Wednesday 31 August 2016

'Bad Moms' Review


From the writers of 'The Hangover' comes 'Bad Moms' with a stacked cast featuring some of Hollywood's best comedy actresses like Christina Applegate and Kathryn Hahn as well as being led by the wonderful Mila Kunis. It looked as if the magic from the first 'Hangover' would be channeled with a female twist to create comedy gold. Unfortunately, 'Bad Moms' is very much so a missed opportunity.


Amy (Mila Kunis) is overworked due to her career and making sure everything is fine for her kids. Her husband is no help at all and it is becoming too much for Amy as a PTA meeting for a bake sale finally sends her over the line and she cracks. Two other moms, Kiki (Kristen Bell) and Carla (Kathryn Hahn) join Amy as the ditch their duties and do whatever they please. Their reckless antics lead them to clash with the PTA and its president Gwendolyn (Christina Applegate) and her followings of perfect moms.

'Bad Moms' most definitely had the potential to be a great female comedy. Recently, female led comedies such as 'Bridesmaids', 'Pitch Perfect' and dare I say it, 'Ghostbusters' have been movies that I have really enjoyed. Quite a succesful trend in my book and when you take into consideration the talent involved, you have to say this had potential. Unfortunately, the comedy is not great at all. There are a few moments sure that will get a genuine laugh but it really is only a few. The jokes aren't great and really fall flat a lot of the time. 

Kathryn Hahn is one of my favourite comedy actresses having impressed me in the likes of 'We're The Millers' and her appearances in 'Parks and Recreation'. I can't add 'Bad Moms' to the list as I really did not like her in this movie. Her character's comedy just consisted of her being as loud as possible whilst saying any random thing that comes to her head. For me, this didn't work and got old really fast which hurt my viewing as she was hard to bear whilst on screen.

Other than Amy, there aren't really any likeable characters in this movie. They are all horrible people to begin with and if not they soon progress to be which doesn't help. The PTA committee which includes Christina Applegate and Jada Pinkett Smith's characters are a huge pain in the ass but they are meant to be so doing this to their characters makes perfect sense. However, when the three leads become reckless, they aren't really that fun and are just irresponsible. They are letting loose but putting their children at risk by just leaving them to fulfill their needs. I probably wouldn't mind as much if the comedy was actually good but I can't say that it was. 

The film will also plead for you to suspend your disbelief throughout the whole movie. Everything seems so way out of hand from Amy's work to the PTA to her relationship with her husband. For one, nobody is buying that Amy and her husband ever had something as they are terrible together and you don't see why she would be with him at all. Amy's schedule is also ridiculous to the point where it is far from believable. You get this feeling throughout the movie that everything that is happening in their lives is unrealistic but is needed for the story to work.

By the end of the film, the moms accept that they can't be perfect moms in one of the films better parts. It makes it clear that they should strive to try their best regardless and look to fix overhanging problems. The only problem with the ending is despite them accepting that not everything will be prefect, everything falls into place and is perfect. Amy's kids can suddenly do anything and her son especially has transformed from the start. Her job just conveniently works out for her as well so her life has turned out perfectly. This feels as if it is going against its message that it had spent time setting up and actually told fairly well. 

Overall, 'Bad Moms' seems to follow a trend and a huge problem with recent comedies, it's just not that funny. For a comedy, of course this means that it has failed at its main aim. Horrible characters really hurt this film. The cast does seem to try but it just doesn't work out which is a real shame for this disappointing movie.

Final Verdict = 

So have you seen 'Bad Moms'? If so what did you think of it? I hope that this review was useful for if you were planning on seeing the movie. I hope that you enjoy this movie more than I did if you do choose to see it. Once again, thank you for taking the time to read my review, it is much appreciated!

By Angus McGregor

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