Bad Moms Review

Bad Moms is a whip smart comedy that’s sentimental enough to give weight to its characters and features incredible performances from all of its leads. It’s the kind of film that not only knows its audience but is broad enough in its humour that you don’t need to be dead center of it its demographic to have a laugh. Kathryn Hahn is the breakout star of the film and Mila Kunis shows that she has enough screen presence to carry a blockbuster.

Mila Kunis plays Amy Mitchell, an overworked and undervalued mom just trying to get everyone where they need to be before she can even think about maybe taking care of herself. She is looked down upon by other moms at school, particularly the head of the PTA Gwendolyn (Christina Applegate), because she works. When the other shoe drops, Amy decides to quit the PTA and in the process she befriends uptight mom Kiki (Kristen Bell) and boisterous single mom (Kathryn Hahn). The trio cause havoc after deciding the stop with the pretenses of motherhood and to practice some self-care, which consequently, includes joy rides, asking the kids to do things for themselves and lots of wine – the ultimate mom party.   Bad Moms really hits the nail on the head in terms of its humour and it will certainly resonate with a lot of people. It perfectly pokes fun at Pinterest culture while simultaneously embracing the unabashed love of the up and downs of motherhood.

While Kunis is captivating on screen, Hahn is a comic force to be reckoned with. Her outlandish mannerism s along with her excellent sense of comedic timing are at the centre of much of Bad Moms. Many lines are laugh-out-loud funny, but it is Hanh’s delivery that’s a refreshing addition to the world of comedy. Her laissez faire approach to motherhood acts as a perfect counterpoint to Gwendolyn’s unsparing attitude. Gwendolyn is a pertinent caricature of what “good moms” should be in contemporary culture, and her over the top expectations of motherhood in the modern age hits all the right notes.

The pacing made the film world easy to live in as an audience member, and though it did tend toward pushing the montage count to MTV in its prime levels, some of the montages were genuinely hilarious. Bad Moms made use of some of the most humourous use of slow motios I have seen since Dave Chappelle’s club skit and though there are points where they are a little too outlandish, for the most part they were remarkably enjoyable.

Another thing that Bad Moms gets right is the social context in which its situated. What makes a comedy strong is that reveals a social truth about our society and mines it. The jokes are relatable even if you are not a mother, and the sense of heart to it creates relatively three dimensional characters ,which only works to make the jokes funnier. While there isn’t anything completely groundbreaking about Bad Moms, it is tightly knit and expertly executed.

Bad Moms is a comedy in the same realm as Bridesmaids and will hopefully receive close to as much praise. The film rarely falters, and when it does, it is quickly taken back on track with a well-timed one-liner or an extremely apt observation. Go see Bad Moms, you won’t regret it and make sure to stay into the credits are over.



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