Babysitters of the world, rejoice: This summer finally has an ideal Mommy’s Night Out movie, a hard-R farce aimed at a demographic that just wants to park the kids in a safe place, knock back some Chardonnay and enjoy some deep belly laughs about the pleasures and pitfalls of motherhood.
Dads, the childless and pretty much everyone else can find “Bad Moms” funny as well — I thought “Central Intelligence” was the only summer comedy that would sneak up on us, but here’s a second welcome surprise.
Written by “Hangover” veterans Jon Lucas and Scott Moore (who also direct), “Bad Moms” starts a bit slow, with travails-of-parenthood gags that feel recycled from old “Hi & Lois” comic strips and the collected works of housewife-humorist Erma Bombeck. (The dog’s got vertigo!) The plot kicks into high gear — and into mature-audiences-only levels of bawdy brazenness rarely seen in Hollywood movies centered on women’s lives — when Amy (Mila Kunis) hits that legendary last nerve about which mothers everywhere have always warned us.
She has kicked out her husband Mike (David Walton, TV’s “About a Boy”) for his longtime Internet affair, she’s overworked and underappreciated by millennial boss Dale (Clark Duke), while her kids Jane (Oona Laurence, “Pete’s Dragon”) and Dylan (Emjay Anthony, “Chef”) are, respectively, overstressed and understimulated by a school that’s currently under the iron fist (and coiffed perfection) of PTA president Gwendolyn (Christina Applegate). When Amy walks out on one of Gwendolyn’s three-hour meetings, she decides to chuck her concerns to the winds and to embrace becoming a bad mom, tying one on with sex-crazed single mother Carla (Kathryn Hahn) and overburdened stay-at-homer Kiki (Kristen Bell).
(This drunken night leads to the three of them wreaking havoc on a supermarket, in perhaps the cinema’s greatest grocery store sequence since the original “Stepford Wives.”)
“Bad Moms” soars highest when it embraces these women and their decision to slough off the shackles of society’s expectations; when they learn to just say no to demands from spouses and children and the PTA to get some hard-earned time to themselves, it’s liberating for them, without the comedy-killing earnestness that often drowns such moments. Lucas and Moore create entertaining characters that have been given additional depth by this talented ensemble (which also includes Jada Pinkett Smith and Annie Mumolo), many of whom are no doubt relishing a rare opportunity to be front and center rather than relegated to the sideline The Wife character in a more traditional male-centered narrative.
You can feel this movie’s gears getting occasionally ground down by its devotion to familiar plot structure (can Amy unseat the treacherous Gwendolyn as PTA prez?), and you’ll see many moments coming, from Amy’s tearful scene of self-doubt to the inevitable “We’re all bad moms!” speech. Thankfully, there are enough big, sustained laughs to be found throughout, whether it’s the absurdist and inappropriate non sequiturs from Hahn (this movie’s MVP), Bell’s wide-eyed naivete, Kunis’ deadpan, Applegate’s thousand-yard stare or even Duke condescendingly praising 32-year-old Amy as being part of “the greatest generation.”
As bro-tastic as the previous efforts from Lucas and Moore have been (they also gave the world “The Change-Up” and “21 & Over”), they’ve managed to nail quite a few moments that feel true, from the long-married Amy’s inability to flirt (she keeps driving away men with mom topics) to the aftermath of a wild bacchanal in which someone observes, “The best thing about a mom party is that it ends promptly at 11 p.m.”
You have to forgive a lot from “Bad Moms,” from the barely written token hunk (Jay Hernandez as the sexy widow who makes all the mommies swoon) to the fact that, in a movie that pits working mothers against helicopter moms, no one, not even Amy, really seems to have an actual job. (Plus there’s a scene, focused on a dowdy bra, that’s almost identical to one from “The Boss” — and Bell was in that one, too!) But the wonderfully unexpected cavalcade of hilarity — including one of the smartest and most unexpected celebrity cameos in recent memory — makes this summer sleeper a satisfying surprise. Book that sitter.
21 Worst Onscreen Moms, From Norma Bates to Peg Bundy (Photos)
TheWrap looks at dysfunctional moms in honor of Mother's Day, from Norma Bates in "Psycho" to Peg Bundy in "Married With Children" and "Serial Mom."
"Psycho" (1960) Possibly the worst mother in Hollywood history (and now on A&E with "Bates Motel"), Norma Bates was so abusive she it resulted in her murder -- and those of subsequent innocent victims -- at the hands of her son, Norman.
