Bad Moms review: A chick-flick that's not sexist; plays out like 'The Hangover' for women

Being a mom can be hard and being a single mom can be even more uncomfortable. Throughout the day you’re tied up with either work or taking care of whiny monsters, or even both at times. And despite taking all this stress you’re supposed to still look chirpy and presentable for the world because if you don’t you’ll be judged. Bad Moms, Jon Lucas and Scott Moore’s film, takes a fun stab at how it would feel like if women dropped their pitch perfect image and did whatever the hell they felt like, and though it’s not a very nuanced film it’s definitely quite fun. [caption id=“attachment_2924380” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  A still from Bad Moms. Youtube screen grab.[/caption] Not much different from the genre tropes of Sex and the City and Bridesmaids, Bad Moms follows Amy Mitchell (Mila Kunis) who dumps her husband after she catches him having an online affair. After being harassed by a PTA leader Gwendolyn (Christina Applegate) and her minions (Jada Pinkett Smith, Annie Mumolo) Amy finally blows her fuse and asks everyone to shove it where the sun don’t shine. Joining forces with Kiki (Kristen Bell) and Carla (Kathryn Hahn) she outlines a plan of living life a little, which involves consuming copious amounts of alcohol, raiding grocery stores and dating new people. There’s nothing new in the plot here – in fact the same story was used to better effect in The New Adventures of Old Christine, but the thing with lowest common denominator movies is that you don’t expect originality. It’s entertaining to watch a bunch of women doing crass un-womenly things for a change, and not see female characters being reduced to inanimate objects like in most movies. Barring Hahn’s the characters are mostly insipid, with occasional spurts of energy – most being the time they drop the sudden F bomb or do something socially unparliamentarily. The anchoring hook in the film is that even women can indulge in nasty things, crack horrible jokes and party, and have hangovers. It really does play out like The Hangover for women. This consistent delivery of shock value is what keeps you entertained despite the ludicrous events unfolding on screen. If you’re looking for a nuanced commentary on feminism or how casual misogyny wafts in social circles, or even empowerment, Bad Moms is not the movie you’re looking for. This is a movie made by the same guys who made The Hangover, so its trump card is simply the amusingly obnoxious humor you’ve come to love and adore. And since the film is written by men, it kind of shows in bits – there are whole sequences where a bunch of women discuss uncircumsized dicks and anal sex. Maybe women do talk about these topics often, but the scenes play out on the screen with an unmistakable dumb male gaze. More importantly ‘chick flicks’ in general are ironically sexist, but Bad Moms isn’t – perhaps we’re now at the dawn of a new breed of modern chick flicks, which I guess is a somewhat of a good thing.