Ma— My take on the movie with spoilers!
PLOT SUMMARY: When a group of teens befriend Sue Ann, they have no idea just how far she will go to make sure they always come visit her.
I once read somewhere that your time in High School is when you have the time of your life.
I chuckled at that.
Contrary to how high school is portrayed in movies, teenage years have got to be the most frustrating and agonizing time in anyone's life.
You go through changes, your body goes through changes. Your friends become your enemies. The guy you were friends with now has a crush on you.
On top of everything, there's the ever maximizing pressure of exams, and your parents' expectations regarding your performance in every field.
So, no. High School is when you have to grow up suddenly. Not completely, yet. That comes after college when suddenly taking exams seems like cakewalk.
Okay, now imagine if you will, that while going through all these changes in your teenage life, you also get bullied.
I think at some point, everyone has been on either side of bullying. Either you have been bullied or were the bully.
For bullying victims, things often become complicated after school because their self-confidence has reduced to rubble, their grades have gone down because of being harassed, and your sense of trust in anyone apart from you is destroyed forever.
Most importantly, the victim sometimes doesn't understand why they were bullied in the first place. What did they do wrong? Were they discriminated against because of looks? Gender? Race? Color? Not scoring top marks in class? Being poor? The bully never reveals this, which is why he has all the power. Ma is one such story that touches upon the topic of cruel bullying.
Most importantly, the victim sometimes doesn't understand why they were bullied in the first place. What did they do wrong? Were they discriminated against because of looks? Gender? Race? Color? Not scoring top marks in class? Being poor? The bully never reveals this, which is why he has all the power. Ma is one such story that touches upon the topic of cruel bullying.
MA Movie Plot
Sue Ann, the protagonist, or perhaps the antagonist, doesn't go through daily bullying. Rather she is subjected to one cruel prank that shakes her to the very core and destroys her any chance of achieving normalcy in adulthood.
Her story is told through Maggie, a sixteen-year-old who is new in town.
Actually, her mother has returned back home, but for Maggie, it is new. Everyone in town seems nice and Maggie is invited to the popular clique on the first day. Her crush Andy asks her out and her new friend Haley introduces her to drinking and smoking. Since they cannot but drinks on their own, they look for an adult to help them.
Actually, her mother has returned back home, but for Maggie, it is new. Everyone in town seems nice and Maggie is invited to the popular clique on the first day. Her crush Andy asks her out and her new friend Haley introduces her to drinking and smoking. Since they cannot but drinks on their own, they look for an adult to help them.
That is when they come across Sue Ann who is eager to help.
The friends think they have an ally when Sue Ann agrees to buy them drinks whenever they want it.
The next time, however, she insists they drink in her basement so she knows they won't drink and drive.
No one seems to find her overly zealous or suspicious except for Maggie.
Sue Ann seems to be extra sweet to Andy, but again, no one says or does anything. After all, they are getting alcohol. Her only rule: not to venture upstairs. When Maggie does check out the upstairs, she is shocked to discover a girl her age called Genie. She is Sue Ann's daughter. Sue Ann takes it up a notch when she redecorates her basement, and suddenly the friends have a party hall. The other kids at high school get wind of this and start throwing parties at her house. One of the friends lovingly calls her Ma. Sue Ann is on top of the world. She has something she didn't have when she was in high school: popularity. But popularity is addictive and the kids are from a different age group and have their own lives. They don't mean it, but they simply cannot hang out with Ma every time. Sue Ann grows desperate and almost harasses them into visiting her.
When the group doesn't budge, she tries to lure other kids and offers to buy them beer and hang out at her house. But they call her a loser and Sue Ann is devastated. She needs to have her popularity back at any cost. Of course, getting Andy to her house isn't due to a single motive. Intercut with the present scenes are flashbacks from Sue's past. Turns out, Andy's father Ben is the object of Sue Ann's affection.
Sue Ann seems to be extra sweet to Andy, but again, no one says or does anything. After all, they are getting alcohol. Her only rule: not to venture upstairs. When Maggie does check out the upstairs, she is shocked to discover a girl her age called Genie. She is Sue Ann's daughter. Sue Ann takes it up a notch when she redecorates her basement, and suddenly the friends have a party hall. The other kids at high school get wind of this and start throwing parties at her house. One of the friends lovingly calls her Ma. Sue Ann is on top of the world. She has something she didn't have when she was in high school: popularity. But popularity is addictive and the kids are from a different age group and have their own lives. They don't mean it, but they simply cannot hang out with Ma every time. Sue Ann grows desperate and almost harasses them into visiting her.
When the group doesn't budge, she tries to lure other kids and offers to buy them beer and hang out at her house. But they call her a loser and Sue Ann is devastated. She needs to have her popularity back at any cost. Of course, getting Andy to her house isn't due to a single motive. Intercut with the present scenes are flashbacks from Sue's past. Turns out, Andy's father Ben is the object of Sue Ann's affection.
She had an obvious crush on him, but he and his classmates play a terrible prank on her. They convince her that she is getting intimate with Ben in the closet, only it's some random guy.
