Trading Mom

Elizabeth, Jeremy, and Harry Martin are three children who have had it up to here with their nagging mother...a divorced strict workaholic who rarely spends quality time with, or even speaks to, them - except to criticize or scold them ever since their father left them. During their last day of school, things started to become a disaster. Principal Terrence Leeby busts Jeremy for defending Harry against Ricky Turner, the class bully, who gets off scott-free; he also busts Harry, who hasn't done anything wrong, and then finds Elizabeth holding - but not smoking - a friend's cigarette. He contacts their mother and schedules an appointment for a home visit for the first day of summer vacation. The children go to Mrs. Cavour, a mysterious elderly woman who works as a gardener. She tells them of an ancient spell which will make their mother disappear...along with all their memories of her, but warns them that erasing someone is very dangerous. Upon returning home, they are unfairly grounded for the entire summer vacation with no camp, allowance, TV, or anything by their infuriated mother.

That evening, the kids recite the incantation...which indeed works overnight. The next morning, Principal Leeby shows up at their house. He demands that Mrs. Martin come in for a chat regarding the trouble at school yesterday. Since the Martin kids (for obvious reasons) can't explain what has happened to their mom, they make up a story about her leaving early for an emergency. Principal Leeby becomes suspicious and decides to contact social services after knowing that the Martin kids are hiding something from him. Mrs. Cavour tells them of a place in town called the Mommy Market, where practically any breed of mother imaginable can be found. Their policy, however, is that every customer (or party of customers) receives three tokens...each of which is good for taking home one mother at a time. There is also a Daddy Market, but a customer cannot go to each one as it would be a fiasco. If said customer does not find a suitable mother before running out of tokens, that customer can never return.

The Martin kids select (in order): a wealthy-but-fussy French woman; an attentive-but-competitive nature-hiker; and a fun-but-wild Russian circus performer. Each set various standards, which none of the siblings (nor any of their friends) can possibly live up to. After their third mother leaves, Principal Leeby returns with Dr. Richardson, a social worker, who advises that all three children need to be placed in separate foster homes, much to the children's shock. The children seek out Mrs. Cavour. She explains that the spell can be broken only if they collectively recall something about their mom.

In the interim, the Martin siblings rush in and try a fourth time to find their own mother and chaos ensues. Edward, the manager, tongue-lashes the kids for breaking the Market's rules; all three are ejected permanently. Discovering that Principal Leeby has called the police to investigate their mother's disappearance and finding them to put them in separate foster homes, the siblings run away from the police and back into the Mommy Market only to find everything gone. They try to remember a fun memory that they had with their mother. They do so and happily bring Mrs. Martin breakfast in bed. She tries to remember why she grounded them yesterday, but can't. Their mother also tells them that Principal Leeby is coming over to visit. The Martin kids are now ready to dismiss everything that happened as a bizarre dream. Outside, Principal Leeby drops by to speak with Mrs. Martin about the problems her kids (supposedly) caused at school. He is snared by an animal trap which the nature-hiker mother created to capture a raccoon.

• Sissy Spacek as Mrs. Martin/Mama, the snappy French woman/Mom, the nature-hiker/Natasha, the circus performer
• Aaron Michael Metchik as Jeremy Martin
• Anna Chlumsky as Elizabeth 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

On Rotten Tomatoes it has an approval rating of 38% based on reviews from 8 critics.[2]

The movie 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."[3]

Motion picture-historian Leonard Maltin gave Trading Mom 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."[4]

• Trading Mom at IMDb
• Trading Mom at AllMovie
• Trading Mom at Box Office Mojo