Bad Moms
Directed by: Jon Lucas & Scott Moore
Written by: Jon Lucas & Scott Moore
Starring: Mila Kunis, Kathryn Hahn, Kristen Bell, Christina Applegate, Jada Pinkett Smith, Annie Mumolo, Oona Laurence, Emjay Anthony, David Walton, Clark Duke, Jay Hernandez, Wendell Pierce, Lyle Brocato
Comedy - 101 min Reviewed by Charlie Juhl on 27 July 2016
Written by: Jon Lucas & Scott Moore
Starring: Mila Kunis, Kathryn Hahn, Kristen Bell, Christina Applegate, Jada Pinkett Smith, Annie Mumolo, Oona Laurence, Emjay Anthony, David Walton, Clark Duke, Jay Hernandez, Wendell Pierce, Lyle Brocato
Comedy - 101 min Reviewed by Charlie Juhl on 27 July 2016
Bad Santa. Bad Teacher. Now Bad Moms. Can’t wait for Bad Mid-Level Bureaucratic Administrators. Moms are supposed to have their shit together; they make school lunches, know the after school sports schedules, and act as their children’s personal assistants, support staff, and chefs. Therefore, filmmakers think moms will flock to see their movie if these same moms get crunk in the grocery store, nurse morning hangovers, and make out with one another at PTA meetings. Some of the dick jokes are funny but Bad Moms is just another in a long line of plots where an unexpected authority figure ceases to give a shit and party to slow motion contemporary dance beats.
Kristen Bell (The Boss) is a mom; I know that from celebrity news. Kathryn Hahn (Captain Fantastic) isn’t well known enough to crack pop culture tweets but she plays a believable, if very inebriated, mother. Mila Kunis (Jupiter Ascending), the real life mother of a toddler, is one of the furthest actresses in my mind to play a mom of two precocious pre-teens. In an opening monologue, she says she had her first kid at 20. Horseshit. The directors just want a pretty face to put on the poster; casting Kunis as the main bad mom is about as credible as that time Denise Richards played a nuclear scientist in a James Bond film.
Kristen Bell (The Boss) is a mom; I know that from celebrity news. Kathryn Hahn (Captain Fantastic) isn’t well known enough to crack pop culture tweets but she plays a believable, if very inebriated, mother. Mila Kunis (Jupiter Ascending), the real life mother of a toddler, is one of the furthest actresses in my mind to play a mom of two precocious pre-teens. In an opening monologue, she says she had her first kid at 20. Horseshit. The directors just want a pretty face to put on the poster; casting Kunis as the main bad mom is about as credible as that time Denise Richards played a nuclear scientist in a James Bond film.
From the gentlemen who wrote the first and and only good Hangover film and directed the 2013 party film 21 & Over, Jon Lucas and Scott Moore correctly identify the theme that today’s moms are more harried than their mothers. Competing with their peers, moms are expected to provide healthy, organic school lunches whereas I had lunch money for whatever pizza and french fries the school cafeteria had to offer. Mila Kunis’s Amy not only works full time at her part time job, but is responsible for groceries, lunches, sports practice, the dog, and attending frequent emergency PTA meetings.
Amy also showcases dismayingly inept time management skills. You know what time your kids have to get to school; why fuss with everything ensuring you will spill your scalding coffee all over you? Amy lives to rush and cringes every time the stay at home housewives stare and judge her for her hectic lifestyle. Amy’s husband (David Walton) is no help, he is more adolescent frat boy in a man’s body and is promptly thrown out of the house when caught red-handed masturbating with an online paramour. Amy is just one emergency PTA meeting away from total nuclear meltdown.
Amy also showcases dismayingly inept time management skills. You know what time your kids have to get to school; why fuss with everything ensuring you will spill your scalding coffee all over you? Amy lives to rush and cringes every time the stay at home housewives stare and judge her for her hectic lifestyle. Amy’s husband (David Walton) is no help, he is more adolescent frat boy in a man’s body and is promptly thrown out of the house when caught red-handed masturbating with an online paramour. Amy is just one emergency PTA meeting away from total nuclear meltdown.
The domineering PTA president, Gwendolyn (Christina Applegate, Vacation), has no empathy for a stressed mother. She lives to provide 47-point plans on the benefits of year-round school, intimidates the principal and coaches, and has one funny moment when she describes everything that cannot go into this year’s bake sale including nuts, MSG, salt, sugar, and 19 other ingredients. Amy lapses into sudden Office Space shock mode and to the astonishment of all the other moms, publicly rebukes Gwendolyn and quits über-momming.
There is no more gourmet breakfast, no more kale salad lunches, no participation in group activities, and a lot more alcohol. Kristen Bell and Kathryn Hahn latch on as supporting moms and the trio attack what they see as the unfair roles society has shoved them into and defend their don’t give a shit attitudes. Gwendolyn lays on the subterfuge at the growing threat to her PTA supremacy and to nobody’s surprise, we enter an election standoff for the future direction of the PTA. Will Gwendolyn win with her money, competence, and incumbency or will Amy win with her ‘Let’s dial it back’ mantra? You already know who wins.
There is no more gourmet breakfast, no more kale salad lunches, no participation in group activities, and a lot more alcohol. Kristen Bell and Kathryn Hahn latch on as supporting moms and the trio attack what they see as the unfair roles society has shoved them into and defend their don’t give a shit attitudes. Gwendolyn lays on the subterfuge at the growing threat to her PTA supremacy and to nobody’s surprise, we enter an election standoff for the future direction of the PTA. Will Gwendolyn win with her money, competence, and incumbency or will Amy win with her ‘Let’s dial it back’ mantra? You already know who wins.
What the execs think will really drive Bad Moms home though is the R-rated debauchery. There are way more dick jokes than an Adam Sandler film, Kathryn Hahn demonstrates how to handle an uncircumcised penis using the hoodie Kristen Bell is wearing, and the ladies celebrate the awesomeness that is cheap, shitty white wine. Bad Moms is truly funny when the moms mock their own children but stops dead in its tracks when Amy flirts and teases Jesse (Jay Hernandez), the hot widower dad. Office workers the world over pretended to identify with Office Space and teachers did the same thing with Bad Teacher. Moms will celebrate seeing their Hollywood representatives on screen living out a dark fantasy, but the mundane plot and stale humor places it above the dreadful Bad Teacher but tiers below the iconic Bad Santa.
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