Ma's reviews
Media reviews
Entertainment Weekly
Even as the story descends into full bloody camp at its crescendo, Spencer holds the more ludicrous plot threads together.
The A.V. Club
Spencer provides her character the kind of human dimension only a performer of her caliber could muster.
Time Out
When Ma breaks bad, it breaks bad hard, with some real wince-inducing moments of bodily harm.
The Guardian
Spencer works hard to keep us on her side and it?s her messy, melancholic character work that endures, a portrait of a woman broken and breaking those around her that?s really quite hard to shake. Ma is a few more drafts from perfection but the actor playing her is the real deal.
The Wrap
Attempts to be a psychological campy thriller but gets so lost in trying to construct a message that all the exaggerated thrills die before even lifting off.
Indiewire
The suspense builds creepily enough, with a classic fake-out in a strong first act. But when the movie turns into full-blown horror, which it eventually sort of does, the pacing of the violence is all out of whack.
The Playlist
Taylor?s film only really works if you turn off the rational part of your brain, which isn?t fully developed until you?re in your 20s anyway. If you can ignore the plot holes and gaps in logic, Ma is a fun, dumb time at the movies.
Variety
You can?t take Ma seriously. It?s a squalid formula picture that?s too busy connecting dots, hitting beats, engineering situations designed to make you squirm. But you will squirm.
New York Times
The movie ties itself up in knots as it tries to be provocative without giving offense, and offering more complacency and comfort than terror.
Rolling Stone
It?s a kick to see Spencer dig into the title role in Ma, a Blumhouse scarefest that tries but rarely lives up to the irresistible dynamo at its center.
The Telegraph
A midnight-movie, exploitation-savvy version of this film, with Spencer chewing up the scenery like nobody?s business, might feasibly have been a camp classic. But this is Tate Taylor?s version: too nervous to thrill, too daft to upset anyone, and constantly policing how much fun it lets Spencer have.
The Hollywood Reporter
It quickly spins its shaky premise off into an unconvincing study of emotional need and an even harder-to-believe revenge thriller.