BAD MOMS (Jon Lucas, Scott Moore). 98 minutes. Opens Friday (July 29). See listing. Rating: NNN
Well, imagine that: just two weeks after Ghostbusters, here’s another chaotic comedy centred on strong female protagonists. And guess what? Bad Moms is pretty funny, too.
Mila Kunis stars as Amy, an overworked Chicago mother of two who decides to start indulging her impulses after kicking out her cheating husband.
Initially that just means having breakfast at a café instead of racing to her thankless job, but eventually her horizons expand to liquid lunches with her new BFFs Carla (Kathryn Hahn) and Kiki (Kristen Bell) that occasionally lead to drunken raids on grocery stores.
It’s not especially original, but as in that Ghostbusters remake, the actors bring it to life in weird and unexpected ways. And not just the leads. Directors Jon Lucas and Scott Moore have filled the movie with ringers. Jay Hernandez turns up as a single dad Amy’s been crushing on, and Christina Applegate is terrific as a controlling PTA chair who takes an instant dislike to Amy’s liberated streak.
Eventually Amy decides to run for PTA chair herself, and the whole thing turns into your basic slobs-versus-snobs comedy. But that’s an engine that still works.
Bad Moms may not surprise you, but it will make you laugh. Quite a lot, actually.
