The first Bad Moms movie was a surprise both critically and commercially as the movie was both relatable and comedic as we get a sort of realistic look of how mothers handle themselves in certain, stressful situations, with domesticated and career work. However, it did have some hilarious comedic moments, some that were a bit too raunchy, but enough to garner enough interest for maybe a sequel. But, we got one real quick, actually, the following year because the studios think they can garner more interest from audiences, mostly, female audiences. So, how did it turn out? Well, there are less laughs than the original movie and the whole movie felt so sloshed with redundancy that maybe, along with the matriarchal characters, maybe the crew was drunk, thinking they had a good movie. It felt more of the same except it is on a holiday.
The movie begins with Amy (Mila Kunis), now with Jessie (Jay Hernandez) from the first movie, and has his daughter, Lori (Ariana Greenblatt) spending time with her children, Jane and Dylan (Oona Laurence and Emjay Anthony). Amy assumes that this Christmas will be more relaxing until she gets news that her overly critical mother, Ruth (Christine Baranski), is attending her house for Christmas.
As for the other two mothers and friends, an overworked Kiki (Kristen Bell) is stressed as she works on the Christmas tree with her kids and her husband, Kent (Lyle Brocato). But, her loving mother, Sandy (Cheryl Hines), arrives and spends time with Kiki for three weeks. She loves her so much she wears the same attire as Kiki. Carla (Kathryn Hahn) arrives home from her spa job and her mother, Isis (Susan Sarandon), is dropped off by a tour bus where she starts smoking. Carla is excited to see Isis.
After Ruth arrives criticizing Amy's decorating abilities and setting up decorations outside the house, she, Kiki and Carla go to the mall to express their misery over the holidays. They cheer themselves up and get drunk and performing lap dances in front a mall Santa in one of many montages. Amy brings home a tree as Ruth cals it hideous. It gets more stressful as the grandmothers talk and not giving their daughters enough space at their houses.
The humor was more natural and thought out in the first movie and here, it felt more spliced together as the writers and filmmakers were in a hurry because they were too confident in the cast and rely on them to perform exactly the same way as in the first movie. It gets tedious after a while and the movie becomes a cash-grab for these talented actresses. Plus, I can see where most of this movie was going aside from its hilarious moments. The plot seemed recycled from other Christmas movies in which the parent-daughter fight, there is a fallout and then there is a gooey sentimental moment that will make every character feel better. The sentimental moments actually is what brings the movie down a bit because it felt forced.
I felt that the main cast of Kunis, Bell and Hahn (even though the latter has hilarious moments but less than the first movie) disappointed me this time as the movie tries to attempt to focus on them but does not take off as it focuses solely on the formula in which the grandmothers try to take over Christmas. However, the actresses playing the grandmothers do a good job portraying them. The scene-stealer this time is Baranski, making it easy performing dialogue with snarky humor. Sarandon has fun with her role. But, with Cheryl Hines, even though she has good chemistry with the two ladies, I felt like individually, her character was formed as an idea than a real-life person.
Directors Jon Lucas and Scott Moore who had a little bit of success with comedies but I felt like they are repeating themselves this time of creating the humor and its story. In this movie, the grandmother characters are mostly fleshed out as we expect them to come together in the end in maybe attempting a third movie. However, somehow, it seemed like the camaraderie element from the first movie was lost in the shuffle as formula and montages take over and becomes rushed. It is a lump of coal than a great gift from them and I am disappointed that they have not delivered another fresh comedy, another fresh Christmas comedy, that I'm usually a sucker for. But, I cannot get behind this.
**
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