Celebrate the holidays like a mother. 

"A Bad Moms Christmas" sees directing duo, Jon Lucas and Scott Moore (The Hangover, Bad Moms) return for possibly one of the fastest sequels ever - "Bad Moms" was released in just August of 2016. The original trio of Moms return: Mila Kunis (Friends with Benefits, Black Swan), Kristen Bell (Frozen, Veronica Mars) and Kathryn Hahn (The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, We're the Millers); They are joined by a new trio of grandmothers: Christine Baranski (How the Grinch Stole Christmas, Mamma Mia!), Susan Sarandon (Thelma & Louise, Dead Man Walking) and Cheryl Hines (Curb Your Enthusiasm, The Ugly Truth). "[The film] follows our three under-appreciated and over-burdened women as they rebel against the challenges and expectations of the Super Bowl for moms: Christmas". Surely such an obvious rush-job can't match the thought out and clever original? Or will this be a Christmas miracle?

"Bad Moms" was unashamedly one of my favourite films of 2016, so much so that it took 4th place on my year-end list. The original was a surprise box office it; A hit that was so unforeseen that I was able to write a university essay on the film- yes, you read that write...for a degree-level assignment, I wrote about "Bad Moms". It shouldn't surprise you that when the sequel was announced in late December of last year, I was very excited but I couldn't help wonder how STX Entertainment were going to write, shoot, edit and promote a film in such a short space of time. November 1st rolls around and "A Bad Moms Christmas" hits cinemas. What did I think? It's certainly not as good as the first film, lacking the clever social commentary and instead diverging down the more generic route of exploring mother/daughter relationships. Nevertheless, the film is still very funny with a cast even greater than the first time around; "A Bad Moms Christmas" is light, festive fun that is absolutely going to please the mothers of the world all over gain. 

It was right to be skeptical about whether Lucas and Moore would be able to replicate the successful formula of the first film so quickly...because they didn't quite manage to. The trailer promises more relatable social commentary from the point of view of mothers, but this time during the festive period; All of that social commentary is made during Amy's (Mila Kunis) opening monologue about Christmas, which audiences can also hear in the film's first trailer. The film still makes other forms of social commentary but less on mum-life and more on mother/daughter relationships; The writers ever so slightly miss the mark on what made the first film stand out and work so well. The story itself is very basic which is to be expected from a script that was developed in such a short space of time; It could be argued that creativity and originality has been sacrificed so STX could capitalise on the success of the first film. "A Bad Moms Christmas" uses the generic 'countdown to Christmas' approach to tell its story and I'm not sure if it was intentional but the run up to the big day was much more exciting than Christmas day itself- they were essentially just the closing scenes of the movie; Were writers trying to comment on Christmas being an anticlimactic day that causes stress and costs lots of time and money prior to its arrival? Or had the writers already reached the required quota for the script so just used Christmas day as a device to tie the bow to complete the present? Unfortunately, I think its the latter. 

The clever commentary made during the first film also made some its funniest moments. I'm not saying that "Bad Moms" was a high-brow comedy at all but the humour in "A Bad Moms Christmas" definitely steers more crude, rude and low-brow; There's lots of raunchy comedy. Luckily for this film, the (usually) lazy style of humour is actually really effective and made the sequel just as funny as its predecessor; There were lots of laugh out loud moments and one-liners. Like in the first film, "A Bad Moms Christmas" uses musical montage scenes to inject some energy and also combine many funny moments into one sequence- I really liked the 'shopping mall' sequence that included a Santa lap dance and resulted in the ladies stealing a Christmas tree from 'Lady Foot Locker'; It was pretty hilarious. Unfortunately, I think some of the humour in this film will offend some viewers- jokes are occasionally made about minorities and although they elicited a laugh from the audience, some members would definitely have reacted in a more negative manor. The humour can also get quite dark with a whole scene of Sandy (Cheryl Hines) telling her daughter, Kiki (Kristen Bell) that she has numerous different illnesses in the hope of getting her love and attention. I definitely laughed a good amount of times during "A Bad Moms Christmas", it's certainly a very funny film. 

