FILM REVIEW: Bad Moms – “Utterly Forgettable”

Recently, I decided to opt-in to my local cinema’s membership scheme which allows an unlimited viewing of movies for a flat, monthly fee. Because of this, I’ve been going to see films that I otherwise would have completely avoided; whether it’s because they don’t appeal to my interests, or they look objectively bad. With little surprise, Bad Moms manages to fall under both of these categories, and came close to being the first movie I would walk out of before the credits rolled.

The film’s loose plot revolves around the everyday life of Amy (Mila Kunis); a mother of two who juggles her responsibilities of parenthood with her overbearing and slave-driving boss. In an opening monologue, Amy describes all of the tasks that she has to complete throughout her day, and then does it all again tomorrow. After being pushed to her breaking point, she befriends wayward mother Carla (Kathryn Hahn), and the two of them eventually drag the innocent Kiki (Kristen Bell) into their gang. The rest of the movie is forced debauchery, unlikely scenarios, and a script that feels like it was edited by a 15-year-old who just discovered how insanely cool and edgy swear words are.

Seriously, it’s laughable how many times the punchline to a joke will just be the word ‘fuck’. I have no problem with swearing at all, and there’s no way that I’m saying I was morally offended by the vulgarity throughout Bad Moms – I was just bored by it. Midway through the film, you’ll find yourself mentally playing back dialogue without the constant ‘fucks’ and ‘shits’, and realise that it makes it a much more effective comedy. The film relies way too much on having these supposedly pristine mothers swear for a cheap laugh, and it becomes unbelievably dry within the first twenty minutes.

Not only are the words coming out of these characters’ mouths boring, but they’re lacking in any meaningful personality that would make you empathise with them in any meaningful way. Clara always has a drink. Kiki has rough hair with how much work she’s doing. Amy is…well, just kind of boring. In fact, the only character in the film that I genuinely enjoyed watching was the villainous president of the PTA, played by Christina Applegate. At least her actions felt justified within the character, and she gave the film a vague purpose to strive towards; that being, to rid the school of her vice-like grip. Hell, if the plot wasn’t so predictable, I might have even enjoyed watching how her character, Gwendolyn, develops over the 90-minute runtime. Alas, the plot is predictable, and is so glaringly cliche, that any moments that are meant to come as a surprise can be seen from a mile away.

It’s almost unfortunate that Bad Moms wasn’t truly awful, though, because at least then I could muster some strong opinions against it. When I left the cinema, I didn’t even feel like I hated what I had just seen; I just felt like I’d wasted a few hours of my time that I would never get back. Let’s be honest: this isn’t a movie made for 20-year-old men who love Stanley Kubrick. And that’s okay, and it wasn’t a surprise that the cinema was about 80% occupied by women.

What isn’t okay is that the film doesn’t even try to appeal to any other demographic, in the way that the directors of this film managed with their other writing work, The Hangover. It’s not even that the film is entirely sexist against men: the women are equally pointless and forgettable. Sure, every male figure in the film is either a love interest or skulking manchild, and sure, the women at one point insinuate that it’s the job of a father to give-up, and the mother to persevere, but I couldn’t care less about that. What you should care about is that this is the quality of cinema catered to women, and that really is a shame. Literally the highest praise I can give to Bad Moms is that it’s utterly, utterly forgettable.