Bad Moms (2016)

Dir: Jon Lucas and Scott Moore

STX Entertainment

Bad Moms is a comedy about Amy (Mila Kunis), mother of two, wife to (at best) a goofball fool, and part-time employee at a hipster coffee company, who eventually crumples under the pressure of having to always be the perfect wife, mother and employee after attending a PTA meeting that pushes her over the edge.

After leaving the meeting in frustration, she ends up at a bar and quickly becomes friends with Carla (Kathryn Hahn) and Kiki (Kristen Bell), two other moms whose children attend the same school as Amy’s.  Somewhat drunk, they decide that it’s time to stop trying to be perfect, time to start enjoying themselves, time to, in fact, be bad Moms.

Sure, the premise is a little thin, but a good comedy doesn’t necessarily need an intricate web of plot, it just needs good comedy. Bad Moms delivers good comedy.

One thing I’ve noticed about comedies over the years is that, almost as a rule, the first two acts are where all the funny is at, and the third act generally becomes less funny, as it’s dealing with the conflict and conclusion. This is where Bad Moms differentiates itself. It starts off slow, and not particularly funny. There isn’t a single big laugh until midway through act one when Amy, Carla and Kiki get drunk at the bar. This is the point where the laughs kick off. While they do slow down a little towards the end, the flick is consistently funny once it gets going.

The closest thing the movie has to a villain (really, an antagonist) is Gwendolyn (Christina Applegate), the head of the PTA, rich bitch, and all around bully. Much as I love Applegate, her character didn’t do much for me, as she is played almost as a moustache-twirling villain, with little humanity. Gwendolyn does get humanized towards the end, but it was too little too late. Fortunately, she doesn’t take too much time from the core 3 women that make the movie work.

Contrary to popular belief, I am, in fact, not a mother. But I do think that human truths are universal. We all know what it’s like to be under appreciated in a job or role (and I would argue that motherhood is probably one of the most thankless tasks out there). While it is a comedy first, I can see this movie giving people a little taste of empowerment. The whole “casting off the shackles” thing. In some ways, I found it reminiscent of Peter Gibbons in Office Space (1999). Getting to the end of your rope and just screaming “f*ck it!”

For a somewhat raunchy comedy, Bad Moms has a surprising amount of heart. It’s sweet when it needs to be, melodramatic when necessary, but the melodrama never becomes overbearing. I feel like this movie is what Ghostbusters 2016 could (should) have been, if it had had better writing – a female-driven comedy with a cast stacked with heavy hitters (the problem with Ghostbusters was most certainly not the cast).

MVP: unsurprisingly, Kathryn Hahn is the standout performance in Bad Moms. Her comic timing is as lethal as ever in this film. Okay, maybe she never hits quite the high of peeing in a urinal, but she really does kill it here.

Sure, the film gets a little silly at times (even though it’s a comedy), and certain moments feel out of place, but overall, it’s funny, it’s charming, and it’s a lot of fun.

7.5/10

14A, 1h, 40mins

Have you seen Bad Moms? What was your favourite gag in it? Hit up the comments below and let’s discuss!