Trading Mom

Trading Mom (also known as The Mommy Market) is a 1994 American fantasy comedy film written and directed by Tia Brelis, based on her mother Nancy Brelis' 1966 book The Mummy Market. It stars Sissy Spacek, Anna Chlumsky, Aaron Michael Metchik, Maureen Stapleton, and André the Giant in his final film appearance. It grossed $319,123 at the box office and received mostly negative reviews from critics.

Plot
Jeremy, Elizabeth, and Harry Martin are three children who have had it with their nagging mother...a divorced strict workaholic who rarely spends quality time with them. During their last day of school, Principal Leeby busts Jeremy for defending Harry against the school bully, and Elizabeth for holding a friend's cigarette. He contacts Mrs. Martin and schedules an appointment for a home visit. They go to Mrs. Cavour, a mysterious elderly woman who works as a gardener. She tells them of an ancient spell that will make their mother disappear, along with all their memories of her. Upon returning home, they are grounded for the entire summer vacation. That evening, the children recite the spell which works overnight. The next morning, Principal Leeby shows up at their house but is dismissed. Mrs. Cavour tells them of a place in town called the Mommy Market, where any mother imaginable can be found. However, every customer receives three tokens and if a customer does not find a suitable mother before running out of tokens, they can never return.

Jeremy, Elizabeth, and Harry select a wealthy French woman; a competitive nature hiker; and a Russian circus performer. They dislike them all and after the third mother leaves, they seek out Mrs. Cavour. She explains that the spell can be broken if they collectively recall something about Mrs. Martin. After being banned from the Mommy Market, they remember a fun memory with their mother and bring her back. They find it to be the first day of summer and the day after they recited the spell. Everyone is happy as the children make their mother breakfast and she, in turn, reduces the grounding to only one week.

The film ends with Principal Leeby being snared by an animal trap that the nature-hiker mother made to capture a raccoon.

Production
Trading Mom was filmed in Richmond, Virginia in 1992.

Cast

 * Sissy Spacek as Mrs. Martin/Mama, the snappy French woman/Mom, the nature-hiker/Natasha, the circus performer
 * Anna Chlumsky as Elizabeth Martin
 * Aaron Michael Metchik as Jeremy Martin
 * Asher Metchik (Aaron's real-life brother) as Harry Martin
 * Maureen Stapleton as Mrs. Cavour
 * André the Giant as the Circus Strongman
 * Merritt Yohnka as Principal Terrance Leeby
 * Sean MacLaughlin as Edward, the Mommy Market's manager
 * Schuyler Fisk (Sissy's real-life daughter) as Suzy
 * Anne Shannon Baxter as Lily
 * Andrew Largen as Ricky Turner, the school bully
 * Nancy Chlumsky (Anna's real-life mother) as Dr. Gloria Richardson, the social worker
 * Ariana Metchik (Aaron and Asher's real-life sister) as the Girl Scout
 * Igor De Laurentiis (producer Rafaella's real-life nephew) as the boy in the black jacket

Reception
On Rotten Tomatoes the film has an approval rating of 38% based on reviews from 8 critics.

The film was mentioned in Siskel and Ebert's Worst of 1994 episode. Siskel personally chose it; both he and Ebert gave the picture two thumbs down, describing it as "Depressing...too dreary and lame to be any fun...All of Spacek's multiple roles are disturbing and awkward; as a result, so is the film."

Motion picture-historian Leonard Maltin gave the film one-and-a-half (out of a possible four) stars. "This should have been a whimsical fantasy/morality lesson; instead, it's flat and lifeless, with poor production values. Although Spacek has a field day in four wildly different variations on a single role, the humiliation scenes will make you wince. There's always something wrong with a film that sits unreleased for two years, as this one did."

Home Video Release
Vidmark Entertainment released the film on VHS on October 18, 1994. As of May 2024, the film has not received a DVD or Blu-ray release.