"In this day and age, it’s impossible to be a good mom"
Year: 2016
Running Time: 100 minutes
Entertainment Weekly described Bad Moms as "one of the funniest movies of the year" which is setting the bar pretty high. Generally, I trust the opinions of EW and in this case, they were right on the money. I laughed out loud several times, particularly at Kathryn Hahn's one-liners. The slapstick comedy and crude humour were not gratuitous and certainly did not overshadow the hilarious performances of the leading ladies. If you're feeling down, do yourself a favour - sit back and enjoy this movie.
Amy (Mila Kunis) is trying to balance her role as a mom of two super busy children and her job at a coffee company where, at 32, she is the oldest employee. She feels as though she is screwing up, despite her best efforts to stay on top of things. One night she catches her loser husband masturbating with a woman online and proceeds to throw him out, setting her on a downward spiral that compels her to make some changes in her life.
Then there is Gwendolyn (Christina Applegate), who is the president of the PTA and the queen bitch, and her minions, Stacy (Jada Pinkett Smith) and Vicky (Annie Mumolo). She arranges an emergency PTA meeting to discuss the next bake sale, for which she is recruiting a Bake Sale Police Force to monitor the goods on sale ("No BPA, no MSG, no BHA, no BHT. Plus no soy, no sesame, and, of course, no nuts or eggs or milk or butter or salt or sugar or wheat") and "prosecute" offenders. She tries to enlist Amy, who after a really bad day, quits the PTA.
Amy meets Carla (Kathryn Hahn), a mom with a foul mouth who couldn't be bothered to be involved with her son's life: "Do you know what I hate? There are so many fucking rules now...'Go to your kid’s baseball games. Tell your kids you love ’em. Don’t fuck the janitor at your kid’s school.' I mean, what the fuck is this? Russia?" They are joined by Kiki (Kristen Bell), who has no friends and four nightmarish children but who has been inspired by Amy's liberating speech at the PTA meeting. The three of them decide that it is impossible to be good moms - so they decide to be bad moms. Cut to an extremely funny "moms gone wild" montage (set to Icona Pop's I Love It) at a grocery store.
Amy's new don't-give-a-fuck attitude causes her to bring store-bought donut holes to the bake sale which sends Gwendolyn into a frenzy. She threatens to destroy Amy, hilariously telling her that "winter is coming".
In the meantime, Amy decides she needs to get laid so her new besties help her choose an outfit but Amy's wardrobe doesn't offer much, resulting in comments such as:
"Are you trying to get laid or adopted?"
"That's what a lonely person gets buried in."
"This is something that Mrs Doubtfire would wear."
"This bra will be the death of your vagina."
Amy then decides to run against Gwendolyn for PTA president and she has the full support of Kiki and Carla - "punch that chick right in the tits!". Amy hosts a meet the candidate night which turns into a crazy party with lots of cheap wine and PTA moms letting their hair down. Everyone leaves Gwendolyn's boring party, including Martha Stewart who serves gourmet jello shots at Amy's party.
However, Gwendolyn is not about to go down without a fight. Despite her attempts to sabotage Amy's campaign, Amy "gets her tits up" (again, sage advice from Carla) and takes on Gwendolyn at the PTA election with a speech that resonates with the "bad moms" on the PTA.
The film reminds women that it's okay not to be perfect, that sometimes you will screw up but that does not make you a bad mother. In addition, it is also not possible to lose yourself in the process of taking care of a family. It also had something to say about mothers who create a learned helplessness in their children by not allowing them to take responsibility for themselves. Amy's son claims he is a "slow learner" so he can't do anything for himself; she corrects him by explaining that he is not a slow learner, he is entitled: "mommy and daddy have been spoiling you and now you think the world owes you something but it doesn't". I could not agree more.
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