What it might lack in terms of camp and chaos, it makes up for in heart. Don’t drag your heels, just sashay away to the cinema to feel the warm embrace of the Stage Mother.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Nov 12, 2022

Never feels like the best version of itself. It’s charming and heartwarming when you view it from a certain angle; it’s funny in a cute way but never in a laugh-out-loud way; it has no visual style to speak of but is never unpleasant to look at.

| Original Score: 5/10 | May 13, 2022

(Set in) an idealised world that wraps you up in easy solutions, and good humour. The film becomes a comforting lets-put-on-a-show dramedy, where everyone pitches in to turn the clubs fortunes around, and learns a little something on the way.

| Original Score: 2.5/5 | Feb 17, 2022

Taylor in particular is a stand-out who hasn't been given nearly enough opportunities since 2015's Tangerine.

| Jan 5, 2021

Stage Mother is charming enough to make you forget the flaws as it rolls along.

| Dec 22, 2020

Fitzgerald keeps things lively and gets a strong performance out of Weaver.

| Original Score: C+ | Nov 11, 2020

As the narrative crosses familiar territory and hits all the beats you're likely expecting, Weaver's luminous performance saves this film from itself.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Sep 28, 2020

As well-intentioned as Stage Mother is, it's a forgettable affair that entertains enough during its brisk 90 minute running time but fails to leave any sort of impression.

| Original Score: 2.5/5 | Sep 18, 2020

Stage Mother works overtime to entertain, but everything doesn't come up roses.

| Original Score: 2/5 | Aug 31, 2020

A likeable if frustratingly forgettable entry in the LGBTQ+ canon.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Aug 26, 2020

Today, homophobia may still blight many a queen's family relations, but Stage Mother feels dated and formulaic.

| Original Score: 1/4 | Aug 22, 2020

... buries a worthwhile message of acceptance and compassion beneath clumsy stereotypes. It struggles to modulate the campy with the sincere.

| Aug 22, 2020

It's a welcome treat to see a revitalizing Jacki Weaver bring an extra cup of kindness as the warm, empathetic lead in a narrative which resists the limitations of its stereotypes with keenly heartfelt aplomb.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Aug 21, 2020

It has some good messages of inclusion, open-mindedness and hopefulness, but there is too much flare and too little substance for it to be effective.

| Original Score: D | Aug 21, 2020

A sweet but ineffective comedy that cashes in on drag culture's new mainstream fame.

| Original Score: 2/4 | Aug 21, 2020

Bawdy comedy puts lipstick on overcoming prejudice.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Aug 21, 2020

An irresistible Jacki Weaver makes a potentially disastrous premise more enjoyable than seems possible, but can do only so much with the contrived material she's bringing vividly to life.

| Original Score: 2.5/4 | Aug 20, 2020

Stage Mother is a sweet, funny film that will leave you smiling. These days, there simply can't be enough of that.

| Original Score: 3.5/5 | Aug 20, 2020

In Thom Fitzgerald's old fashioned but charming, Stage Mother, (Jackie Weaver) gets to deliver a lovely portrait of a mother exorcising her own demons.

| Original Score: B- | Aug 19, 2020

I love drag queens and I especially love a story that shows their humanity and heart, as opposed to focusing purely on their kitchiness. Jacki Weaver as Miss Maybelline is a hoot and totally worth the screening. Not to mention

| Aug 18, 2020