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https://scmp.com/culture/film-tv/article/2122796/film-review-bad-moms-2-festival-sequel-aka-bad-moms-christmas-brings Film & TV
Film review: Bad Moms 2 – festival sequel, aka A Bad Moms Christmas, brings another round of crude jokes and bad language
Not even an entertaining performance from Susan Sarandon can save this follow-up that sets out to celebrate bad taste, but steadily descends into a tiresome tale of drunkenness, vulgarity and male strippers
Not even an entertaining performance from Susan Sarandon can save this follow-up that sets out to celebrate bad taste, but steadily descends into a tiresome tale of drunkenness, vulgarity and male strippers
2/5 stars
Bad Moms 2 (aka A Bad Moms Christmas) is marginally better than Bad Moms , much better than Rough Night , and much, much better than Daddy’s Home 2 , which has a similar plot. But that is not saying much, as all of these films are appalling in their own ways.
The sequel does have a relatively tighter script than the original, but the mind-numbing litany of crude jokes results in a kind of shellshock after 30 minutes, and becomes tiresome thereafter. Things are elevated by Susan Sarandon, who brings gusto to her role as an oversexed ex-groupie grandmother. But even she is no match for the film’s overwhelming banality.
Sarandon, Hahn and Justin Hartley get acquainted. Photo: STX Entertainment
This is standard festive fare with a crude twist. The three moms (Mila Kunis, Kristen Bell and Kathryn Hahn) are horrified when their own mothers descend on them for Christmas. The grandmothers range from judgmental to overly flirtatious, so the girls decide to abandon the usual holiday traditions and do it their way. Cue drunkenness, male strippers, bad language, and the usual lessons learned.
Unlike the first Bad Moms, some of the salty jokes are actually funny here. Hahn excels in a dirty-talking role, and can certainly deliver a joke, even managing to get laughs out of lines like, “Let’s put the ‘ass’ in Christmas.” Television actress Christine Baranski, as a stern grandmother, also makes a lot out of her supporting role, and adds a bit of class.
Kunis and Christine Baranski in Bad Moms 2. Photo: STX Entertainment
A lack of plot means that this sequel, again scripted and directed by Jon Lucas and Scott Moore, loses momentum very quickly. Ultimately, Bad Moms 2 is more of a male fantasy of slutty women than the female empowerment story it purports to be.
Bad Moms 2 opens on December 7
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