Warner Bros. Pictures
"The Manchurian Candidate" (1962) Mrs. Iselin (Angela Lansbury) is less a mother and more a secret agent intent on making her son the first puppet President in a Communist conspiracy.
M.C. Productions
"Carrie" (1976) After emotionally and physically abusing her daughter for years, Mrs. White (Piper Laurie) tried to kill Carrie when she believed a demon was the reason her daughter had psychic powers.
United Artists
"Mommie Dearest" (1981)Faye Dunaway portrays Joan Crawford as controlling and overbearing mother to adopted daughter, Christina, in the 1981 biographical cult drama.
Paramount Pictures
"Married... With Children" (1987-97) Peggy Bundy isn't mean, she's just lazy and inattentive, refusing to cook or clean and instead spending her time sat on the couch watching "Oprah."
Embassy Television
"Throw Momma From the Train" (1987) Mrs. Lift (Anne Ramsey) was such a terrible, overbearing mother that her son was inspired on how to kill her after watching an Alfred Hitchcock movie.
Orion Pictures
"Seinfeld" (1989-98) After watching Mrs. Costanza (Estelle Harris) for only five minutes, you completely understand how George could grow into the needy, neurotic person we knew and loved for nine seasons.
West-Shapiro
"Serial Mom" (1994) The dark comedy starred Kathleen Turner as a suburban housewife who secretly murders people over trivial of perceived slights or social faux pas.
Polar Entertainment Corporation
"The Sopranos" (1999-2007) A paranoid nightmare, Livia Soprano (Nancy Marchand) tried to have her mob boss son, Tony Soprano, killed when she thought he was too weak to lead.
HBO
"Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood" (2002)Ellen Burstyn plays the abusive Southern mother to Sandra Bullock in this comedy-drama that spans 70 years of the "Ya-Ya Sisterhood."
All Girls Productions
"White Oleander" (2002) Based on the novel by Janet Fitch, Michelle Pfeiffer plays a self-centered, cold-hearted and eccentric mother who kills and her cheating boyfriend -- landing her in prison and daughter, Astrid (Alison Lohman) in a foster home.
Warner Bros. Pictures
"8 Mile" (2002) Jimmy "B-Rabbit" Smith Jr. (Eminem) lives with his alcoholic mother (Kim Basinger) in a Detroit trailer park while struggling to make it as a white rapper.
Imagine Entertainment
"Arrested Development" (2003-) Lucille Bluth (Jessica Walter) was never hesitant to sacrifice her children's happiness for a gin and tonic.
Imagine Entertainment
"Mean Girls" (2004) The ultimate example of lax parenting, Mrs. King (Amy Poehler) is way more concerned with looking cool than being an actual mom to her daughter.
Paramount Pictures
"Mad Men" (2007-15) Though she could occasionally show maternal instinct, Betty Draper (January Jones) was at times just as childish as her kids, and often even more selfish and needy.
Lionsgate Television
"Sons of Anarchy" (2008-14) Gemma Teller Morrow (Katey Sagal) may have had the motorcycle club's interests at heart, but those interests typically involved ruining her son's chances at happiness, culminating in her killing his wife and the mother of his child.
SutterInk
"The Hangover" (2009) We all remember how nice Jade (Heather Graham) was, but we always forgot that she let three complete strangers take her baby for the night in Las Vegas.
Warner Bros. Pictures
"Precious" (2009) Unemployed mother Mary (Mo'Nique) takes out all her fears and insecurities on her 16-year-old daughter, whom she blamed for getting impregnated twice by Mary's husband after he raped her.
Lionsgate
"The Hunger Games" (2012) Mrs. Everdeen (Paula Malcomson) emotionally shut down after the death of her husband, leaving her teenage daughter Katniss to figure out how to keep her family alive.
Lionsgate
"Justified" (2010-15) Mags Bennett (Margo Martindale) runs a family of hillbilly pot growers, makes lethal moonshine and wields a hammer that she's not afraid to use.
FX Productions
"American Horror Story: Coven" (2013-14) There are so many evil moms to choose from on "AHS" but Fiona (Jessica Lange) takes this dark prize as the glamorous wicked witch to belittled daughter Cordelia (Sarah Paulson).
Brad Falchuk Teley-Vision
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TheWrap looks at dysfunctional family matriarchs in honor of Mother’s Day
TheWrap looks at dysfunctional moms in honor of Mother's Day, from Norma Bates in "Psycho" to Peg Bundy in "Married With Children" and "Serial Mom."