Review of Bad Moms (2016) by Matt C — 12 Aug 2016

It had been one of those days that wasn't busy, per se, but I still felt heightened for no good reason. After trying to get to the movies--a journey which included a bus not showing up, walking to another bus stop, that bus not running, another one being canceled due to construction, and other buses being late, and more--I just wanted to laugh and have some sort of escapism for a bit.

I got that to an extent, but not enough to label Bad Moms as a good movie. It has a couple laughs from time to time, but it still feels safe and distractingly generic, especially considering how progressive it could have felt.

The movie concerns Amy Mitchell (Mila Kunis), an overworked mother who, after reaching her breaking point of doing everything herself and enduring the wrath of frigid PTA moms, decides to ignore their obligations and responsibilities for a while.

She enjoys her time with two other women in the same predicament (Kathryn Hahn and Kristen Bell), and the three begin to liberate themselves and go against the system. It isn't an earth-shattering concept, but it's a fun one, and maybe even a necessary one at that.

The cast is game, but it's what they're saying that's closer to transgressive than what they're doing. Nonetheless, their presence helps give the film a sense of momentum that it probably wouldn't have had otherwise.

Kunis remains a delight, and her kids, played by Oona Laurence (Lamb) and Emjay Anthony (Chef) play off of her well, thankfully avoiding the cutesy child act throughout. The best part overall would have to be Christina Applegate as the Regina George-esque president of the PTA, partially because of her delivery and a little more so because she gets the best lines, notably more than the rest of the cast.

Bad Moms is entertaining, but not thoroughly, and it isn't as fun as it wants to be. This is largely the fault of writer/directors Jon Lucas and Scott Moore, as their work is largely down the middle of the road the entire time.

The writing is better than the directing, with effective gags about the obligations of being a parent, the competition between mothers, and the restrictions enforced by PTA parents, but a notable amount of the characters are underdeveloped.

Bell and Hahn do okay work with what they're given, but they aren't given much that goes past a type to play, especially in Bell's case. The PTA moms other than Applegate's character (Jada Pinkett Smith and Annie Mumolo) are expendable and mostly play like they exist to act as foils to the protagonists.

The directing is very average without any horrible mistakes, but with a lot of easy shortcuts to make an accessible movie. Instead of truly creating hyped-up party scenes, the directors just use slow-motion and hit songs from the past year or so.

Almost every scene looks the same with very bland lighting, and the music cues and song choices are so obvious that they're distracting. All the while, it feels like a rather tame R-rating, and while about half of the jokes land, the other half feel forced or stitched together through subpar editing.

Bad Moms is far from bad, but it isn't really worth of a recommendation either. Kunis and Applegate are fun although the latter proves that when an actor here works, it's mostly because they happen to get better lines.

While it's refreshing to see a concept like this and it's fun to see women have the same liberation as men, the execution isn't impressive. It's okay for some entertainment value, but after it's over, it'll be really easy to forget about.

6/10, okay, one thumb down, average, etc.