Sue Ann is humiliated and wants revenge.
Still, if the kids had continued to hang out with her, just maybe, she would have forgone her quest for revenge.
Ben now runs a security company and is dating Sue's nemesis from high school after his wife died.
Maggie's mother is a waitress at the casino Ben visits.
Sue is the fly on the wall, keeping an eye on everyone.
MA Ending Explained with Spoilers!
When Ben comes to the vet to get his dog checked, he recognizes Sue and asks her out. Sue, fed up with her boss, kills her. Maggie's dog is too at the vet. None of these pets survives because Sue Ann is starting to lose it. When Ben meets Sue at the bar, he confronts her about his son spending time at her house. He knows this because he's been tracking the van his son drives.
When Ben comes to the vet to get his dog checked, he recognizes Sue and asks her out. Sue, fed up with her boss, kills her. Maggie's dog is too at the vet. None of these pets survives because Sue Ann is starting to lose it. When Ben meets Sue at the bar, he confronts her about his son spending time at her house. He knows this because he's been tracking the van his son drives.
Sue is humiliated but knows she needs to turn things up a notch.
She convinces Andy and his friends that she's dying and needs their support.
Maggie doesn't believe her and makes Andy promise he won't go.
He does go.
Sue Ann drugs and traps the kids. Upstairs, she slits Ben's wrists and gives him a transfusion of his dog's blood.
Maggie awakens to find a collar and cables tied around her neck.
Sue Ann knows she's been found out by the parents and now wants to kill everyone.
She paints the only dark-skinned boy, white, thinking perhaps she was a pariah because of her skin color. She sews Hale's mouth shut, irons another's stomach and stabs Andy when he tricks her into kissing her. Sue Ann clearly doesn't understand why she was bullied to the point when she has a daughter, she doesn't let her go to school, thinking she's protecting her. She also makes her believe that she's ill. Turns out that isn't actually true.
She paints the only dark-skinned boy, white, thinking perhaps she was a pariah because of her skin color. She sews Hale's mouth shut, irons another's stomach and stabs Andy when he tricks her into kissing her. Sue Ann clearly doesn't understand why she was bullied to the point when she has a daughter, she doesn't let her go to school, thinking she's protecting her. She also makes her believe that she's ill. Turns out that isn't actually true.
In the end, Genie comes to the rescue and the house is set on fire.
Sue Ann climbs the stairs to her room and lies down next to Ben's body.
Even after everything, she still does love him and wants to spend her last breaths with him.
Of course, we don't get to see her die so who knows if Ma survives or not.
The movie does a good job in portraying Sue Ann's character and her confusion as to why she was bullied and her love not returned. However, there was ample opportunity to take her creepiness up a notch and make this a racy thriller. Ma comes out as lovable and misunderstood rather than creepy.
You sympathize with her and hate the kids. And seriously, what made the parents think they could be best friends with Sue Ann now that they were adults. And the town, as small as it is shown, apparently no one seems to care if people are being murdered. There seems to be one vet in the town, and she is killed and thrown into a cage. Is no one looking for her? Ma kills a cop. Did no one at the station think of sending another cop to find out where the first one went? And why does no one know about Genie? Did Sue Ann have her secretly at home?
Why weren't people concerned about her education? Everyone seems to know Maggie the minute she comes into town, but don't know the existence of another girl in their very town? Sue Ann seems to be living in that town all her life, as well as Ben, Mercedes, and the others. How are they meeting only a couple of years later? They didn't know Sue Ann was married? Or that she ran over Mercedes? Seriously, no investigations take place? No one is nosy enough to find out what happened to people they knew in high school. I mean, Sue Ann was using Facebook. She must be on it as well as the others. A couple of misses in the story, prevent this movie from being a taut thriller.
Ma could have been like Annie from Misery, but falls short. Very short.
Scare scale: 2/5
The movie does a good job in portraying Sue Ann's character and her confusion as to why she was bullied and her love not returned. However, there was ample opportunity to take her creepiness up a notch and make this a racy thriller. Ma comes out as lovable and misunderstood rather than creepy.
You sympathize with her and hate the kids. And seriously, what made the parents think they could be best friends with Sue Ann now that they were adults. And the town, as small as it is shown, apparently no one seems to care if people are being murdered. There seems to be one vet in the town, and she is killed and thrown into a cage. Is no one looking for her? Ma kills a cop. Did no one at the station think of sending another cop to find out where the first one went? And why does no one know about Genie? Did Sue Ann have her secretly at home?
Why weren't people concerned about her education? Everyone seems to know Maggie the minute she comes into town, but don't know the existence of another girl in their very town? Sue Ann seems to be living in that town all her life, as well as Ben, Mercedes, and the others. How are they meeting only a couple of years later? They didn't know Sue Ann was married? Or that she ran over Mercedes? Seriously, no investigations take place? No one is nosy enough to find out what happened to people they knew in high school. I mean, Sue Ann was using Facebook. She must be on it as well as the others. A couple of misses in the story, prevent this movie from being a taut thriller.
Ma could have been like Annie from Misery, but falls short. Very short.
Scare scale: 2/5
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