Mila Kunis’s Chicago matriarch seems to have it all. An amazing house, two spoiled kids and a husband who seems to make pots of cash despite appearing like a feckless loser.
She has a part time job at a coffee company, though works such long hours it may as well be full time, and in case you hadn’t noticed, is one of the most attractive soccer moms in her neighbourhood.
However, Christina Applegate’s PTA leader doesn’t take kindly when Kunis turns her back on her yawnsome meetings and draconian rules.
When Kunis’ husband is caught having an online affair, she kicks him out and starts partying with a couple of new friends (Kristen Bell, Kathryn Hahn), one a raucous, licentious good time gal, the other an uptight, under the thumb housewife.
As those around Kunis adjust to her new life, the movie addresses the wish fulfilment of millions of over worked, under appreciated mothers and those who take them for granted. All the guys in Bad Moms are split into one major camp (useless) or a minor one (hot bed mates).
For the most part the movie is a hoot, with some snappy dialogue, great turns and snappy pacing. A montage in a supermarket is hilarious. Alas Kunis all but smothering her kids with love in places becomes redundant audio noise.
It’s a little overlong and the closing titles featuring the actresses’s real mothers added little to the proceedings, but as a Hangover/Ferris Bueller-style fantasy, it ticks many boxes. The main thing is it’s funny and you won’t leave the cinema feeling short changed.
The fact it made more that $120m on a $20m budget means a sequel is a less a case of if but when. Let’s hope Jada Pinkett Smith has more to do in that inevitable offering when it debuts in a couple of years. Here she’s wasted… and not in a good way.
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