Directors: Jon Lucas, Scott Moore.
Starring: Mila Kunis, Kristen Bell, Kathryn Hahn, Cheryl Hines, Christine Baranski, Susan Sarandon.
I really enjoyed Bad Moms, being one of my favourite comedies of 2016 and I was actually excited to hear of the impeding sequel coming out so soon off the back of the obvious, previous success. It immediately follows on from the Mom’s rebellion and takes advantage of having the exact same cast, all of whom seem quite comfortable returning for the second outing. But does the rush of this sequel reflect badly?
The three Mom’s take on the mother of all family festival celebrations which totally overlooks the religious aspect and focuses purely on the family pressures and commercial tassels. And what better way to do this but by bringing their own mothers into the fray which some of the audiences will be able to relate to with plenty of “oh yes! My mother does the same thing!”
It does help being familiar with the previous moms as each represent certain extremes of motherhood with Amy (Kunis) offering an unstable balance between the other two. Now their mothers bring in further extremes or some cases, amplifies and possible explains their children’s behaviour and attitude.
It’s the ultimate parental showdown between mom’s and mother’s as each struggle with trying to get their own way whilst trying to understand the needs of each other. It sounds a lot deeper than it actually is and is obviously written in such a way to give foundation of some good comedy.
It’s the same writers and directors, so I wouldn’t be surprised if they had this idea already floating about before finishing, or even making the first film. But sadly, as expected, it’s suffers the same fate as many sequels do, of not being as good as the previous proving that pushing a sequel straight off the back of the fairly successful first doesn’t increase the chances of success for the second.
It’s does feel rushed, and loosely put together with maybe the studio pressures and scheduling conflicts forcing it to be hastily put together, ignoring the inevitable season the film is required to be released. It has all the same elements of the first, which doesn’t make it any less funny; and it doesn’t feel like a spin-off as such, but more of a water-downed continuation. More like one of those cheapy sequels Disney do that no-one has ever heard of. The quality is all there, but it just not the same.
It’s got the same laughs and some of the feels too. But it’s no where near as good as the first.
Running Time: 7
The Cast: 8
Performance: 7
Direction: 6
Story: 6
Script: 6
Creativity: 6
Soundtrack: 6
Job Description: 4
The Extra Bonus Point: 0
56% 6/10
