Saturday Star

This one will give you a hangover

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the maternal establishm­ent, forge a pact to be “bad moms.” Embracing her new identity, Amy stops making the kids breakfast and helping them with their homework.

She meets up for boozy brunches with Kiki and Carla and resumes once-cherished routines like reading the newspaper with her morning coffee. And she pursues hunky widower Jessie (Jay Hernandez), who ends up lavishing her with the kind of sexual attention she forgot was possible.

Kiki and Carla’s efforts to help Amy land Jessie yield some of the movie’s biggest laughs. Hahn is the kind of gifted comedienne capable of making you crack up at a stupid line without feeling embarrasse­d about it (“That’s something Mrs Doubtfire would wear,” she groans when Amy picks out a questionab­le outfit for a night of bar hopping), and she and Bell get to perform the movie’s piece de resistance: an extended gag that finds Carla using Kiki’s head to demonstrat­e how to handle an uncircumci­sed penis. Don’t ask, but it’s the movie’s sweet spot.

The women aren’t just acting out for our amusement; they act out for their own sanity. But Bad Moms hardly breaks the mould.

Despite the genuine streak of wildness Hahn lends the film, the story sticks close to dullish Amy, never taking any detours into the daily lives of her more compelling sidekicks. – The Hollywood Reporter

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