MOVIE OF THE WEEK (7/29/16): BAD MOMS
 |
| "I can't wait to show my dry cleaner this outfit – I'm gonna be smelling like a really bad cocktail for days!" Amy (Mila Kunis), Kiki (Kristen Bell) and Carla (Kathryn Hahn) party it up in the grocery store in a scene from co-directors/writers Jon Lucas and Scott Moore's BAD MOMS. Credit: © 2016 STX Productions, LLC. All rights reserved. |
WRITER(S): Jon Lucas and Scott Moore
DIRECTOR(S): Jon Lucas and Scott Moore
DIRECTOR(S): Jon Lucas and Scott Moore
WEB SITE: http://stxmovies.com/badmoms/
HERE'S THE STORY: Amy (Mila Kunis) is a hard-working woman. She may only work part-time for young coffee magnate in Dale (Clark Duke), but with a hypochondriac daughter (Oona Laurence), lazy son (M.J. Anthony) and even lazier husband in Mike (David Walton), Amy is overworked, underpaid ... And under-appreciated. Meanwhile, Carla (Kathryn Hahn) is embracing life after her divorce, taking care of her baseball-playing son (Cade Mansfield Cooksey) ... And sleeping with whomever wherever whenever. Then again, they could always be poor Kiki (Kristen Bell), a stay-at-home mom to four young children with a husband (Lyle Brocato) who seems to have anger management issues whenever he perceives something to be wrong.
Thus, it should come as no surprise Amy has trouble dealing with PTA President Gwendolyn (Christina Applegate) and her perfect mom squad mates Stacy (Jada Pinkett Smith) and Vikcy (Annie Mumolo). Always dressed impeccably and looming as if she and her friends are better than everyone else, Gwendolyn and her demands become a bit unbearable for Amy and her friends, who have decided they have had enough of being mistreated at work, at home and especially from the perfect mom squad. And once Gwendolyn crosses the line, Amy decides to fight back by running to become president of the PTA herself.
May the best wife/homemaker/woman on a mission win ...
HERE'S THE STORY: Amy (Mila Kunis) is a hard-working woman. She may only work part-time for young coffee magnate in Dale (Clark Duke), but with a hypochondriac daughter (Oona Laurence), lazy son (M.J. Anthony) and even lazier husband in Mike (David Walton), Amy is overworked, underpaid ... And under-appreciated. Meanwhile, Carla (Kathryn Hahn) is embracing life after her divorce, taking care of her baseball-playing son (Cade Mansfield Cooksey) ... And sleeping with whomever wherever whenever. Then again, they could always be poor Kiki (Kristen Bell), a stay-at-home mom to four young children with a husband (Lyle Brocato) who seems to have anger management issues whenever he perceives something to be wrong.
Thus, it should come as no surprise Amy has trouble dealing with PTA President Gwendolyn (Christina Applegate) and her perfect mom squad mates Stacy (Jada Pinkett Smith) and Vikcy (Annie Mumolo). Always dressed impeccably and looming as if she and her friends are better than everyone else, Gwendolyn and her demands become a bit unbearable for Amy and her friends, who have decided they have had enough of being mistreated at work, at home and especially from the perfect mom squad. And once Gwendolyn crosses the line, Amy decides to fight back by running to become president of the PTA herself.
May the best wife/homemaker/woman on a mission win ...
WHO WILL LIKE THIS FILM THE MOST? Fans of the female leads; Jay Hernandez fans; JJ Watt fans; all working/under-appreciated mothers; fans of raucous, ribald comedies; anyone who appreciated Bridesmaids
WHO WON'T (OR SHOULDN'T) LIKE THIS MOVIE? People that did not like Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates or Bridesmaids; people who can't relate to/appreciate being an overworked, under-appreciated parent
SO, IS IT GOOD, BAD OR ABSOLUTELY AWFUL? Written by Jon Lucas and Scott Moore of Hangover fame, Bad Moms does two things and does them extremely well: [1] Deliver a continuous string of both raw, outrageous funny scenes from start to finish and [2] make the audience, thanks to the strong performances of its cast members female and male, appreciate everything that goes into being a woman today.
