Mother of All Shows is August: Osage County dipped in a 70s pastiche fondue.

Writer/director Melissa D’Agostino stars as Liza, an anxious daughter dreading a recent visit to Breezy Birch Assisted Living to check in on her ailing mother Rosa (Wendie Malick of TVs Hot in Cleveland and Netflix’s Bojack Horseman).  As a means of coping, Liza perceives this visit as a fantasy that resembles the type of cornball variety show her and mom used to bond over.  The fictional show titled “Mother of All Shows” is hosted by a much more animated Rosa who relishes in the spotlight;  lobbing off zingers when she isn’t warming up the crowd with winks and choreography.  Despite Liza’s nerves from being singled out by Rosa’s petty behaviour, “the show must go on”.  But no matter how hard Liza tries to muster her way through each sketch and number, the tension inevitably boils over.

Though Mother of All Shows is not autobiographical according to D’Agostino, the project feels like it’s supposed to identify with problematic, even competitive, dynamics between mothers and daughters.  Malick is unapologetically ruthless as Rosa, and each mean comment she flippantly utters to Liza spikes the film’s tone.  D’Agostino is very good as well, occasionally trying to play ball but ultimately succumbing to her insecurities.  The central toxic relationship creates a unique mixture with the analog visual aesthetics and the “program’s” wholesome entertainment.  Mother of All Shows stays true to the variety show form and its clean-cut brand.  Even if the style eventually wears thin, it’s nevertheless an impressive feat.

Despite the audience’s willingness to laugh at some cheesy material, Mother of All Shows is far from a comedy – it’s even a stretch to call it a dark comedy.  At its core, this sad experimental family drama acts as a desperate cry for help from conflicted offspring who are suffering from their own arrested development.  Mother of All Shows is a fever dream that’s appropriately tough to watch because it features one of the most heartbreakingly genuine mother-daughter relationships ever committed to camera.

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Addison Wylie: @AddisonWylie