BAD MOMS (USA 2016) ***

Review by Gilbert Seah

he story centres on a young mother, Amy Mitchell (Mila Kunis) who appears to have the perfect family. She has a good mortgage broker husband, two smart over-achieving children and a career. But she is overworked and the husband does not do much except maybe watch porn. She catches him, kicks him out and finally has had it at being a good mom. Teaming with two friends Carla (Kathyrn Hahn) and Kiki (Kristen Bell) who she gets drunk with, she decides, with them to f*** it and become BAD MOMS. Amy does not make breakfast for her kids anymore and stops going to her meaningless job meetings.

The film picks picks up when the three meet the good moms headed by the head of the PTA, Gwendolyn Jones (Christina Applegate). The war starts when Amy decide to run for the post of the head of the PTA.

If the film sound trivial, it actually is. But the script by Lucas and and Moore, treats its subject very seriously. This is the comedy duo that did the successful HANGOVER male raunchy comedies. BAD MOMS does the same for the opposite sex. So expect lots of foul language and lewd humour. The moms here get drunk, laid and stoned. For the most part, the males (husbands) in the film are all idiots (like the black school principal), clueless (Amy’s husband) or sexual objects (sexy latino Jay Hernandez s Amy’s fling). But as the script is written by two guys, some redeeming qualities are written into Amy’s husband’s character as the two do share a moment and hug, after a big quarrel.

One of the best things about BAD MOMS is actress Kathryn Hahn. She has a supporting role as Carla, one of Amy’s best friends who drinks and sleeps her way as a ultra bad mom. Hahn has the ability to do both drama and comedy exceptionally well. In the recent CAPTAIN FANTASTIC, she played the victimized mom at the dinner table. In BAD MOMS she proves she is versatile also as an antagonist, Carla. When not spurring Amy on to do bad things, her character is hounding other victims. Hahn brings the most laughs in the movie, steals very scene and still has the audience wanting for more. It would be difficult to imagine how funny the film would be without her.

The product placements (Arby’s and Bed Bath and Beyond) are a little too obvious. The supermarket sequence where the three go on a drunken shopping spree is simply priceless. Hahn is the funniest of the three. This segment alone is worth the price of the ticket. The film includes two cameos by Martha Stewart (very funny) and Wanda Sykes (not so funny).

BAD MOMS ends up a guilty pleasure for all mothers. There are quite a lot of mothers out there that make up a good target audience number. The film should do for females what The HANGOVER films did for the males. Even the males can sit through and laugh through BAD MOMS.