Bad Moms

An R-rated comedy no doubt aimed at fans of “Bridesmaids” et al, this should actually appeal to any parents who can relate to the struggle of trying to live up to today’s impossible expectations of parenting perfection.

Premise:  Struggling to balance looking after her two children, her man-child husband, and her clueless boss, Amy (Mila Kunis) finally snaps and says “no” to the demands of Gwendolyn (Christina Applegate), the tyrannical President of the PTA.  Amy’s soon joined by harassed stay-at-home mum-of-four Kiki (Kristen Bell) and rebellious single-mum Carla (Kathryn Hahn), as they decide to reject the unrealistic expectations of Gwendolyn and her gang of “perfect mums” (Jada Pinkett Smith and Annie Mumolo).

Verdict:

This film has an awful lot going for it, teaming up Mila Kunis and Kristen Bell (who were great together in “Forgetting Sarah Marshall”) with Kathryn Hahn (whose guest appearances on “Parks and Recreation” always threatened to steal the show), and pitting them against Christina Applegate (a comedy veteran of such classics as the “Anchorman” films), in a film written and directed by the writers of “The Hangover”.  Add to the mix some great comedy moments from the supporting cast (including Annie Mumolo’s hilariously clueless hanger-on, Clark Duke’s oblivious-to-reality boss, and David Walton’s self-absorbed husband) and some entertaining cameos (such as comedienne Wanda Sykes as a marriage counsellor, and NFL star J.J. Watt as the school soccer coach), and you have a recipe for comedy gold.

And while some comedies fail to live up to their potential, this film is certainly more than simply the sum of its parts.  Bad Moms hits a wide range of comedy notes, and hits them well and often – from sweary R-rated moments, to old school physical comedy, to great one-liners and improv – it’s all there.

“…the cast add some real heart to the characters’ predicaments…”

But to be a great comedy, a film can’t just a collection of disjointed sketches and comedy moments, and Bad Moms manages to avoid that trap.  Whilst on some level, the characters are all archetypes for different “types” of parents (or clichés, if you’re feeling less generous), the cast bring them to life and add some real heart to the characters’ predicaments.  Mila Kunis in particular manages to keep the audience’s sympathies to ensure that Amy never comes across as selfish, and despite the title of the film, there’s never any real suggestion that she has anything other than her children’s best interests at heart.  Kathryn Hahn does an equally impressive job of conveying some real emotional vulnerability in Carla, to show that her abrasive, confident and coarse exterior is actually a defence mechanism.  Even Christina Applegate’s “pantomime villain” of a perfect mum is given a couple of moments to show other sides to her character.

As well as being laugh-out-loud funny (and it certainly is that), Bad Moms also has a lot to say about the unrealistic demands which today’s society piles on to parents, as well as the trickle-down effects that those strains then have on the children.  Whilst this is still, first and foremost, a comedy, it does explore the pressures parents are under to strive for perfection, and how this can create children who are (at one end of the spectrum) lazy, spoilt and entitled, and (at the other end of the spectrum) anxious and permanently-stressed overachievers.

“…a hilarious, raucous and – at times – silly comedy…”

Judgmental, seemingly “perfect”, parents are clearly cast as the villains of the film (and what working parent has never heard a passive-aggressive remark along the lines of those delivered by Christina Applegate’s Gwendolyn?).  But as well as mining those characters for plenty of comedy material, Bad Moms also asks whether the “perfect mums” are actually coping any better than the “bad moms”.

Ultimately, the social commentary just adds a bit of bite to what is still a hilarious, raucous and – at times – silly comedy, but the film is never weighed down by trying to deal with “issues”.  That said, when you think about some of the all-time greatest comedies, chances are your favourites aren’t only funny, they also have heart – and Bad Moms certainly does too.