Oscar-nominated true story proves you can always go home—as long as you have access to Google Earth. Based on an Indian man’s search for his long-lost family, Garth Davis’ adaptation of Saroo Brierley’s journey home to mom is a tearjerker from opening scene to final reunion. Watch now

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The Orphanage (2007)

J. A. Bayona’s atmospheric Gothic ghost story about a mother desperate to find her missing son is spooky, yes, but it’s not the shock and horror one might expect. Rather, it’s a nerve-jangling tale about how far a mother will go for her son (as in: seeking help from dead orphans). Watch now

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Room (2015)

In an Oscar-winning performance, Brie Larson gives it her all as Ma, a mother trying to give her 5-year-old son a normal life—even if life means being locked away in a shed by a man who’s been holding her captive for years. Though dark at times, Lenny Abrahamson’s film has light at the end of the tunnel. Watch now

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The Sound of Music (1965)

Even though Julie Andrews would technically receive a mug stamped with World’s Greatest Governess, she does eventually win over the hearts of the Von Trapp children, as well as their Navy captain father, played by a fetching Christopher Plummer, in what might be the only upbeat film set during WWII. Watch now

DeAnna Janes is a freelance writer and editor for a number of sites, including Harper’s BAZAAR, Tasting Table, Fast Company and Brit + Co, and is a passionate supporter of animal causes, copy savant, movie dork and reckless connoisseur of all holidays. A native Texan living in NYC since 2005, Janes has a degree in journalism from Texas A&M and  got her start in media at US Weekly before moving on to O Magazine, and eventually becoming the entertainment editor of the once-loved, now-shuttered DailyCandy. She’s based on the Upper West Side.

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