Bad Moms (2016)

dir. Jon Lucas, Scott Moore

Bad Moms fancies itself a feminist film. It centres on a trio of mothers: while Mila Kunis gets to play the reasonably generic protagonist, Kristen Bell and Kathryn Hahn get the delight of playing her stereotypical sidekicks – Bell is the childish prude, and Hahn the sexually rebellious single mum. The movie lets them be “bad”, which primarily consists of them taking shots, yelling, dancing, and buying doughnuts instead of baking them. Oof, so bad. The movie takes every possible opportunity to announce that, hey, mothers should get to relax too sometimes. And that’s true. Unfortunately the movie seems to confuse relaxation with downright irresponsibility and neglect. It’s a wonder that actors of such a high calibre were attracted to such a stupid movie – a question that becomes even more bewildering in A Bad Moms Christmas.