31
Metascore
17 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 67The Film StageJohn FinkThe Film StageJohn FinkThe craft is quite admirable, while the elements feel a bit recycled.
- 58The A.V. ClubNoel MurrayThe A.V. ClubNoel MurrayMa Ma’s corny simplicity makes its many flourishes look excessive, and even desperate.
- 50RogerEbert.comSusan WloszczynaRogerEbert.comSusan WloszczynaMore important than the washed-out blue-tinged rooms, bleached white interiors and sun-blasted sea and sand is Cruz, who single-handedly breathes a sense of genuineness into this maudlin exercise even if she can’t cure all of its flaws.
- 42IndieWireDavid EhrlichIndieWireDavid EhrlichCruz is radiant in her role, finding inner strength even when the script pushes Magda towards blind hope, and finding pain even when Medem insists that cancer hits with all the force of a bad night's sleep.
- 30The Hollywood ReporterJonathan HollandThe Hollywood ReporterJonathan HollandCruz’s aces performance apart, very little about this extremely disappointing film feels real, and some of it is risible.
- 30Screen DailyAllan HunterScreen DailyAllan HunterThere is an undeniable cheesiness to the closing stage of ma ma that makes it hard to take entirely seriously.
- 30VarietyDennis HarveyVarietyDennis HarveyJulio Medem’s film is a smiling-through-tears saga whose generally tasteful execution can’t ultimately salvage a whopping load of maudlin contrivance, all designed to burnish the halo around St. Penelope.
- 30The New York TimesAndy WebsterThe New York TimesAndy WebsterPenélope Cruz is an Oscar-winning actress we don’t see often enough in prominent leading roles. So how disappointing to find her having to carry Julio Medem’s florid Ma Ma, a melodrama only glancing at profundity.
- 0The PlaylistKevin JagernauthThe PlaylistKevin JagernauthFalls flat on its face thanks to a severe lack of self-awareness and an air of dramatic self-importance.