“I’ll drink to that.”

LEAVING aside for the moment that they didn’t change the title of Bad Moms to a more Australian-friendly spelling, this latest female-centric comedy is wildly erratic, but not in a good way.

Amy (Mila Kunis) is the kind of mum who’s trying to “have it all”, valiantly struggling to juggle her job, her marriage, her kids and all the various crap that comes with trying to be a “perfect mum”.

Most days, she makes it work but on one nightmare day, she breaks, telling the stuck-up president of her kids’ school’s PTA (US version of P & C) that she quits because she’s a “bad mum” and can’t take all the unnecessary commitments any more.

Amy lets loose and she, her friends and other over-it mums indulge in some well-earnt raucous fun times and, logically, what must have been a lot of off-screen post-party drink driving, as they come to terms with what it means to be a “good mum” or a “bad mum”.

The idea of fighting against the “perfect mum” culture is something I imagine will resonate with most mothers — the constant judgment and scrutiny from others and from yourself; the fact that you can always to do with an extra 10 minutes of me-time.

But this movie is still very much a microcosm of a particular set of problems grounded in mostly white, middle class, suburban privilege. It is not the universal story it purports to be.

No matter how drunk you are, there’s no excuse for pounding back four litres of milk. Yuck.Source:Supplied

Audience members without kids will also find it hard to relate to the movie beyond the first 20 minutes. If anything, to the kid-free, it serves as a cautionary tale about why you should never, ever, even contemplate having children, those little bundles of snot that destroy any semblance of a good life. I’m not saying that’s what kids are, that’s just how you might feel about the prospect of parenthood after watching Bad Moms.

Bad Moms comes from first-time directors Jon Lucas and Scott Moore, two men whose oeuvre thus far has been writing bro comedies such as The Hangover and The Change-Up. The pair serves up a tired collection of stereotypes and a hackneyed, predictable story with every plot point obvious about 20 minutes in.

Despite its great cast, the actors are, to varying degrees, under-utilised. Kathryn Hahn and Kristen Bell are gifted some funny throwaway lines but like Kunis’ “busy working mum”, they’re also boxed in as “hard-partying single mum” and “put-upon stay-at-home mum”.

“I will destroy you.”Source:Supplied

Christina Applegate’s thankless role as the villain Gwendolyn was probably imagined as some kind of grown-up Regina George but is too two-dimensional to care about. Jada Pinkett Smith is especially short-changed, given nothing to do except parrot Gwendolyn as sidekick number one and thumbing her nose at sidekick number two.

Men are also largely absent from this movie with a couple of idiot husbands occasionally popping up and a love interest designed to only be “hot”. It’s baffling that in 2016, not one father seems to be interested enough in their kids’ welfare to be present for these endless PTA meetings.

Bad Moms could’ve gone all-out and there were hints of a better movie in instances but it chickened out, never rising above lazy cliches. In its attempt to show that mums are more than just a functionary for their kids and partners, it failed to create any characters that felt like real people.

It’s shockingly schmaltzy, bad written and clumsily beats you over the head with its message for the entire one hour and 40 minutes (we get it, mums are awesome). Bad Moms knew the story it wanted to tell, and it’s a worthy story, but it just wasn’t any good at telling it.

Rating: 2/5

Bad Moms is in cinemas from Thursday, August 11.

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