A group of stressed out mothers seeks a little excitement in their lives that has them questioning if they are a bunch of “Bad Moms”. Amy (Mila Kunis) is a woman with a seemingly perfect life: a great marriage, overachieving kids, beautiful home, stunning looks and still holding down a career. However, she’s over-worked, over committed and exhausted to the point that she’s about to snap. Fed up and jaded, she joins forces with two other over-stressed moms (Kristen Bell, Kathryn Hahn) and the trio go on a quest to liberate themselves from conventional responsibilities, going on a wild un-mom like binge of freedom, fun and self-indulgence, putting them on a collision course with PTA Queen Bee Gwendolyn (Christina Applegate) and her clique of devoted super perfect moms. Their rivalry causes a string of high-stakes sabotage between the two groups. “Bad Moms” is written and directed by the duo of Jon Lucas and Scott Moore, and is rated R for sexual material involving full frontal nudity, adult language throughout, and drug/alcohol usage.

“Bad Moms” is a 96 minute mental fantasy to any woman who has ever dealt with the most difficult and important job of all time. It’s a break from the normal everyday world of rude children, uncooperative spouses, and an over-jaded life that seems to never slow down. Where the duo of Lucas and Moore put all their eggs is in the audience that it markets to. For Mothers everywhere, this film will be a very rewarding experience, filled with reminders of craziness that hits a little too close to the home front on eerie similarities. That crowd will gladly open its arms to this trio of women, who are gladly living out the very fantasy that they wish they could soak in for even five minutes of their own lives. For everyone else, this film is a 50/50 proposition at best. I can’t say that I didn’t enjoy the film, but the cons outweighed the pros for me. What I can say is that “Bad Moms” has no problem swinging its breasts (Pardon the usage there) with the very best of male raunchy comedies, that lack the kind of message (albeit a little bit jumbled) that this movie had.

First of all is the material. The comedy gave me some real genuine hearty laughter throughout the first act of the movie, and it comes out swinging. Immediately, you are introduced to the differences in attitude of characters within this trio in the film, particularly that of Katherine Hahn as a rebellious unorthodox style of parent. She’s an alcoholic who would rather spend more time at the bar than with her kids, and offers a nice balance to the overworked, underappreciated mothers like Mila Kunis and Kristen Bell’s characters. Their interaction really set the tone for the trip that we are about to take with these ladies. Unfortunately, the second half kind of grinds to a screeching halt, as it becomes very formulaic, and to a point repetitive. For the middle of this film, the movie invests much more importance in situational humor as opposed to furthering the minimal script up to this point, and would much rather soak itself in the depths of pop culture music circa 2015. I am not kidding when I say that this movie stops fourteen different times to the background of some popular song that was famous last year. What’s appropriate about this stance is that most Mothers are too busy to listen to anything current, so it all is kind of laughable like when you see an older woman dancing to a Black Eyed Peas song in public. Where it’s annoying is just how many times it’s used. The film’s material is already quite thin enough without stopping (literally) every five minutes for another musical montage. It almost got to the point of laughable predictability during every encounter for our cast.

The characterization is also very sketchy at best, with most of the cast playing amped up versions of a myth stereotype. I mean, of course there are terrible fathers everywhere in the world, but Kunis’s husband (Played by David Walton) had me fumbling with how he ever got with such a great woman in the first place. Sure there’s the possibility that Kunis didn’t see the real side of him when she was younger, but this guy barely functions as a human being. He’s apparently so stupid that he somehow ends up leaving his restored muscle car at his former residence with his now separated wife. It’s not just with guys though, as the women over-bloat themselves on character outlines that are amped to ten. The PTA moms (Played by Christina Applegate, Annie Mumolo, and a wasted opportunity of Jada Pinkett Smith) are laughably stereotypical of the over-involved Mother type. Yes this is the satirical point of the film, but it’s laid on a little too thick during eye-rolling desperate humor. A great example is when Applegate declares that kids should go to school 365 days of the year. It feels desperate because it’s the obvious villain thing to say.

Hahn is a little over the top in her speech patterns. The film has no problem relaying that it is definitely rated R, but it’s with Katherine where we get the highest use out of such a rating. What I give her and the rest of the cast credit for is solid comedic timing. Some of the jokes in the movie are a little stale by the second act, and the trio of Kunis, Hahn, and Bell really make the most out of it, dragging laughter from lines that I would’ve never laughed at in my wildest dreams. The enjoyment and solidarity between the ladies is clearly evident in the movie, and made it hard to ever fully hate any of their decisions as the protagonists of this film. Their children (particularly Kunis’s) are complete shitheads in this movie, and on more than one occasion I felt myself growing angry with their disrespect of the woman who brought them into this world. We do kind of forget that the kids and their relationship with their Mother should be the main aspect to this movie, mainly during the final act which all but forgets their existence.

“Bad Moms” flutters several opportunities to be edgy, but does enough to satisfy the silent majority of wives who seek something to represent their voice. I think this film would’ve been better suited being written by a woman, as not a lot feels genuine about their reactions to me. It certainly panders a lot to the underappreciated mothers of the world, and that desperation never overcame the uneven balance of a second half that lacked the comedic firepower of the opening half hour. However, if you can overlook the flaws of flimsy characterization and paper thin premises, “Bad Moms” might be just the perfect metaphorical glass of cheap wine to indulge yourself in.

5/10