What seems like The Good Mother's biggest asset is actually its downfall. Yes, the three main actors (Swank, Cooke, and Jack Reynor as the civil servant son, Toby) are all good at what they do, but they're incapable of resuscitating a script that's never truly come to life. These casting choices, obviously made to give some clout to a very mediocre project, feel even more disappointing because the disconnect between actor and character is way too big. For example, Swank is not the alcoholic, fed-up mother we need her to be in this case, and its hard to see this as something else than a derogatory take on her previous more tender and glam roles. Director Miles Joris-Peyrafitte's Sundance-winning As You Are carried a whiff of fresh air, The Good Mother is drained out of all its energy, avoiding reflective depth at all costs, not to mention skirting around the ambivalences of motherhood. 

Flawed as it may be, at least the film makes for a decent crime thriller and where the script fails, editing steps in. The tempo speeds up, exponentially so, as the narrative untangles, but the scenes are never cut too short as it often happens when conveying a sense of urgency. Instead of the snappy cutaways between locations, chases, and rushing, The Good Mother opts for something less conventional. Scenes play out to their perfect ripeness, a second after someone looks away or does something suspicious; then, a hard cut comes as a surprise. A neat way to elicit audience responses and ignite curiosity when the plot itself cannot.