A strong comedy trio who each bring their own skills to the dance, Kunis, Bell and Hahn are hilarious individually and as a unit, showing real chemistry to make every scene feel as real – save for one or two completely insane moments – as possible. Whereas they make be making you laugh hysterically at their actions in one moment, the next may trigger empathy and sympathy as they try to balance their lives and often failing to do so. Likewise, Bad Moms plays up its Mean Girls–for–adults nature with glee, matching smart with snark effectively. While Kunis gets to be the overworked career woman and Bell the naive, Hahn gets to rip through jokes with vicious aplomb. Applegate even gets to play her usual type, presenting Gwendolyn as a mix of her former Married with Children character with Marcy Darcy's intimidating smarts.
While most of the men – save for Jay Hernandez, who does an equally commendable job as the object of the ladies' various affections – come off as the targets of the jokes, Bad Moms never comes off as pandering to either men or women, a notable achievement in a film where over-the-top is the nature of business. Throw in a surprising (both in terms of its quality and the fact he's in the movie at all) performance by Houston Texans All-Pro J.J. Watt as a high school soccer coach and Bad Moms is a lot like the women it represents: Strong, dynamic and more than capable of delivering the big laughs their male counterparts do. Think of Bad Moms as a smarter, more sentimental – and funnier – version of Sisters and you'll start to get the idea.
The female comedy of the summer that people should be talking about as opposed to the overhyped and underwhelming one that came out just a few weeks prior, Bad Moms is a true laugh out loud comedy ... That also ends the dumb "are women funny?" debate. That's why despite its name, Bad Moms is a very, very good comedy that will have you laughing – and appreciating what it means to be a mom in today's world – from start to finish.
SO, IS IT GOOD, BAD OR ABSOLUTELY AWFUL? Written by Jon Lucas and Scott Moore of Hangover fame, Bad Moms does two things and does them extremely well: [1] Deliver a continuous string of both raw, outrageous funny scenes from start to finish and [2] make the audience, thanks to the strong performances of its cast members female and male, appreciate everything that goes into being a woman today.
A strong comedy trio who each bring their own skills to the dance, Kunis, Bell and Hahn are hilarious individually and as a unit, showing real chemistry to make every scene feel as real – save for one or two completely insane moments – as possible. Whereas they make be making you laugh hysterically at their actions in one moment, the next may trigger empathy and sympathy as they try to balance their lives and often failing to do so. Likewise, Bad Moms plays up its Mean Girls–for–adults nature with glee, matching smart with snark effectively. While Kunis gets to be the overworked career woman and Bell the naive, Hahn gets to rip through jokes with vicious aplomb. Applegate even gets to play her usual type, presenting Gwendolyn as a mix of her former Married with Children character with Marcy Darcy's intimidating smarts.
While most of the men – save for Jay Hernandez, who does an equally commendable job as the object of the ladies' various affections – come off as the targets of the jokes, Bad Moms never comes off as pandering to either men or women, a notable achievement in a film where over-the-top is the nature of business. Throw in a surprising (both in terms of its quality and the fact he's in the movie at all) performance by Houston Texans All-Pro J.J. Watt as a high school soccer coach and Bad Moms is a lot like the women it represents: Strong, dynamic and more than capable of delivering the big laughs their male counterparts do. Think of Bad Moms as a smarter, more sentimental – and funnier – version of Sisters and you'll start to get the idea.
The female comedy of the summer that people should be talking about as opposed to the overhyped and underwhelming one that came out just a few weeks prior, Bad Moms is a true laugh out loud comedy ... That also ends the dumb "are women funny?" debate. That's why despite its name, Bad Moms is a very, very good comedy that will have you laughing – and appreciating what it means to be a mom in today's world – from start to finish.
OVERALL RATING (OUT OF FOUR POSSIBLE BUCKETS OF POPCORN):
Comments
Post a Comment