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'Mother': Mamma Mia

Albert Brooks untangles the Oedipal apron strings in "Mother," the filmmaker's amusing if blabby exploration of domestic dynamics. Brooks, the director, co-writer and star, hogs center stage as a whiny middle-aged novelist, but Debbie Reynolds repeatedly puts him in his place as his scattered, disapproving mom.

Reynolds is as vivacious as ever at 64, but as Beatrice Henderson she's also withholding, secretive and sweetly manipulative when it comes to her eldest son, John (Brooks). Reynolds, who ended a 25-year hiatus from film to play the role, seems certain to secure a Best Actress Oscar nomination for this understated, hilarious performance.

Brooks, as a sulky science-fiction writer, spends far too much time psychobabbling, but he makes a fine foil for Reynolds's deft maternal jibes. Though she loves John -- whom she introduces as "the other one" -- she's far closer to her younger son, Jeff (Rob Morrow), a happily married, happily manic sports agent.

John, twice divorced and suffering writer's block, knows his mother always liked Jeff best, and he's certain that she is to blame for his misfortunes. Furthermore, he believes that he is doomed to fail again and again unless he can retool his relationship with his mother.

And this entails moving back in with Mom.

"Now tell me again why you're not staying in a hotel?" asks Beatrice, who clearly resents the intrusion but won't come straight out and say so. In hopes of forcing a therapeutic confrontation, John asks her to say what she means, but she is far too slippery for this overgrown pup.

So John reclaims his boyhood bedroom, redecorates it just as it was when he was a teenager and rather quickly realizes why he keeps marrying women who don't believe in him. His mother disapproves of his books, his vegetarianism, the way he spends his money. "Maybe when you stopped eating meat, your writing got a little thinner," suggests Beatrice, teeth bared behind that benign smile.

After a time, John and Beatrice begin to see each other as individuals, but their progress is offset when Jeff, a mama's boy, becomes threatened by their evolving relationship. Jeff's jealousy isn't so much a plot complication as a diversion from the neurotic palaver.

Soon Brooks is back as king of the shrill, pontificating on the true nature of Oedipal angst. His major contribution to the success of the picture was casting Debbie Reynolds.

Though "Mother" has already collected two prizes for its screenplay, it's really rather thin. If it weren't so slow and repetitious, there'd only be enough whining and grousing for a "Seinfeld" episode.

Mother is rated PG-13 for mature situations.