July 29, 2016
Bad Moms is a 2016 American comedy film directed and written by Jon Lucas and Scott Moore. The film stars an ensemble cast that includes Mila Kunis, Kristen Bell, Kathryn Hahn, Jay Hernandez, Annie Mumolo, Jada Pinkett Smith, and Christina Applegate.
Principal photography began in January 2016 in New Orleans before finishing that March. The film premiered on July 19, 2016, in New York City and was theatrically released on July 29, 2016, by STX Entertainment. It received mixed reviews from critics and grossed over $183 million worldwide, becoming the first film from STX to gross $100 million domestically. A sequel, titled A Bad Moms Christmas, was released on November 1, 2017.
Storyline
Amy Mitchell is a 32-year-old woman, living in the Chicagosuburbs with her kids, Jane and Dylan, her husband, Mike, and their dog, Roscoe. She works as a sales rep for a coffee company, prepares healthful lunches for her children, does their homework for them, goes to all of their extracurricular activities, and is active in the PTA, run by the domineering Gwendolyn James and her cronies, Stacy and Vicky.
When Amy catches Mike cheating on her with a camgirl, she kicks him out and attempts to keep everything together. After a particularly stressful day, Amy publicly quits the PTA due to Gwendolyn's overzealous bake sale. At a nearby bar, she meets Carla, a laid-back, sexually active single mom, and Kiki, a stay-at-home mom of four who admires Amy's dissent. Amy and Carla are irritated to see that Kiki's husband is domineering, expecting her to take care of all the kids and the house without help, while Amy and Kiki are taken aback by Carla's very hands-off approach to parenting.
The three embark on an all-night bender, inspiring Amy to loosen up with her kids: she takes them for rides in Mike's sportscar, gets them lunch from Arby's, forces Dylan to fend for himself to prevent him from being entitled, and takes the overachieving and stressed Jane for a spa day. Amy herself wants to start dating again but is inexperienced as she had a shotgun marriage at 20. She ultimately strikes up a conversation with Jessie Harkness, a kind, handsome single father, whom she had a crush on, which leads to the two of them kissing.
When Amy brings store-bought donut holes to the bake sale, she draws the ire of Gwendolyn, who uses her PTA authority to get Jane benched from the soccer team. Angered, Amy decides to run for PTA president against her. A meet-and-greet at Amy's draws only one visitor, who tells them Gwendolyn has launched a rival party at her own house, catered by Martha Stewart. The other moms and Martha swiftly abandon Gwendolyn's party, when it becomes clear that she intends to lecture them all evening, leading to a successful party at Amy's house. After the party, Jessie shows up (after Carla used Amy's phone to booty-call him), and he and Amy have sex.
Gwendolyn responds to Amy’s antics by putting joints in Jane's locker, framing her and getting her kicked out of the soccer team. Not only do Jane, Dylan and even Roscoe, both go to stay with Mike, who has agreed to an amicable divorce, but Amy‘s boss, Dale Kipler, fires her for taking too much time off.
A despondent Amy stays home during the PTA election but is fired up by Carla and Kiki. At the event, Amy gives an inspiring speech about how overworked moms need to take time off, do fewer and less stressful events, and most importantly, allow themselves to make mistakes. She wins by a landslide and winds up comforting a devastated Gwendolyn, who reveals her life is not perfect as she claimed it to be.
Weeks later, Amy's approach has led to positive changes: Jane has been reinstated to the soccer team and is stressing out less, Dylan is applying himself, Kiki makes her husband help out with the kids, Carla is more responsible and hands-on, Gwendolyn is kinder with everyone, and all of the other moms are feeling more energized. Amy herself gets her job back with much better compensation after Dale sees how much he has taken her for granted, and she continues to see Jessie. Gwendolyn invites Amy, Carla, and Kiki for a day of fun on her husband's private jet.
The end credits feature the cast of the film being interviewed with their real-life mothers.