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You’ll hate how much you’ll laugh at ‘A Bad Moms Christmas’ – Metro US

You’ll hate how much you’ll laugh at ‘A Bad Moms Christmas’

Kathryn Hahn, Mila Kunis, and Kristen Bell in A Bad Moms Christmas

‘A Bad Moms Christmas’

Director: Scott Moore, Jon Lucas

Stars: Mila Kunis, Kristen Bell, Kathryn Hahn

Rating: R

2.5 (Out Of 5) Globes

Plot: “A Bad Moms Christmas” finds the original’s three mothers Amy (Mila Kunis), Kiki (Kristen Bell), and Carla (Kathryn Hahn) more at ease at home, but now burdened by the pressure of the Holiday season. Their ambitions to make sure that their children have the best Christmas possible are waylaid when each of their own mothers, Ruth (Christine Baranski), Sandy (Cheryl Hines), and Isis (Susan Sarandon), arrive into town and immediately begin to interfere.

Review: “A Bad Moms Christmas” sets out its stall almost immediately. Not only is there a lazy, embarrassingly expositional narration to quickly establish the stress and the season, but we’re tantalizingly shown that everything goes disastrously wrong for at least one of the mothers, too. While cinematic purists might take umbrage with this slap dash approach there’s something quite reassuring about its intent to just get to the point.

For instance, “A Bad Moms Christmas” doesn’t waste any time trying to explain why all three mothers are in town at the same time, instead just introducing them in a wham bam fashion. This style is present throughout the comedy, which lacks any tact or subtly in its set-up or jokes, and even when it delves into the sentimental it is just as heavy-handed.

That being said, while its presentation may leave a lot to be desire, “A Bad Moms Christmas” still produces enough laughs and heart to placate its deficiencies. It helps that Baranski, Hines, and, especially, Sarandon are perfectly cast as the mothers to the mothers, while the original trio again inject a palpable enthusiasm through their camaraderie and innate comedic timing.

The fact that it is set at Christmas doesn’t make the film as warm or impactful as it could have been, and it doesn’t stand-out like its predecessor. But ultimately “A Bad Moms Christmas” aims low and just about delivers, which is all you could really expect. The fact it is released so ridiculously early probably means that it’ll have long been forgotten by the time Christmas finally does roll around though.