Mother and Child tells the story of three women with the topic of adoption being the common thread that ties the stories together: A physical therapist in her early 50s (Annette Bening) regrets giving up her daughter when she was fourteen and is lonely and difficult as a result until she meets a fellow therapist (Jimmy Smits) who gets her to open up and seek out her daughter. The daughter (Naomi Watts) is a successful and independent attorney who is just as icy as her mother, and quickly taken up with her boss (Samuel L. Jackson) at the new firm she has been hired at. Finally, a young woman (Kerry Washington) and her husband embark down the difficult road to adoption after they are unable to conceive a child. In many ways, Rodrigo Garcia's film is a solid work containing seemingly genuine emotions as well as several memorable moments. The cast is great as well, with some old pros given some nice roles (its nice to see Jackson in a serious role again). However, plot developments are overly contrived and the film turns mushy near the end. Also, like so many tiresome multistorylined films of the last ten years or so, Garcia finds it necessary to make all strands come together and this further hurts a film already damaged by its engineered story.
