Octavia Spencer Shines in Smarter Than Expected Ma

Ma is what happens when Tate Taylor - the guy who made The Help - sets out to slum it on a down-and-dirty horror movie but can't stop himself from turning it into a halfway thoughtful drama about the emotional baggage that causes a grown woman to finally crack. So, Ma is an exploitation film in appearance but an insightful characters study in spirit. Think of it as Carrie with a racial twist and several decades between the mean high school prank and the moment the bullied girl reacts with righteous rage.

Of course, if you've seen the trailer you ...