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.

Blu-Ray/Movie Review: Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues

 

Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues is the 2013 sequel to 2004's Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy. It is directed by Adam McKay and brings back all the main cast members, including Will Ferrell, Paul Rudd, Steve Carell, David Koechner, and Christina Applegate. The new additions to the cast include Kristen Wig, James Marsden, Greg Kinnear, Megan Good, and Vince Vaughn. The sequel sets the cast in the 1980s. In this movie, Ron Burgandy's (Will Ferrell) career is in a rut while Veronica's (Christina Applegate) is flourishing. Ron ends up at GNN (a riff on precisely what you think), a new 24-hour news network. He becomes a hit in the late-night timeslot, and hilarity (sometimes) ensues. There are two versions of the movie, the theatrical cut and an R-rated cut that adds 25 minutes of running time to the movie and has many harder-edged jokes.

The Blu-ray's A/V quality is very good and includes many extras. The extras include a commentary track on the R-rated version of the movie, about an hour of behind-the-scenes and making-of featurettes, a portion of the table read of the movie, a two-part gag reel, deleted scenes, and over an hour and a half of extended and alternate scenes. So, you get a lot of bonus features if you like watching them. Overall, the movie is good but not as good as the first. It does have some funny moments for sure, and Christina Applegate is great in it, but I do not think it is as consistently funny as the first movie was. The main and supporting cast members were all great in their respective roles and the movie includes a bunch of character actors that you see in many of the SNL comedies and Apatow's movies. There are also a bunch of cameos from A-listers, including Will Smith, Liam Neeson, Amy Poehler, Kirsten Dunst, Tina Fey, Jim Carrey, and more. The movie was definitely commercialized and did copy some from the first movie, but in general, I would say if you liked the original, you will probably like this one too.

DVD/TV Series Review: Married...With Children: The Complete Series

 

Married With Children was the often controversial series that aired on Fox from 1987 to 1997, starring Ed O'Neil as Al Bundy, Katey Segal as his wife Peg, Christina Applegate as their daughter Kelly, and David Faustino as their son Bud. It was basically marketed as the "anti-Cosby" show centered around Al Bundy as the stereotypical loser whose life peaked in high school where he was a star quarterback. Reality smacks him, however, and he ends up with a job he hates (as a shoe salesman), and a family he does his best to avoid. Peg is a housewife who never does anything around the house, Bud is a loser who cannot get any dates, and Kelly can get any date she wants. They are a typical trashy suburban, non-politically correct family whose neighbors Marcy (played by Amanda Bearse) and Steve (played by David Garrison) and later Jefferson (played by Ted McGinley) are total politically correct snobs who take great pleasure and looking down on (and yet sometimes getting in the mud with) the Bundys.

The complete series set is a 32-disc set that repackages the discs from the individual season DVD releases. All of the discs are stacked together on large spindles that are accessible after the case is unfolded. Of course, you want to watch the discs pretty quickly to see if any are scratched as there are better ways to store them than the stacking of the discs. Everything that was included on the single-season releases (even the replacement of the "Love and Marriage" theme song after the second season) carries over. This means that all of the extras (or lack thereof in the later seasons) are included, but there are no extras specific to the complete series release.

Overall, the show was good but is definitely not everyone's cup of tea. The humor was meant to be offensive and there are definitely things that got aired that would never be aired today. It was not politically correct by any stretch of the imagination, and it made fun of pretty much every topic under the sun. The final couple of seasons were definitely not as good, and the series never did get a proper ending. The final episode most definitely did not have a series finale feel...it was just another episode that not all of the characters even appeared in. If you are easily offended then this is not a show that will appeal to you, but if you like more offbeat sitcoms, it holds up fairly well even thirty-plus years later.

DVD Review: Don't Tell Mom the Babysitter's Dead

 

Don't Tell Mom the Babysitter's Dead, is a comedy from the early 1990s starring Christina Applegate, who was at the height of her fame on the series Married With Children. The movie has a pretty simple premise, the "mom" played by Concetta Tomei took a trip for the summer, hiring an old battle-ax of a babysitter to take care of her kids while she was gone. The babysitter dies, and the kids having no money have to figure out a way to eat, pay the bills, etc, over the summer. Applegate, who plays the 17-year-old daughter, Sue Ellen, applies for a job as a receptionist using a resume she copied out of a guide on writing resumes and ends up with an Executive Assistant position at an apparel company. And from there, of course, hilarity ensues. 

The movie definitely had the feel of a late 80s early 90's movie. Some of the comedy is pretty dated now, and there are some things, like showing Applegate's underage character smoking, would never fly. The movie did have a strong supporting cast including a young Josh Charles, Danielle Harris (who played the little girl in Halloween 4 and 5), David Duchovney, Joanna Cassidy, and several other recognizable character actors. 

For those who get the DVD, the extras are fairly bare-bones (some previews, the trailer, and cast biographies), but it does have closed captions. Overall, it is a dark comedy that has some good moments, but it is not as good as other "coming of age" comedies that came before it like Fast Times, Porky's, or the like, nor as good as some of the comedies that would follow it in a handful of years like American Pie. It definitely feels dated watching it now, but even with those caveats, it is still a decent comedy and worth checking out.