Malas madres

"In this day and age it's impossible to be a good mom." Amy (Kunis) is doing her best to juggle being a mom and having a career. Things begin to pile up and finally hits a breaking point when she is asked to be on a PTA board. Now, taking back control of her life her and her new friends stand up to Gwendolyn (Applegate) and the other perfect moms and let everyone know that it's OK not to be perfect. This is a movie I was was hoping would be funny, but being a guy I wasn't the target audience and wasn't sure if I would relate. I was wrong. This movie is hilarious regardless of what sex your are and being a single dad I can also relate to some of what was being said. At the risk of sounding chauvinistic (which is not my intention) this is a raunchy male sex comedy starring women. The thing this has going for it over most movies like this is that the message doesn't get lost in the comedy and really helps add to the overall enjoyment of this. Overall, one of the funniest movies of the year and one that men and women will both love. That is hard to do in a movie like this. I give this an A.

The surprise hit "Bad Moms" is a comedy starring Mila Kunis, Kristen Bell and Kathryn Hahn and is directed by both Scott Moore and Jon Lucas. This movie centers itself around Amy (Mila Kunis) a mother of two who is a bit of a perfectionist. She aspires for her family to have the best that the world can offer. Unfortunately, after a series of bad events everything goes downhill fast. Luckily Amy befriends two other struggling mothers Kiki (Kristen Bell) and Carla (Kathryn Hahn) who work together to try and make some sense of their crazy lives, while having some fun at the same time.

First and foremost, "Bad Moms" works extremely well. I can honestly say that this movie completely shattered my expectations. While the film isn't breaking any new ground or providing any sort of different approach to the extremely over saturated comedy genre, it is fun. That's right, the film from start to finish never fails to entertain. The films humor works on multiple levels. The jokes here never quite seem to stop coming and the entire film feels thoroughly littered with hilarious moments. This is an excellent break from many modern day comedies where all of the jokes come in both the first fifteen and last fifteen minutes. Raunchy humor was obviously a big selling point for this movie, yet thankfully the movie never feels too overbearing with its vulgarity. Never once did I notice a particular character was dropping "F-Bombs" just for the sake of it, but when they did the jokes were hilarious. Writing in this movie is the chemistry between these actresses also felt extremely tight and without it the film just would not have gelled correctly.

All of the actors here are surprisingly funny. Even Kathryn Hahn's (who I have found quite annoying and overly rambunctious in past outings) character here proves to be hilarious and she never misses a beat. Mila Kunis and Kristen Bell also play very entertaining and likable characters. Another surprise was Christian Applegate, Jada Pinkette Smith and Annie Mumolo's performances as the villain moms. While at times they got a tad too outrageous for their own good, these three women were truly amusing and helped further the comedic aspects of the film. Also, a huge shout out to Martha Stewart's hilarious cameo in the film. The only negative that can really be geared toward the acting in this film is the child actors. While I'm sure these kids didn't exactly chose the writing they were given, they come off as spoiled little brats. Throughout the entire movie these kids constantly pestered the overall fun tone that this movie was riding on.

Speaking of tone, this movies strength comes from the lighthearted nature of the plot. The movie is surprisingly heartwarming, yet never overbearing on its themes of family unity. The film knows it's a comedy and it sticks to being a comedy very well, something that can be attributed to the excellent direction and writing in the film. Yet another strong suit in "Bad Moms" has to be its well-rounded pacing. Very seldom in this film does it feel like the plot is glossing over important story points. Impressively it does this while at the same time remaining consistently funny. Moving on to the soundtrack and overall sound design of the film: The soundtrack while not exactly bad, is utterly forgettable. Audiences will struggle to remember a single track and relating scene in the film by the next day.

Going into this movie I completely expected a bland over saturated film about female characters going wild. Instead what I received was a smart film that carries extremely strong female characters without having them seem needy and dependent, something that haunts the film industry today. Luckily this film does all of these things while remaining consistently hilarious and surprisingly sincere. Ultimately "Bad Moms" suffers a few minor hiccups along the way, but comes out a surprisingly hilarious and fun romp.

Penned by the writers of "The Hangover" (Jon Lucas and Scott Moore), this was a film I went into with really, really low expectations. But it was better than I expected it to be.

Mila Kunis (which we already know means "Fine" in Navajo) plays Amy, a normal working Mum (albeit clearly living in a hugely affluent neighbourhood) with a no-good husband and two kids. Amy is at the end of her tether, and as parents haven't we all been there? After one particularly dreadful day she uncharacteristically heads for a bar and forms a firm friendship with hen-pecked wife and Mum Kiki (an excellent Kristen Bell) and the potty-mouthed and kick-ass Carla (Kathryn Hahn). Making a pact to not follow convention they decide to be "Bad Moms" which brings them into direct conflict with Gwendoline ("Anchorman"'s Christina Applegate), the tyrannical head of the school Parent Teacher Association and her fawning sidekicks Stacy (Jada Pinkett Smith, "Matrix" sequels) and Vicky (Annie Mumulo, "Bridesmaids"). As attacks get personal, Amy is forced into standing against Gwendoline for the PTA chair and a battle royale ensues.

From the film's publicity, I expected this to be a "3 go mad in Vegas" style of romp, but it didn't head in that direction. True that there is one very funny and well-cut scene of craziness in a supermarket ("Kids, we're going to have to find a new supermarket"), but the film has a more thoughtful tone reflecting as it does the stresses on working parents exacerbated by the need to conform to social mores.

