We’ve compiled the perfect list of movies to share with Mom. You’ll laugh together and cry together but most of all you will love the shared memories. This year, if you are watching one of these classic films on two different screens at the same time, at least you’ll get to eat all of your own Raisinets.
(Tips below on how to stream with Mom when you’re at a distance)
Our Virtual Holiday’s personal Mom Movie favorites are:
Steel Magnolias: I mean, come on. This has to be on everyone’s Mother’s Day list, right?
Freaky Friday: At OVH, we can’t decide whether the 2003 Jamie Lee Curtis/Lindsay Lohan version or 1976’s Barbara Harris/Jodie Foster version is better. But we do agree that they’re both fantastic, so watch them both!
Mamma Mia: So much fun, who doesn’t want to watch Meryl Streep dance and a former James Bond sing?!
Mother: The fun 1996 film with Albert Brooks/Debbie Reynolds. We can’t say one way or the other about Jennifer Lawrence’s “Mother” from 2017, but a 6.6 IMDB rating kept us from watching it ourselves and actually providing a professional opinion. Hey, we’re not movie reviewers here, we just know what we like. So stick to Albert and Debbie. We know they won’t disappoint.
Terms of Endearment: Personally, I am only emotionally strong enough to handle the feeling this movie unearths about once a decade. But it is so worth it.
Mother’s Day: If you can’t have fun watching Julia Roberts, Jennifer Anniston, Kate Hudson and Jason Sudeikis in a rom-com directed by Gary Marshall, then you might want to just stick to Terms of Endearment where it gets serious. Sure, this one ranks lower than Jennifer Lawrence’s Mother on IMDB, but we pick and choose what ratings to pay attention to around here.
Stepmom: Julia Roberts and the queen, Susan Sarandon. Nothing else needs to be said.
Lady Bird: If you have a teenage daughter (or are a teenage daughter)…this is a must-see!
The Blind Side: We love our moms, but this movie makes us want to be adopted by Sandra Bullock! Plus, who doesn’t love listening to that accent for 2 hours?
Brave: My personal favorite of the bunch. From Our Favorite Holiday’s perspective, Merida is the quintessential Disney Princess we should all model. If you’re the mom…make sure your daughter watches this one!
Bad Moms: I’d personally watch Kathryn Hahn read the phone book, but sprinkle in a little Kristen Bell, Mila Kunis and Christina Applegate and you’ve got the perfect movie to watch with all of your mom friends!
Room: The OVH collective agrees that this is a tear-jerker that’s well worth it.
Juno: The movie that catapulted Ellen Page into our lives and so perfectly captures the angst of being teen!
Otherhood: This one may have slipped under your radar. All we have to say to get you amped up for this Netflix original is: Angela Basset, Patricia Arquette and Felicity Huffman pop in on their sons when they don’t call them on Mother’s Day. ‘Nuff said.
How to stream with Mom when you’re at a distance:
Several (FREE) services allow you to stream movies from any computer to another so that you can set up your own private watch parties with your mom and share these laughs (and tears!) together! We’ve evaluated and compiled the top three based on ease of use and options:
- Twoseven: Twoseven was created by a couple in a long-distance relationship who wanted a better way to watch movies together. It is free to join and sync with YouTube, Netflix, HBO, Amazon, Vimeo or personal downloads. Each person watching needs to be able to sign in to the streaming service….either with your own individual accounts or a shared account. For instance, with Netflix you can have several users, if you share an account, you can both log in to the same account and stream together. Text and video functions are build in so you don’t have to be on the phone to interact with your mom while you watch. Additional streaming services like Hulu and Disney+ are available for a small fee ($3/month for a limited time). Con: The platform is only available using Firefox or Chrome web browsers and there are some Chrome extensions you may need to install. But, overall, this platform is extremely straight forward, easy to use and the team behind twoseven are extremely responsive.
- Kast: Kast is a great service that essentially allows you to share your screen and can be used from your desktop or mobile device with their app. You can invite up to 100 people to join your party and you even have the option of making your party public so anyone can join. Video and chat functions are built in so that you can interact as you watch and you can share ANYTHING that you can play on your device….any streaming service, games, videos or just chit chat together. Ads are part of the free service, but you can upgrade to a paid account without ads and a higher video quality for only $4.99/month.
- Zoom: Perhaps the hottest video call/meeting/chat app going right now and one of the best is the ability to screen share. You can gather all of your family members and friends (well, up to 100), pick a movie or TV show to play, share your screen and you’re all at the movies together! Because it is screen sharing, you can play video from any source: Netflix, Hulu, YouTube, a file downloaded to your computer….as long as you can play it on your computer, you can share it! You can also leave the webcams visible so that you and your party can still interact. Zoom is available via any web browser or download the app. Cons: The only downside with Zoom is that the Free plan limits “meetings” to 40 minutes. If you don’t want to upgrade to the $14.99/month plan, you’ll have to pause, start another meeting and regroup and then restart the movie.
