Film Review — "Ma"

On the eve of my first day of high school, my father made me an offer. Concerned that I might fall down a rabbit hole of drunken partying (because what else do teens do?), he assured me that if my friends and I ever wanted to drink, he’d provide the beer so long as we only drank it in his basement. He’d clear it with my friends’ parents—they could even come over, too—but this way we wouldn’t be out in public making fools of ourselves, or worse: driving.

None of that ever happened. You see, what my father overlooked is who he was talking to. A kid who only really saw his friends at school and didn’t have a social life. I mean, I spent every weekend reading and watching TV, for cripes sake… Hmm, maybe he thought alcohol would lead to socialization, who knows. Kinda fucked up if you think about it, but, come to think of it now, I could see how his mind might come to that conclusion, as someone who only saw his own friends at the bar.

Anyway, I had forgotten about all that until I watched Ma.

There is a key difference between my dad’s plan and Octavia Spencer’s Sue Ann’s scheme, though: his was not borne out of intergenerational vengeance.

High school was not kind to Sue Ann. To be more accurate, Sue Ann’s peers were not kind. Cruel, actually. Now, twenty-odd years later, she’s still living in her tiny honky-tonk town and working as a vet tech. Quite an interesting career choice that makes perfect sense for the character. The health field, like law enforcement, can grant a certain power to someone who might not otherwise have any. And Sue Ann being a caregiver to animals puts a fun spin on the “pet the dog” screenwriting trick.

Funnily enough, my great-grandmother recently made a strange claim over Thanksgiving. She mentioned how she’d always wanted to be a nurse—and I’m sure she probably would’ve been a good one—but then she said that if anyone “from high school” who’d been mean to her ever came into her ER, she might be tempted to be mean back, as recompense… Needless to say, my eyebrows rose a bit.

Now, I don’t think Sue Ann went into veterinary science in order to harm the pets of her enemies, but I do think the job gives her the sense of authority she craves. When she’s doing the job, that is—and not Facebook-stalking teens she’s obsessed with instead and getting yelled at by her boss, played by Allison Janney in a rather distracting case of stunt casting. 

And yet… it more or less works for me, all things considered. 

Ma is outrageous. Over-the-top. Campy. Tonally all over the place. Et cetera, et cetera. Exactly like its titular performance. Spencer knows exactly what movie she’s in. And she’s completely committed. She milks every syllable of every line for everything its worth. She goes full ham. No one else in the movie seems to be on her level.

Look, Octavia Spencer is a national treasure and must be protected at all costs.

She is an actor who’s unafraid to go there. Unhinged seems to be the popular word for that in today’s film criticism. But she’s simply doing what must be done. Spencer has made it pretty well known that she’s fascinated with murder and the mad folks who commit it. So there’s no way she was gonna half-ass this performance. 

Is the film a tad… wonky? Unbalanced? Yeah. But so is Ma, a woman who can go from being the life of the party to pointing a gun at an underage boy and ordering him to strip naked in front of his peers, then bust out laughing to show it was all a joke as he trembles while cupping his privates. 

Is the dialogue bad? No, I wouldn’t call it that. I think it’s meant to be chewed—delivered playfully. This is another area where Spencer comes out on top, by truly leaning into the devilish absurdity of it all. (Keep in mind, Ma was directed by a gay man; devilish absurdity is our specialty.)

Obviously, Octavia Spencer is the main reason to watch Ma. But it’s also good to support queer filmmakers, like Tate Taylor. And queer co-star Luke Evans, who has a show-stopping moment of his own that’s bound to give some viewers the vapors. 

Can’t help but wish, though, that Ma had gone bigger and really been unhinged to the max, as a whole, so if Taylor and company can find a way to make a sequel happen, I hope they’ll all go there with Octavia.