In the weekly column Extra Credit, Charles Bramesco recommends supplemental viewing for moviegoers whose interests have been piqued by a given week’s big new release.

2011’s Young Adult doesn’t get talked about all that much, but it’s probably better than you remember: Diablo Cody whipped up a layered script about the extremes of compensation that insecure women will stoop to, Charlize Theron brought a deeply flawed embodiment of this principle to life, and director Jason Reitman managed not to get in the way. The triumvirate reunites this week for another off-kilter project titled Tully, in which Theron plays an overspent mother of three desperate for a helping hand. The answer to her prayers arrives in the form of Tully, a spirited younger woman portrayed by Mackenzie Davis that accepts a position as the new help and promptly goes about turning her employer’s life upside down.

Early notices have been roundly positive, and with Mother’s Day close at hand, what better time to pay tribute to the most memorable moms of the silver screen? Once actresses hit a certain age, it seems like all they get offered are mom or wife roles, but the following films are just five of many examples proving that that doesn’t need to be a thankless position. Mothers have desires, complexities, personality defects — in other words, they’re mortal. Try to remember that last time you called your mother, and read on.

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