“Bad Moms” is one of the funniest movies I’ve seen in awhile. It’s also pretty damn relatable.
Fandango summarizes the plot of the movie: “Three overstressed, overworked mothers (Mila Kunis, Kristen Bell, and Kathryn Hahn) decide to blow off their responsibilities and have some fun, but their wild ways cause them to clash with a rival mommy (Christina Applegate) who's dedicated to preserving the facade of her perfect life."
You can watch the trailer here:
The movie starts with an inside look into stressed moms’ lives, evolving to the main characters’ creation of a friendship where they stop giving a damn about society’s idea of a perfect mom. This friendship allows the three moms to destress, through hilarious adventures. Eventually the moms realize that they might be able to change their community’s idea of being a good mom. I won't tell you what actually happens though!
Here’s my experience:
My friend and I went to the movies, got the worst possible seats, and laughed and cried along with a theater full of moms out for a Girls-Movie-Night with their BFFs. We as teenagers loved it just as much as the moms did. Ok, maybe we couldn’t relate to the Mom stress of driving around their loud and annoying kids to soccer and piano and Mandarin Class, when you would much rather be at home watching “Orange Is The New Black.” However, we could relate to the feelings of drowning in societal pressure, not feeling like you’re doing enough even when you couldn’t possibly do any more, and wanting to live life instead of just surviving through it.
In the movie, the characters say some pretty ridiculous, but honest things.
There is a moment in the movie when the distressed moms realize they don’t need to put up with the pressure they feel and they can just be the moms and people they want to be. As they are sharing their Mommy Confessions, Kristen Bell’s character, Kiki, shares that she wishes that sometimes she would get in a car accident so that she could eat jello and watch TV all day and it would be completely covered by her insurance. This is how desperately she wants a break from her four screaming children. It turns out that she could feel a whole lot better if she found some friends that feel just as overworked as her, and they let loose!
My favorite scene in the movie is when the moms first decide to rebel against the idea of The Perfect Mom, and end up completely trashing a grocery store after getting drunk at a local bar. The scene is shot mostly in slow-motion, which emphasizes the freedom and release the moms feel. They eat tons of horribly sugary cereal that most health-conscious moms would completely disapprove of. They pour tequila in their chocolate milk; it was totally a Mommies-Gone-Rogue operation. You’ll just have to see this incredible scene for yourself because it’s pretty indescribable.
The strong take-away message in the movie that can be adapted to people experiencing different times in life:
For Moms: there is no such thing as a perfect Mom. Successful parenting is when you have happy and healthy kids with good morals who are ready to take on the world as independent creators, adventurers, entrepreneurs, or whatever else they might want to do. There is no exact mold for parents; life would be pretty boring if it were that way. Imagine this -- everyone lives in the same perfect uptight neighborhoods, with their kids all wearing the same clothes, with the same hair (you can just completely forget about self-expression), all kids going towards the same neutral goal where there is no room for creativity nor true happiness. The intro to the series “Weeds” demonstrates this idea very well:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t3_ug-IGBJY
For teenagers: there is no such thing as a perfect person. Why should we be all working towards the same goal of attending the big Ivy League schools if we would be happier at a smaller, lesser known school? I am not saying that Iives are bad nor that having high standards is bad. I’m saying that success cannot be measured with numbers and it’s up to individuals to determine whether they feel they are doing a good job, not up to society.
Have I convinced you to watch “Bad Moms” yet?
