The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
‘Bad Moms’ is a shoddy mess
There’s a scene halfway through “Bad Moms,” wherein a PTA meeting full of suburban moms turns into a full-on frat house-style rager. Moms in sweater sets, khakis and sensible sneakers chug liquor straight from the bottle, make out, huff whippets, crash tricycles and urinate on lawns, all in glorious slow motion, hair and spittle flying to a pulsing pop beat. It’s the best scene in the movie.
In retrospect, it’s clear that the rest of “Bad Moms” has been reverse engineered around this scene, which plays on our collective expectations about motherly behavior. To pad out the rest of the film, writer/ directors Jon Lucas and Scott Moore have plucked some pop psychology from the parenting zeitgeist, stuffed it into a high school mean girls formula, and then added plenty of f-bombs and raunchy sex talk to make it edgy.
The No. 1 bad mom in question is actually a pretty good mom. Amy (Mila Kunis) has been a working soccer mom since the age of 20, making everything perfect for her two terrible kids and no-good deadbeat husband Mike (David Walton). After a marital rift and a very bad day, Amy throws up her hands at the whole perfect mom thing.
She finds companionship in two other outsiders — Kiki (Kristen Bell), a haggard housewife to four little ones, and Carla (Kathryn Hahn), a single mom who wields her sexuality like a weapon. The trio bands together to form a Bad Mom movement of sorts.
While it’s clear Lucas and Moore have great affection for moms, they definitely aren’t moms themselves. The mothers are cartoonish caricatures, and the emotions ring hollow.
The problem with “Bad Moms” isn’t the concept, or the message about the struggle to raise good people in the world — it’s the execution. The film is a hasty, shoddy mess, with performances that are serviceable at best. It’s stitched together with a hatchet edit job, glossed over with slow-mo and Top 40 hits. “Bad Moms” makes a compelling argument for C
Mila Kunis, Kathryn Hahn and Kristen Bell. Directed by Jon Lucas and Scott Moore.
for sexual material, full frontal nudity, language throughout, and drug and alcohol content. Check listings for theaters. 1 hour, 41 minutes.
It’s a hasty mess, glossed over with slow-mo and Top 40 hits embracing imperfection and vulnerability, but we shouldn’t have to accept that kind of messiness in our movies. C+
Emma Roberts, Dave Franco and Juliette Lewis. Directed by Henry Joost and Ariel Schulman.
for thematic material involving dangerous and risky behavior, some sexual content, language, drug content, drinking and nudity, all involving teens. Check listings for theaters. 1 hour, 36 minutes.
A film that demonstrates how technology has slid into our lives