The 30 Best Movies to Watch on Mother’s Day

In this glittering adaptation of the beloved jukebox musical, Meryl Streep and Amanda Seyfried star as mother-and-daughter duo Donna and Sophie, who together run a decrepit inn on a remote Greek island. On the eve of Sophie’s wedding, she sends out an invitation to three of Donna’s past loves, hoping to track down the man she believes may be her father. Watch Now

For her feature film debut, Lindsay Lohan is superb as Hallie and Annie, twin sisters who were separated as babies after their parents divorced. Hallie was raised on a California vineyard with her dad, Nick (Dennis Quaid), while Annie grew up in a posh London townhouse with her bridal designer mother, Elizabeth (Natasha Richardson). When the twins accidentally reunite at summer camp, they hatch a plan to switch places and trick their parents into coming face-to-face for the first time in 11 years. Warning: Hallie’s emotional reunion with her mother will likely induce a tear or two. Watch Now

Everything Everywhere All at Once may present itself as an eccentric sci-fi and martial arts drama, but, at its heart, is a story about a daughter desperately seeking a genuine connection with her mother. Michelle Yeoh stars as Evelyn Wang, a Chinese-American immigrant and laundromat owner whose world is turned upside down when the multiverse bursts open. Meanwhile, Stephanie Hsu plays Joy, Evelyn’s queer and depressed daughter, whose interdimensional counterpart is responsible for splintering the universe. Watch Now

While the main maternal figure of this haunting stop-motion horror fantasy is the Other Mother—an ancient evil entity who traps unhappy children in her web of trickery and deceit—it doesn’t make Coraline any less deserving of a Mother’s Day watch. The film follows the titular character, voiced by Dakota Fanning, after she moves into an old Victorian house with her parents. In her bedroom, she discovers a secret door that leads her to a parallel universe that seems more magical and enchanting than the real world she left behind—until it isn’t. Watch Now

The events of Pride and Prejudice kick off thanks to the Bennet family’s matriarch. While Mrs. Bennet tends to be one of the more ridiculed characters in Jane Austen’s oeuvre, her anxieties over the marital status of her five daughters is understandable, considering their financial circumstances and the time period they live in. In Joe Wright’s adaptation, Brenda Blethlyn is utterly sublime as Mrs. Bennet, infusing the stereotypically silly and overbearing character with a sense of endearing hilarity. Watch Now

The relationship between a mother and her daughter is complex. The desire for affection and acceptance runs as fierce as entertaining thoughts of murdering each other. In Greta Gerwig’s Oscar-nominated, semi-autobiographical directorial debut, this balancing act is brilliantly portrayed by Saoirse Ronan and Laurie Metcalf. Watch now

Maya Rudolph stars in this Sam Mendes road-trip comedy about an expectant mother traversing North America with her husband, played by a shaggy John Krasinski, on the lookout for where to lay down roots. You’ll laugh, you’ll cry, you’ll want to call your mom when the credits roll. Watch now

Wire hangers. Defiance. Bette Davis. These are just a few of Joan Crawford’s least favorite things, according to the film adaptation of adopted daughter Christina Crawford’s 1978 same-name tell-all. Kudos to Faye Dunaway for getting those Crawford aesthetics spot on. Watch now

Full disclosure: This movie didn’t make us cry. It made us whimper unintelligible yelps in the back of the movie theater in 1998. Julia Roberts, the dreaded soon-to-be stepmom, and Susan Sarandon, the woman she’ll never live up to, star in the four-seasons Chris Columbus classic that’s. all. just. too. much. Watch now

Remember that time Joan Crawford went berserk over those wire hangers? Yeah, single mom Amelia (Essie Davis) is way scarier than that. Aussie filmmaker Jennifer Kent plays with themes of love and hate in her super-dark supernatural fairy tale that’s one part monster movie, one part Freudian thriller. Watch now

This one could easily join the ranks of the best Father’s Day movies, too, thanks to Michael Keaton’s dedication to domestic duties. But we’re using this John Hughes-written ‘80s classic to give a shout-out to those working moms, who—like Teri Garr’s character—get going when going, you know, gets tough. Watch now

A Cannes Jury Prize winner and veteran filmmaker before age 26, Xavier Dolan is a marvel. As is his fifth film, Mommy, a frenzied, heartbreaking melodrama about a mother and the enfant terrible she’s trying to tame. This one will stick with you long after you raise the lights. Watch now

Mahjong is a game of exchanging tiles. It’s also the game played when four Chinese-American mothers get together to exchange stories about their families in Wayne Wang’s film adaptation of Amy Tan’s bestseller. A sweeping drama about mothers and daughters, it’s definitely long. But so worth it. Watch now

Behind every great mom is her eldest daughter holding down the fort. That is, until 15-year-old Charlotte succumbs to her raging hormones with the boy of her dreams in the top of a bell tower on New Year’s night. At least, that’s how it is in this June Roberts-written familial drama. Watch now

You know about The Babadook, but did you catch this Austrian horror gem that turns an idyllic, secluded country home into a mother’s worst nightmare? “Mutter” returns home from surgery, but it isn’t the pain from her procedure she’s worried about; it’s whether or not her twins will be successful in killing her. Watch now

Nothing wrong with a Joan Crawford marathon. Once you’re done with Mommie Dearest, queue up this 1945 black-and-white Crawford noir, about a hardworking mother whose turbulent relationship with her spoiled social-climber daughter is really all she has. More into miniseries? Todd Haynes made a good one. Watch now

They don’t always see eye to eye but mother Aurora (Shirley MacLaine) and daughter Emma (Debra Winger) definitely connect on matters of the heart in this decades-spanning tearjerker from James L. Brooks. For those who’ve seen it, you know what you’re in for. For everyone else: tissues. Watch now

Sally, Dolly, Shirley, Olympia, Julia, Daryl—gang’s all here in Herbert Ross’s Southern-set seasonal affair that’s as comical as it is cathartic. At its core is the mother-daughter relationship between Sally Field’s M’Lynn and Julia Roberts’s Shelby, and, in the words of Clairee, it’s just “too colorful for words.” Watch now

Everything in George Tillman Jr.’s soul-stirring charmer—right down to the butter on the bread and the Sunday dinner lessons—stems from Big Mama Joe (Irma P. Hall), the matriarchal glue holding a multigenerational Chicago family together. Watch now

Nothing’ll stop Beatrix Kiddo from reuniting with her daughter, B.B. Not even the many members of the Deadly Viper Assassination Squad or the 80-plus killers in O-Ren Ishii’s personal army. And especially not the film’s eponymous antagonist, Bill, code name Snake Charmer. Now that’s a mother’s love. Watch now