Mr. Movie review: ‘A Bad Moms Christmas’ is a bad idea
Those upset that big box stores start the holidays in August have a new complaint to add to the list. On the day after Halloween, the first Christmas movie of the year opened. It’s A Bad Moms Christmas, which reconnects the original cast — Mila Kunis, Kristen Bell, Kathryn Hahn and others — and puts them in the kind of bad mood a lot of us get in that time of year.
They want a stress-free Christmas. Then the moms of the bad moms show up. One wants Christmas to be a huge production, another clings to her daughter and the third only shows up to borrow money.
Susan Sarandon, Christine Baranski and Cheryl Hines play the moms. Add them to the three terrific main character actresses, and you have the potential for a great movie. Key word: potential.
Done by creators Jon Lucas and Scott Moore, and in spite of some heavyweight acting, A Bad Moms Christmas ends up looking more like an R-rated sitcom than a major motion picture.
Movie name: ‘A Bad Moms Christmas’
Directors: Jon Lucas, Scott Moore
Stars: Mila Kunis, Kristin Bell, Kathryn Hahn, Christine Baranski, Susan Sarandon, Cheryl Hines, Jay Hernandez, Justin Hartley, Peter Gallagher
Mr. Movie rating: 2 1/2 stars
Rated R for language, mature themes. It’s playing at the AMC Kennewick 12, Regal’s Columbia Center 8, the Fairchild Cinemas Pasco and Queensgate 12s and at Walla Walla Grand Cinemas.
5 stars to 4 1/2 stars: Must see on the big screen.
4 stars to 3 1/2 stars: Good film, see it if it’s your type of movie.
3 stars to 2 1/2 stars: Wait until it comes out on DVD.
2 stars to 1 star: Don’t bother.
0 stars: Speaks for itself.
This story was originally published November 2, 2017 at 3:01 PM with the headline "Mr. Movie review: ‘A Bad Moms Christmas’ is a bad idea."