Where to Stream the 21 Best Movies About Moms for Mother’s Day
Moms are a force of nature. They bring us into the world, they shape us, and sometimes saddle us with baggage. But no one loves you like your mom. To celebrate Mother’s Day, we pulled together a list of the best “Mom” movies and where they’re streaming.
Lady Bird
It’s one of the most complicated mother-daughter relationships we’ve seen on film. Marion (Laurie Metcalf) clashes with her daughter “Lady Bird” (Saoirse Ronan) as she finishes high school and prepares for college. It’s a beautiful portrayal of how moms can sometimes be your best friend and your worst enemy… but in the end, there’s no one who can touch your heart quite like her.
Fargo
Marge Gunderson (Frances McDormand) ranks near the top of amazing movie moms and her baby isn’t even born yet! When a kidnapping plot goes wrong and criminals take aim at one another, it’s up to Police Chief Marge to solve the case. Making things even tougher, she’s 7 months pregnant.
This movie is funny and tragic and surprising. Through it all, Marge’s huge heart carries the story.
McDormand won an Oscar for her role and the Coen Brothers grabbed the award for Best Original Screenplay.
Stream “Fargo” for free on Freevee
Aliens
If you watch the director’s cut of “Aliens,” you learn that recently awakened Ellen Ripley receives some devastating news: while she was in hypersleep, her daughter grew old and died. Now, the same alien species she fought in “Alien” may have overtaken a mining colony filled with families. Ripley reluctantly goes on a mission to rescue anyone who may still be alive.
While on planet LV-426, Ripley discovers the only survivor, a young girl who calls herself “Newt.” Ripley’s maternal instincts kick in just in time to battle the Alien Queen intent on protecting her chest-bursting babies.
When Ripley suits up for her final battle, she delivers the most badass 6-word phrase in movie history. She’s the mom we all wish we could be.
Brave
It’s time for Pixar’s tribute to moms! One of the great recent mother-daughter movies centers on brash young Merida, who chafes under the watchful eye of her mother, Queen Elinor. When a wish goes wrong, Elinor is transformed into a bear and Merida has to race to reverse the spell before it becomes permanent.
We may fight with our moms, but this movie drives home how that bond can never be broken.
Everything Everywhere All at Once
With 7 Oscars under its belt, this landmark movie centers on a mom who struggles to accept her daughter. It involves kung fu, parallel universes, and googly eyes. Look, it’s hard to describe, but it won Best Picture, so it’s worth the watch. You may shed a tear as the mother-daughter relationship gets stretched to its breaking point before love saves the day.
The cast is phenomenal with Michelle Yeoh, Stephanie Hsu, and Ke Huy Quan delivering unforgettable perfomances.
Stream “Everything Everywhere All at Once” for free on Tubi
The Secret of NIMH
I have a soft spot for movie moms who go the extra mile, and Mrs. Brisby needs to be on that list! In this animated story, Mrs. Brisby must protect her son with pneumonia from the plow that threatens to destroy their home. She endures scary situations and vicious villains while learning amazing secrets about her dead husband. For an animated film, it’s remarkably thrilling.
Stream “The Secret of NIMH” for free on Tubi, Pluto TV, or The Roku Channel
Juno
This 2007 charmer is funny and touching and completely unique. It features multiple mom dynamics:
- 16-year-old Juno (Elliot Page) is pregnant with a baby she doesn’t want.
- Vanessa (Jennifer Garner) can’t have children, but hopes to adopt Juno’s baby.
- Bren (Allison Janney) is Juno’s stepmother.
The film won Best Original Screenplay and was nominated for 3 other Oscars. The excellent cast also features Michael Cera, Jason Bateman, and J. K. Simmons
Steel Magnolias
Any list of movie tearjerkers would be incomplete without “Steel Magnolias.” The movie centers on diabetic Shelby (Julia Roberts) and her mom M’Lynn (Sally Field). Everyone comes to gossipy hair stylist Truvy (Dolly Parton) as they prepare for Shelby’s wedding. I won’t spoil what happens, but you’ll probably end up reaching for the Kleenex.
The star-studded cast also features Shirley MacLaine, Daryl Hannah, and Olympia Dukakis.
Stream “Steel Magnolias” on Max
Terminator 2: Judgment Day
If there’s a mom on this list who could give Ellen Ripley a run for her money, it’s another James Cameron creation: Sarah Connor. Linda Hamilton hit the gym to embody a mom willing to sacrifice everything to save humanity’s last hope: her young son John. A killing machine from the future is hellbent on killing John, but an unexpected protector arrives in the form of the human-shaped robot (Arnold Schwarzenegger) that tried to kill Sarah in 1984.
This movie is a wall-to-wall thrill ride that few films have ever equaled. We’re all capable of summoning our inner Sarah Connor when our cubs are threatened.
Stream “Terminator 2: Judgment Day” with a free trial of Paramount+
Terms of Endearment
This all-time tearjerker is free to stream right now. It’s about two women (Shirley MacLaine and Debra Winger) who have each other’s backs through life’s highs and lows. MacLaine plays the mother, a widow who hasn’t dated since her husband died. Winger is the daughter who jumps into a possibly ill-advised marriage.