The original trio learnt many lessons about being a mum in the first film. It was odd because at times, it was like there wasn't a first film and that these mums had forgotten what lessons they had learnt as they seemed to have regressed to their old ways. I don't think it helped that the sequel introduced the superior figures in each of the ladies' lives as it kind of turned them from empowered and strong mums into rebellious daughters. This is unfortunate as it takes the moms some time to realise what they have previously learnt; In all honesty, they essentially learn the same message all over again- that they are in control of their life and that societies vision of a mother doesn't have to define them. The three examples of mother/daughter relationships in "A Bad Moms Christmas" are: a mother who heavily criticises her daughter, a mother who is overly attached to her daughter and a mother who distances herself from her daughter unless she needs her for something; I think this spans quite a good range of common 'mother' types and I think there will be at least one quality in one of the 'new' moms that audiences will be able to relate to. Of course, the relationship that gets the most development is Amy and Ruth's (Christine Baranski) - Amy discovers that Ruth is and uptight perfectionist because she is insecure about being a good mum, in some ways Amy teaches Ruth how to let loose and forget the boundaries of society (this is glossed over though). Lucas and Moore should have had the characters of "Bad Moms" in the forefront of their minds going into writing the sequel, however, it does seem that they don't have a firm grasp on the characters they created as at times, it's questionable that the characters actually learnt anything from the first film. 

The strongest point of these films is definitely the cast; Mila Kunis, Kristen Bell and Kathryn Hahn may be an unlikely trio but they work so well. If this was a weaker cast, the problems within the script and story would have probably shown like a stain on a white surface. I really hope the sequel is as successful as the first film because it's clear these ladies enjoy working together and as an audience member, I enjoy watching them. Each of them has a different comedic style and they all manage to obtain laughs. Even though these films do not have many serious moments, when a more sincere performance is required, they deliver; There are some really heartfelt moments in both of the films. Christina Applegate briefly returns in a cameo sized role and following suit of other moments in the film, she seems to have reverted back to her nasty ways (the trio obviously didn't become a foursome as was hinted) as she greeted Amy in quite an insulting way. It would have been nice to have seen more of Applegate and the other 'nasty' moms but there just wasn't any room for her in this story. 

One area (and it may be the only area) that beats the first film is the cast- the additions of Christine Baranski, Susan Sarandon and Cheryl Hines were a genius move and all three are matched well with their on-screen daughters. Christine Baranski has many funny moments and was by far my favourite - her character does have some borderline offensive jokes but she also has a very sassy yet stern manner that is priceless. It's also great to see Baranski return to the Christmas setting after "How the Grinch Stole Christmas". Sarandon and Hines are also well suited and have some great moments. There's one scene in particular with the 'new moms' that I really liked; Towards the end, all three are gathered at midnight mass on Christmas eve and have a conversation that is almost identical to the conversation the original moms had in the first pub scene of the original- this call back was actually quite clever and explicitly showed how similar they were to their daughters. 

Finally, does it work well as a Christmas film? Yes. I think this would be a great watch during the run up to Christmas and I can see groups of women and mothers with their daughters making a night out of this. As the film nears Christmas, the excitement (or stress) picks up and it successfully captures the festive spirt; it's a film with lots of charm, magic and heart. Admittedly, to a lesser extent than the first, "A Bad Moms Christmas" has a likeable and feel good quality to it. One criticism I had with "Bad Moms" was that the music choices seemed a little forced, I could probably say the same this time around but the fun music choices are subtly becoming a staple component to this series: Fun fact, Julia Michaels is credited as a musical supervisor on the film.  

From a fan of the first film, "A Bad Moms Christmas" doesn't quite reach the bar set by its predecessor and it's hard not to think that if the creators were given more time, fans may have received a better end result. I can't complain though as it was great to return to these characters so soon and I hope this isn't the last we see of them. Mila Kunis, Kristen Bell and Kathryn Hahn really make this series with hilarious yet relatable performances. The film may ditch clever social commentary for the more generic exploration of mother/daughter relationships but it does explore them well with a range of relationships portrayed and a good amount of development into each. Christine Baranski, Susan Sarandon and Cheryl Hines are welcomed with open arms and I hope they stick around...or maybe they can get a 'Bad Grandmas' spin-off? "A Bad Moms Christmas" is not the best gift under the tree but definitely an enjoyable one that will likely be revisited every festive period. 

66

/100

What did you think of A BAD MOMS CHRISTMAS? Was it a mistake to make this sequel so quickly? - COMMENT BELOW

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