A Bad Moms Christmas

November 9, 2017 - Mila Kunis and her foul-mouthed friends return in this sequel to the 2016 hit, Bad Moms. This time, Kunis, Kathryn Hahn and Kristen Bell battle to take back Christmas from their overbearing moms, played by Christine Baranski, Susan Sarandon and Cheryl Hines.

The movie opens with Amy (Kunis) sitting inside her house as a camel wanders through an absolute mess of shattered Christmas decorations. Then, we flash back six days so we can find out how we got here. It's not as fun as you might think.

Amy has tastefully decorated her home and prepared delicious appetizers in an attempt to please her perfectionist mother. But when Ruth (Baranski) arrives with husband Peter Gallagher in tow, all she does is criticize and make high-brow plans that are the exact opposite of what Amy wants. Meanwhile, Kiki (Bell) must contend with her look-alike mom, Sandy (Hines), who really needs to learn a thing or two about boundaries. And, Carla (Hahn) is surprised and suspicious when her mom, Isis (Sarandon) gets dropped off at her front door by a trucker. The young moms must work together – and separately – to keep the old moms from ruining Christmas for everyone.

Overall review: ** Like the first film, the sequel is heavy on drunken antics and dick jokes. Especially dick jokes. There are a lot of them. A lot. But, while the first movie seemed to have a message, this one had mostly dick jokes. The few moments of sensitivity could not overcome the many moments of, simply put, bad taste: A young child saying the F-word, racial insensitivity aimed at the only Hispanic character in the cast, and dick jokes that just were not funny. I give the movie two stars because Susan Sarandon elevates anything that she's in. Peter Gallagher also adds some grace. But, they're not enough to recommend this movie.