Blu-Ray/Movie Review: A Bad Moms Christmas

 

A Bad Moms Christmas is the 2017 sequel to the very underrated 2016 comedy Bad Moms. The movie brings back Mila Kunis, Kathryn Hahn, Kristen Bell, and Jay Hernandez from the first movie and adds Christine Baranski, Susan Sarandon, and Cheryl Hines, playing the moms of the moms. Peter Gallager and Justin Hartley also co-star. Christina Applegate and Wanda Sykes also reprise their roles from the first movie, basically making cameo appearances.

This movie takes some of the concepts of the original movie and sets it around the stress of Christmas. Specifically, the pressure to do the holidays perfectly, combined with their own mothers entering the picture and making everything worse. Thankfully, the writers and producers of this movie did not fall into the trap that those of The Hangover II did and just make a carbon copy of the first movie. That said, there are not as many funny moments in this one as there were in the first. The big scene stealers in this movie were Cheryl Hines, who played the mother of Kristen Bell's character, and Christine Baransky, who played the mother of Mila Kunis' character. Justin Heartly also had a great role as a male stripper, and there was a pretty hilarious cameo by Kenny G. It is pretty standard comedic fare. 

For those who get the Blu-ray, the movie looks and sounds good. The extras are not extensive. They include a gag reel, some deleted scenes, and a music video featuring the crew members that is a spoof of the end credit sequence of the cast. Overall, I would say if you enjoyed the first movie, you will probably like this one as well, even if not as much. It definitely earns its R rating and is not a family-friendly comedy, but if you enjoy that brand of comedy, it is entertaining. It is definitely not as good as the first movie, and I think even people who loved the first movie would have been perfectly content if a sequel had never been made. As long as you are not expecting it to be more than it is, I do not think the movie will disappoint you.

Blu-Ray/Movie Review: Bad Moms

 

Bad Moms is an ensemble cast comedy led by Mila Kunis (from That 70s Show), who plays Amy Mitchell who kicks her husband out of the when she discovers he is cheating on her. Amy then has to navigate trying to raise her two kids, work as a sales rep, and deal with the PTA of her kid's school, led by an overbearing Gwendolyn James, played by Married With Children's Christina Applegate. The movie essentially breaks down to Amy and her group, Carla, played by Katherine Hahn (who steals every scene she is in), and Kiki, played by Kristen Bell who plays a great reserved stay-at-home mom, versus Gwendolyn's group Stacy, played by Jada Pinkett Smith, and Vicky, Annie Mumolo.

The movie is good, but definitely not perfect. I think both Applegate and Bell's comedic talents are a bit underused in the movie, mostly because of the way their characters are written. Kunis and Hahn, however, do a good job doing the comedy heavy lifting. Hahn's character is a bit of a cliche, but thankfully she is used somewhat sparingly so she can really take over when she is included.

For those who get the blu-ray, the A/V quality is okay, but the video quality is definitely not as good as it could be. Of course, the movie does not have a bunch of CGI effects, but the image does not look as nice as a movie from 2015 should. There are a handful of extras including a short gag reel, just under 20 minutes of deleted scenes, and about 23 minutes worth of interview material with the cast members and their mothers, some of which made it into the end credits of the movie.

Overall, the movie is good to very good. As is the case with many of today's comedies, it definitely leans more toward the raunchy end of the spectrum (especially when Hahn is on screen), and some of the jokes can fall a bit flat. But, on the whole, it tells a fun story and the cast had (or faked) good chemistry. So, while I would not call it a must-see, if you are in the mood for a more adult comedy, this is worth checking out.