“We can’t close our eyes to the plight of the working poor. Kids, see all the plight?”

The Good Mother tells the plodding story of a mother whose son becomes addicted to Fentanyl (of course). He is murdered and she must team up with his pregnant girlfriend to Scooby Doo this shit.

This is one droning, monotonous, overly long 90 minute plunge into gray and grim mediocrity. I was bored and not just because it was yet another story about addiction but because it never provided interesting characters, decent dialog, or a plot that doesn’t lumber along like a bored Frankenstein’s monster.

The mystery part of this mystery thriller is rarely interesting as we watch these two fumble through the investigation on their own. The mother (played by Hillary Swank) is allegedly a reporter.. and the highest functioning alcoholic imaginable. Both character traits are easy to forget by the end of the flick.

There is a surprising death in the middle of the flick that is handled with the gravity and importance of ordering a cheeseburger and getting a hamburger. Even the film’s most dramatic moments are a mumbling dreary go-nowhere dud.

There’s certainly better addiction and investigative journalism movies out there. Go watch one of them. Or, hell, watch a Dateline episode designed to scare you about the latest drug and then go watch something shiny and happy. Just don’t watch this one.

Score: 56