THEY’RE back, they’re bad and now there are more of them.
The overworked, underappreciated mums who spat the dummy and let loose with booze and partying in 2016 are taking Christmas back, and their dodgy mums are along with more questionable parenting.
Fed up with the pressures of Christmas – the decorations, a million and one presents and holiday events – Amy (Mila Kunis), Kiki (Kristen Bell) and Carla (Kathryn Hahn) decide to scale back on their festive obligations.
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READ NOWHowever, their mums all decide to visit at the same time: Amy’s relentlessly critical mum Ruth (Christine Baranski), Kiki’s creepily affectionate mum Sandy (Cheryl Hines) and Carla’s non-maternal mum Isis (Susan Sarandon), raising all sorts of parenting issues between the generations.
The plot screams “gratuitous sequel” – the central bright idea to bring in more bad mums, like a higher body count constitutes a horror sequel or more robots justifies another Transformers.
The idea of another Mums Gone Wild feels like it could run out of steam as soon as these women sink another tequila shot.
But, the Christmas miracle is that this follow-up to the successful original manages to maintain the freshness and laughs.
And it even goes far coasting on the chemistry between such a hilarious and endearing group of actresses.
Writer/directors Jon Lucas and Scott Moore admirably shift the focus away from the younger mums in the cast to the older ones, allowing Baranski, Hines and Sarandon – who all deserve more big screen roles to be honest – to shine in roles that are equal parts hilarious and touching.
The script does rely far too heavily on these mums using the f-word for a laugh, a tactic that wears thin fairly quickly, but this is one of the better sequels to come out in recent years.
Bad Moms 2 (MA) Directed by: Jon Lucas, Scott Moore Starring: Mila Kunis, Kristen Bell, Kathryn Hahn Three and a half stars In cinemas now
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