Welcome to Hotel Mama

Up until now, 40-year-old Stéphanie (Alexandra Lamy) has been on life's road to success. But then her company suddenly goes bust and she is left with nothing. Now she is forced to move back in with her mother Jacqueline (Josiane Balasko). The widow isn't at all thrilled about sharing her laid-back routine with one of her daughters again, especially since she doesn't want her children to know that she's been in a relationship with her neighbor Jean for years. In her old age, Jacqueline has to sneak off to her lover and make up tall tales to trick the overly nosy Stéphanie. Eventually, though, she realizes that playing hide-and-seek has to stop, and she decides to introduce Jean to her children at a dinner party. But the evening goes very differently than planned.

Sometimes you get the feeling that France only makes comedies. Light entertainment, sometimes more, sometimes less close to reality, seems to be the specialty of French filmmakers. Of course, in reality French cinema has a lot more facets to offer. But it is precisely the comedies that sometimes attract an audience of millions to the cinemas in Germany. The turbulent family comedy Welcome to Hotel Mama, which is particularly lively thanks to Josiane Balasko's spirited performance, aims to do just that. How she, as a sprightly widow, tries to pull the wool over her children's eyes is really a lot of fun.

The result of her sneakiness is a delightful dinner scene that is undoubtedly one of the highlights of this likeable comedy. But Stephanie's attempt to set up an email account for her mother or her very honest exit from the unemployment office also make for very enjoyable moments. But even though Lavaine tries to give it a little bit of depth by adding some social criticism, the end result remains relatively superficial. The reason for this is especially the finale, which comes across as too contrived and rushed. The whole story dissolves within a few minutes, which doesn't fit the other pacing of the movie at all. The whole last act somehow seems quite unimaginative and lacks the charm and wit that Visit to Hotel Mama could score with until then.

However, even though the ending disappoints, the bottom line is that the overall impression is quite positive. Welcome to Hotel Mama offers nice entertainment that sometimes makes you laugh, but mostly makes you smile in amusement. It's not a big hit and nothing you haven't seen before, but it's still a movie that puts you in a good mood. And that is enough for all lovers of light French comedies to give this film a clear "worth seeing" rating!

An article by Frankfurt-Tipp