Some trailers are better than the actual movie ever could be. Movie-trailer editors pick and choose the best bits from a film and string them together to lure unsuspecting viewers. That’s exactly what Bad Moms is.
The trailer had it all: three beloved actors playing funny women who turn reckless, hinting at comedies like Bridesmaids and Trainwreck . You’ll be drawn in for sure, but in the end, the film is a cringe-worthy call to appreciate mothers and for women to stand up for themselves.
The best part about Bad Moms is when the end credits start rolling, and here, I don’t mean when you get up and leave. The end credits comprise an earnest montage of the actors with their mothers, talking about past mistakes and childhood.
But here’s what goes down before those credits start rolling. Amy Mitchell (Mila Kunis) is a 32-year-old mother of two who “loves, loves, loves” her kids. She’s stretching herself to a sliver trying to balance a career and home. But her kids are demanding, and her deadbeat husband, Mike (David Walton), does nothing.
Amy’s arch nemesis is the she-devil mom Gwendolyn (Christina Applegate) with her posse of equally loathsome lackeys Stacy (Jada Pinkett Smith) and Vicky (Annie Mumolo). When she’s had enough of it, Amy decides to be a bad mom and stop trying so hard to be perfect. Following suit is Kiki (Kristen Bell) and already-bad mom Carla (Kathryn Han), who decide it’s time for a change. This displeases the she-devil clique. In a done-to-death plot, our heroine — Amy in this case — crusades against the ‘Nazi’ mothers who are forcing everyone else to be just like them.
Kunis ( Friends with Benefits ), Bell ( Forgetting Sarah Marshall ) and Hahn ( We’re The Millers ) have already established themselves as far as comedy goes, so the acting definitely wasn’t the problem. It’s all the script’s fault, thanks to writer-directors Jon Lucas and Scott Moore. The characters and their stories are exaggerated versions of reality: Amy is a mom who does everything, right from carting the kids around to taking the dog to the vet and even working overtime for a demanding boss.
Kiki is a doormat who drops everything when her husband orders her to. And there’s Carla’s sex-hungry crassness (which is, sadly, the only thing really funny about Bad Moms ) which redefines irresponsible parenthood. Ironically, Carla’s behaviour has been glossed over and glamourised to the point that she decides to be an even worse mom, if that was possible. That these three characters were written by a real adult seems unfathomable.
Bad Moms is the kind of film you roll your eyes at, resigning yourself to endure it when nothing else is on TV and there’s absolutely nothing else to do. Even then, you question why your precious hours have been wasted. With its one-track plot (for women to embrace being ‘bad’), the film is focused, but there’s nothing else really going for it.
You’re not going to want to leave the theatre with a sudden desire to be grateful for all your mother has done for you. Instead, you’ll never want to have children, perhaps forgo marriage altogether and live a life of singledom.
Oh, and resolve to watch better films.
It’s all the script’s fault, thanks to
writer-directors Jon Lucas and Scott Moore.
Bad Moms
Director: Jon Lucas and Scott Moore.
Starring: Mila Kunis, Kristen Bell, Kathryn Hahn, Annie Mumolo, Jada Pinkett Smith, Christina Applegate
Runtime: 101 mins
