Professor Popinjay's Compendium of Perspicacity

A Non-Review by Professor Popinjay

This is not my kind of movie. At least I thought it wasn’t. I put it in the same category as Van Wilder or Bad Santa. But it’s really not like those at all. I hate hate hate those raunchy screwball comedies like Not Another Teen Movie or Scary Movie. I think they’re just beyond stupid. Mainly I don’t think jokes centered around horny losers are funny; probably because of the fact that I spent so much of my own life being a horny loser. Why am I talking about this? Oh right. Bad Moms. I erroneously put a lot of movies into that category simply because they were marketed inaccurately.

Movie trailers are often conducted in such a way as to appeal to the widest possible demographic toward which it can be appropriately marketed. A Director may have produced a profound and cerebral piece of cinema but the marketing crew gets a hold of it and says “Bah! This will only appeal to people who wear powdered wigs of which there are few! Let us exploit the basest examples of humor found within the film that we may excite the masses with farts and sex!”

Hence, this was one such movie I cared not to see. And then I saw it. Yes, there is sex. There are a couple less-than-classy jokes. However the bulk of Bad Moms I found genuinely amusing. It was not an American Pie film (Oh! I throw up a little everytime I hear that title).

It’s about a mom (Mika Kunis) who goes through a divorce or separation. Her children attend a school with an overbearing principal and/or PTA chairperson (Christina Applegate). I forget what her position is exactly. Christina creates an intense and stressful atmosphere for the rest of the parents and teachers in the school and one group of moms in particular band together to have some much needed fun. Of course they risk the wrath of Christina, who has the power to bring swift retribution.

The conclusion is eye opening and insightful. Moms who have personal time by themselves or with friends are not bad moms. Moms who establish healthy boundaries and say “No, that’s not my emergency” are being a good example and not enabling their children to be lazy and entitled.  They’re better moms for it and they have healthier children (and in this case her now ex husband has the opportunity to possibly improve himself too.) Moms bend over backwards for the people they love and even some that they might not especially like. They deserve respect, and appreciation, and me-time, and fun, and sex the way they like it, and fart jokes! The people in powdered wigs should be happy to see such a film as well as anyone else.

I’ve given a lot of films a chance in the last few years at which I had turned up my nose in the distant past and I’m frequently pleasantly surprised. In some cases it’s been simply because I’ve been watching most films by myself and I’m able to make my own conclusion about what I’m seeing without the influence of other people in the room. That’s an empowering feeling. It’s easy for opinions to be coerced by the opinions of others when really we should be making up our own minds about a thing. There are an endless number of aspects to like or dislike about anything really. This is why I never really intend to sway a person with this blog and I just like to ramble about topics these films inspire. I fully encourage you to also ramble in the commentary or invite me to your own movie blog if you have one!

It may be a contradictory philosophy to what my blog presents but I think critics who do nothing but watch movies with the intention of criticizing get into a rut of negativity and high expectations. I just like movies, even if they’re terrible. Going to see the terrible 2015 Fantastic Four with a bunch of friends who were all expecting it to be terrible was some of the most fun I’d had in my life at that time in a long time. We were the only people in the theatre and we had a blast.

There’s a sequel to Bad Moms with Bad Moms Christmas. Happy to say I’m genuinely interested.