The Mother of Summer Sleeper Movies – Bad Moms Trailer

Hey everyone, for our Bad Moms trailer breakdown, we’ve brought in a guest contributor. So let me introduce you to resident HPN “bad mom” (but not “bad” mom), Jen.

Hello Readers,

I’m Jen, friend and fan of the Hollywood Picture News (as in “Jen really wants me to watch Twin Peaks”). I’m here to talk to you about the trailer for what is sure to be this summer’s “girls night out” hit, Bad Moms.

First off I’d apologize for the lateness of this post (the trailer was released a few days ago). Between conference calls, cleaning up toys, and cooking dinner, timing was a challenge. But I took a cue from these “Bad Moms,” gave my toddler some Benadryl, handed the laundry to my husband, poured myself a bourbon, and here I am…

First thing to note, this is a Red Band trailer. It’s NSFW and certainly not safe to listen to without headphones around a 2-year old (NSTLTWHAA2YO). I appreciate the ovaries this marketing team has to lead off with a red band, immediately setting it apart from the likes of bland mother-loving (not that kind of mother-loving) comedies like Mother’s Day, the latest addition to the GMCU (Garry Marshall Cinematic Universe)

The trailer hits the standard setup notes for your traditional snobs v. slobs comedy, with Mila Kunis as the put-upon every-mom struggling to live up to upper-middle-class society’s rigorous expectations of working mothers. Christina Applegate and Jada Pinkett Smith represent the “Omega House,” if you will, of moms who likely make their own GMO-free baby food from scratch, sew their children’s own Halloween costumes, and don’t give their kids Benadryl to get them to sleep.

Kunis’s character, Amy, reaches her breaking point when Applegate hands out the over-the-top restrictions for the PTA’s bake sale. She finally speaks up about the challenges of being the “perfect mom” and wins over two comrades to her cause in the form of a mousy Kristen Bell (as mousy as Veronica Mars can possibly be, anyway) and Kathryn Hahn, literally one of the funniest people on the planet.

From there, the moms are in full-on Delta House mode, drinking, driving a motorized shopping cart without visible injury, wasting cereal, bringing store-bought, gluten-filled desserts to the bake sale, and engaging in a raucous house party featuring girl-on-girl make outs, whip-its, and a third-trimester dancing queen.

There’s a clear female-bonding angle here with the final three glimpses of the film. First, the scene that ensured that 15 of my hard-earned dollars will end up in the Kunis/Kutcher baby college fund: the mom bra. Kunis reveals her utilitarian undergarment to her pals and they are merciless. “You’ve got a very ‘Boys Don’t Cry’ thing happening right now,” says Bell, causing me to pause the trailer a full 15 seconds till I’ve sufficiently finished laughing.

This is followed by some graphic, and hilarious, sex talk from Kristen Bell regarding her “never hard husband” (in the movie, that is; in real life, I’m sure Dax Shepard gets hard at the drop of a hat) that earns this trailer its raunch-movie cred.

The trailer wraps with a familiar scene to many a mom, as each woman describes the terrible things their child does while crying about how much they love them.

All-in-all I’m sold on Bad Moms, but I am 100% the target audience. My husband chuckled exactly once while watching it over my shoulder, so some word of mouth might be needed. But I’ve already got a date with some mom friends to drink heavily and see this movie and it doesn’t open for another two months. The success of female-driven comedies (ugh I hat writing that phrase) is no longer a one-off situation, just ask Melissa McCarthy’s on-site personal masseuse. These movies make money. What sets this one apart is tying the idea of “motherhood” into the mix of traditional bro-comedy antics. The success of blogs like “Scary Mommy” say that there are a lot of members of the target audience out there, but I’m curious to see how this crosses over.

Now, if you’ll excuse me I have a diaper to change, thank you notes to write, and several talent agreements to proofread.

From North Hollywood,

–Jen