Who needs Cyndi Lauper when you have Kathryn Hahn – the main reason why Bad Moms is a fun film for women of all ages. These girls have a lot of fun, as do we, but make no mistake; this isn’t a chick flick in the conventional sense.
That’s the imprint any male member of the audience will walk away with. The reason for this is two-fold. Firstly, Bad Moms isn’t a soapy sitcom, nor a romantic comedy or a date movie. There are plenty of other films catering to that need (Me Before You being the recent most popular girlie movie). Instead, the approach is in its sincere message that there’s no such thing as a perfect family. And spinning this message into a hilarious farce is the second reason – the fact that the story was scripted by Jon Lucas and Scott More, the same guys who first wrote The Hangover, an outrageous guys-only comedy. Surprisingly, and as men writing this story, their insight echoes the plight of struggling soccer moms as the hardest job in the world. One such case is that of Amy (Mila Kunis), a young mom living out of her minivan while juggling work, kids, and marriage. Making things worse are the so called ‘perfect moms’ led by super rich PTA president Gwendolyn (Christina Applegate) and her sidekick Stacy (Jada Pinkett Smith). A good thirty minutes goes by where Amy wears the face of almost every mom watching this film. Then, buckled by the weight of her world crumbling down, and increasing harassment from Gwendolyn and crew, Amy finally snaps. Enter Hahn and Kristen Bell, fellow moms to Amy’s rescue.
What follows is an infinite assortment of gags, both whimsy and slapstick, but squarely rooted in crude comic territory. While the premise isn’t really original (Cameron Diaz in Bad Teacher comes to mind), and the shenanigans they get up to are reminiscent of previous films, the payoff is in the well-earned laughs. We owe this in no small part to Hahn, who once again steals the show every time she is on screen and why Bad Moms is immensely watchable. Prepare for loose-lipped one-liners, frequent F-bombs, multiple references to other films and TV shows (don’t miss the short but hilarious stab at Creed), and before you know it, you end up watching a raunchy film about motherhood; If that makes any sense. Even so, the icing on the cake is the ensuing sorority row between Gwendolyn and Amy, resulting in the latter running for PTA president. After Hahn’s promiscuous antics, Applegate is the exact opposite but the icy itch with a capital B that we all love to hate.
More coarse language and an outrageous party later, and you get the notion that this may have never been intended as a chick flick. Sure, this is one wild film for a girl’s night out but not one to be underestimated by the discerning male audience. There’s plenty to keep everyone knee-slapped yet it never gets overly gross to the point that even Martha Stewart would find tasteless. So ditch those fictitious superhero films for a change and watch this film instead, for no other reason than that the fact that Bad Moms ,in the end, is nothing but real superheroes disguised as mothers.
Rating: 