It would be dangerous at this point for me, as a man, to appear sexist and misogynist, so I will quote (and credit) my wife here in commenting that the film is like a "Next Generation" movie to 1987's Diane Keaton vehicle "Baby Boom". In that film Keaton's character has to juggle a corporate working life with unexpected child rearing: something still relatively unusual in those days (yes folks, things have changed a LOT for the better in 30 years). "Bad Moms" skims forward to today when being a working parent is almost a given, but the characters in the film view that maybe that swing has gone too far - that there is not enough time for them to treasure and nurture their kids. Here the film does slip into sexist territory in featuring all the struggling "Moms" as predominantly female: the one single Dad (hunk and love interest Jay Hernandez) never seems stressed or out of his depth.

So, there is a good concept in here, but to be honest it is not particularly well executed. Given that it is supposed to be a comedy, the limited laughs supplied are well distributed throughout the film. It's more of a smile-along than a laugh-along.

The film is also pretty inconsistent in tone, flipping as it does from the leads being "Bad Moms" to being lovey-dovey "aren't my kids adorable"parents. For a UK audience I would suggest that there is way, WAY too much sickly hugging of kids going on. And - without spoilers - the denouement at the ending is far from satisfying.

On the plus side, it is technically well delivered, and looks like bloody Shakespeare compared to the truly execrable "Dirty Grandpa". The editing is slick and the music choice and music editing is particularly good. Some of the performances - especially those of Bell and Hahn - are great. And a particular nod to young Oona Laurence as Amy's daughter who carries her part really nicely.

In terms of the lead, Mila Kunis wouldn't seem to be a natural choice for a comedy part, although her performance is kookily watchable (that might just be the "fine" influence on me). A low point however is a post-sex scene where Kunis appears to have been watching ABC News rather than doing any sort of strenuous horizontal jogging (not that my wife noticed this as she was MUCH too distracted by who was acting on the other side of the bed). If anyone puts together a top 10 of unconvincing movie sex scenes, this is a strong contender.

Comedies are very personal things. Might this one be right for you? I would suggest that if you are not a parent, you should probably skip it and wait for the TV showing - - many of the situations are those that only parents who've been through the more hellish moments of child rearing will relate to! It's also not for the very prudish. There is a lot of bad language, a bit of nudity and drug references, although it doesn't quite descend to the same gross-out level comedy of "The Hangover" or a Farrelly brothers film.

A final shout-out to the goofy final credits, done in "When Harry Met Sally" style, where the actresses real mothers talk about whether they were good mum's or not. (Cue more hugging).

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The shaming of women is a global phenomenon that unfortunately is part of everyday life. Filmmakers, media and marketing industries prey on women's anxieties about their bodies, and motherhood is another favourite target. While the documentary Embrace (2016) calls out body shaming, the comedy Bad Moms (2016) calls out the impossible standards to which modern mothers are expected to conform. Laughter carries this message more effectively than polemic but make no mistake: while this film is funny it also has serious things to say.

The plot line is all too familiar. Over-worked mom Amy (Mila Kunis) is always running between the needs of her spoilt two children, a lazy husband, a part-time job, homework, school rules, and endless extra-curricular activities. The kids are overscheduled, over-controlled and over-indulged, and like too many parents everywhere, the homework is for Amy. When she ditches the husband for having a cyber-sex affair her already chaotic world nears breaking point. That's when the pushy cabal of PTA perfect moms and yummy mummies insist on ever-more elaborate cake-bakes. When she publicly quits the PTA, the snobby dominatrix president Gwendolyn (Christina Applegate) launches a vendetta against Amy and her kids. She retaliates by campaigning for president and the internecine warfare between mom camps escalate in hilarious ways. Deserted by the school, her nearest friends become her emotional anchors and all give themselves permission to party and carry on. While the story is predictable and at times corny, the underlying issues are totally real. The slapstick comedy softens the pointed message about just how powerless mothers are against the onslaught of unrealistic expectations. The bigger irony is that so many movies perpetuate the myth of the perfect mom without even questioning the existence of the perfect dad.

This film is obviously targeted directly at stressed-out moms but dads should watch too. If nothing else, it exposes the gender inequality that persists in parenting and the bigger injustice of 'perfect moms' shaming other moms for not meeting politically correct standards. When Amy gives her election speech and confesses all the ways she is a bad mom she starts a sisterhood chorus of bad moms all needing to offload their guilt about the things they have not done for their children. While it's always possible to find aspects of a film that could have been made better, this film deserves praise for going in to bat for the most honourable profession on the planet.

Thanks to IMDB recommendations, I found this movie and I wish I'd known about it earlier!

Mila Kunis, Kathryn Hahn (especially - she is an absolute riot with some of the best lines in the movie!) and Kristen Bell (she plays straitlaced Kiki perfectly) are laugh-out-loud funny as three overworked Chicago suburb mothers who decide to be bad mums for a little while, with hilarious results.

There are some hilarious moments in this movie, especially the scenes featuring Kunis' Amy and Christina Applegate's Gwendolyn, the perfect overlord of the PTA.

Brilliant soundtrack, too. The 1hr 40min movie raced by, and I was disappointed when it ended.