With the festive season coming up, what better time to review a movie that is dedicated to the period? Although this film is not the most recent of all of them out there (being released in 2017), it is one that I definitely want to talk about because, for me, it includes a number of relatable topics when it comes to relationships with family and, of course, with your mum (as the title spells out) in particular.
What I would describe to be a light hearted Christmas comedy, the movie follows its original storyline pretty well, using all of its original cast, with the exception of Christina Applegate as the rival mom in the first movie that all of the main characters, played by Mila Kunis (Amy), Kristen Bell (Kiki), and Kathryn Hahn (Carla), saw as their enemy and fellow competitor. But this movie is different in a better way than the last, sure it still has the typical slapstick comedy and crazy slo-mo scenes when the original mums destroy a supermarket or department store, but the cast of the grandmothers are the real gems.Â
Co-starring Susan Sarandon (Carla’s mum), Cheryl Hines (Kiki’s) and Christine Baranski (Amy’s), A Bad Mom’s Christmas is a treat of a film for those who fancy something easy to watch together, whether it be with friends or the family. It could make you laugh as well as cry with the perfectly balanced combination of humour and moving moments. The relationship between mother and daughter that I found to be particularly moving was the one between Amy and her mother Ruth. Whilst all of the relationships that the main characters have with their mothers are full of misunderstandings and problems that most of us know all too well, theirs is the one that puts the pressure a mother can put on daughter to be perfect and all that they envisioned them to be under the spotlight.Â
The main moral of the film is that it is important to remember the real things that matter in life, and not to forget about the materialistic ones that often cloud our minds. By the end of the film, there is a noticeable difference in the character’s personal level of development, as they all start to remember that, in the end, being close to your family and accepting each other for everything that they are, is the most important thing to hold on to.Â
For me, this film, directed and written by Jon Lucas, has that Christmas touch and that easy feel-good feeling that everyone loves at this time of year, no matter how cheesy or cliché it may be.
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3/5 stars