Love and loss enter the story, and the mother-daughter relationship culminates in one of the most memorable scenes in film history. I won’t spoil it, but this movie may make you race for the phone to call your mom.
Stream “Terms of Endearment” for free on Hoopla or Kanopy
Room
Brie Larson went all-out to win her Oscar in this movie. She plays Joy, a woman who has been abducted and locked in a shed for 7 years. Joy was forced to bear a son named Jack, and she summons all her strength to care for the boy, even though they are never allowed to leave the room.
It’s not an easy watch, but there’s no denying the strength of a mom willing to protect her child.
Stream “Room” with a free trial of Paramount+
Freaky Friday
Jamie Lee Curtis and Lindsay Lohan star as a mother and daughter in this classic body-switch comedy. As the women get a chance to walk a mile in each other’s shoes, they come to appreciate each other. It’s silly, but heartfelt. Every mom used to be a girl. Sometimes we forget what it was like.
Bonus: A sequel is going to hit theaters this year!
Stream “Freaky Friday” on Disney+
The Guilt Trip
Seth Rogen plays an inventor who invites his mom (Barbra Streisand) on a road trip so he can surprise her with a visit to an old flame. Along the way, they bicker and reconcile and get into endlessly ridiculous situations. It isn’t easy to deal with your mom when you’re an adult, and it can’t be easy when your baby is grown, making decisions that you don’t agree with. This movie balances the sweet and sour of all of it with a lovely heartwarming ending.
Stream “The Guilt Trip” with a free trial of Paramount+
Air
Some people might think Matt Damon’s Sonny Vaccaro – the man who believed enough in Michael Jordan to convince Nike to bet the farm on the new NBA draft pick. But the real heart of the film is Viola Davis as Jordan’s mom. She believes in her son and is willing to hold out for whichever shoe company will catapult him to life-changing fortune. As always, Davis is phenomenal. We should all have someone like her character in our corner.
Stream “Air” with a free trial of Prime Video
Mamma Mia!
Can I interest you in a musical starring Meryl Streep, Christine Baranski, Amanda Seyfried, Pierce Brosnan, Dominic Cooper, Colin Firth, and Stellan Skarsgård?
When Sophie (Seyfried) prepares to get married, she secretly invites the 3 men who could be her father (Brosnan, Firth, and Skarsgård). Sophie hopes to determine her true father so he can give her away at the wedding. This all comes as a shock to her mom Donna (Streep). Songs and comedy ensue, and the feel-good film became a smash hit as the fifth highest-grossing movie of 2008.
Bird Box
If you want a spookier mama movie, check out “Bird Box,” where Sandra Bullock has to shield her two kids from monsters that immediately kill anyone who opens their eyes outside. This movie is genuinely scary and Bullock does a great job pulling us in. (My kids would have ignored my instructions and the monsters would have gobbled them immediately.)
CODA
This Best Picture winner is such a heartwarming story. Emilia Jones plays Ruby, the only person in her family who isn’t deaf. Ruby helps her family’s fishing business, but dreams of leaving home to become a singer. Torn between obligation and her dream, Ruby finds herself straddling the two worlds. By the time Ruby sings Joni Mitchell’s “Both Sides, Now,” there’s not a dry eye in the house.
Stream “CODA” with a free trial of Apple TV+
Postcards from the Edge
Carrie Fisher made no secret of her rocky relationship with her mom, Debbie Reynolds. This semi-autobiographical film tells the story with Meryl Streep as the drug-addicted daughter and Shirley MacLaine as the self-absorbed mother who frequently overshadows her.
The legendary Mike Nichols directs a cast that includes Dennis Quaid, Gene Hackman, Richard Dreyfuss, Rob Reiner, and Annette Bening.
If you’d like to see a documentary about the real Carrie-Debbie relationship, I highly recommend “Bright Lights.”
Stream “Postcards from the Edge” for free on Pluto TV
Home Alone
Being a mom means enduring your kids’ crazy tantrums and loving them anyway. Everyone remembers young Kevin thwarting the thieves attempting to rob his house, but moms will focus on Catherine O’Hara as the mom willing to move heaven and earth to get home to her boy. When they finally reunite, their hug absolutely radiates off the screen. (I wonder if she’d try so hard to get home if it were Buzz she left behind…)
Stream “Home Alone” on Disney+
The Graduate
Mrs. Robinson redefined what it meant to be a movie mom. Was she truly interested in Benjamin or was she trying to keep him from her daughter Elaine? Either way, this movie is still the gold standard for coming-of-age films. If you’ve never seen it, now is the time. It’s funny and complex and it has one of the great closing shots of any film.
Stream “The Graduate” on Freevee
I, Tonya
Not every mom is a great mom. Some are positively evil. But Allison Janney won her much-deserved Oscar for portraying a monster who pushed her daughter to greatness, whether she wanted it or not.
Would Tonya Harding be happier if she had never laced up her skates? Maybe. Would she be happier with any other mother? Most definitely.
“I, Tonya” is a cautionary tale that is well-acted with a cast including Margot Robbie, Sebastian Stan, and a scene-stealing Paul Walter Hauser,
