One of the most anticipated movies of the summer – at least for moms, that is – is STX Entertainment’s Bad Moms, in theaters July 29, 2016. Last week, I had to opportunity to attend the Press Junket for Bad Moms at the Beautiful SLS Hotel in Beverly Hills, California where we interviewed the cast – Mila Kunis, Christina Applegate, Kathryn Hahn, & Annie Mumolo. Are they really Bad Moms?
How hard do you strive to be the perfect mom? Did you finally realize the impossibility of trying to be the PTA, soccer mom, bake sale, Sunday School teacher, carpool driver, gourmet chef…..do I need to go on? Have you finally realized that trying to attain these Pinterest-worthy crafts, recipes, holidays, etc. is impossible? If you have ever been in this crazy cycle, then you will find STX Entertainment’s Bad Moms totally relatable and absolutely hilarious.
Earlier this month, I had the opportunity to attend the Press Junket for Bad Moms and sat down with the cast of Bad Moms – to ask the inevitable – what was their worst Bad Moms moment and do they ever feel the guilt of being a Bad Mom to their children.
Bad Moms: Writer/Producer Scott Moore & Jon Lucas
We also had the chance to visit with the writers and directors, Scott Moore and Jon Lucas (also of the Hangover franchise) and Producer Suzanne Todd. I enjoyed hearing how they came up with the movie based on inspiration from both of their wives – they actually invited ladies over and with the help of a lot of red wine, the stories started flowing. Lucas admitted how he felt he better understood his wife now, seeing everything she goes through that he hadn’t noticed before.
They explained the casting process, how it was important to them to all cast women who were already mothers in these roles. They felt that they just didn’t have to explain motherhood when they were directing these actresses who were mothers. In fact, they learned a lot from them.
Moore describes motherhood:
“It’s brutal. It’s a war. It’s a physical battle. And one of our execs had a great line, which is like people are like how did you do an R-rated movie about moms? And he has this great line. It’s like motherhood is an R-rated job. Like, motherhood is not PG. It’s certainly not G. Motherhood is dirty. There’s a lot of stuff. It’s messy. It’s not pretty and clean and your hair looks great. It’s like it’s a battle.”
Bravo Mr. Moore. Bravo.
And I loved what Moore hopes that moms will take away from this movie:
“The big one for me just to do less, and that like doing less is okay and that like maybe this is a uniquely dad point of view, but like our wives and all the moms that are in our social circle that I know work so hard, and they do so many things. And is there a way to maybe do 5 percent less and spend 5 percent maybe more time taking care of yourself or hanging out with your kids or just having a little more fun in your life.
I think it’s gotten so crazy what the expectations are. And again, it makes for great comedy. So, I’m grateful for that. We got a movie out of it. But, it’s irrational how much moms are expected to do.”
Bad Moms: Producer Suzanne Todd
Both directors had nothing but nice things to say about Producer Suzanne Todd, calling her the “best producer they have ever worked with.” Todd was attracted to this project from the beginning because it was written by Moore & Lucas. She couldn’t believe the script was written by 2 guys as she felt it was so real and relatable. And in true Todd fashion, she spoke so sincerely of the friendship with these 2 men that came out of this project. And she hopes to work with them again in the future.
Bad Moms: Mila Kunis & Kathryn Hahn
One of the coolest parts about the casting of Bad Moms is that each star is a mother and has experienced real life “mom guilt” that they could tap into. And we were rolling at some of the stories both Mila Kunis & Kathryn Hahn told us – being able to hear “bad moms” moments that happen to everyone, including these big stars, makes them so much more relatable and down to earth. I loved it.
As Kunis is a new mom, she spoke lovingly of her almost-2 year old, how she couldn’t imagine the type of unconditional love that comes with having a baby. And though she doesn’t want to, she unintentionally subscribes to mom guilt. Both Kunis & Hahn agreed that being a working mom, even as actresses, is tough. They both hate the long days where they don’t get to see their children all day. Sounds familiar, doesn’t it?
Both Hahn & Kunis do such an amazing job of representing the EVERY mom in Bad Moms. They are both incredibly talented actresses and even funnier in person. They performances in Bad Moms is real. It’s totally a comedy but you find yourself having empathy and rooting for their characters.
Bad Moms: Christina Applegate & Annie Mumolo
Christina Applegate & Annie Mumolo play the perfect, PTA-moms that Kunis & Hahn are rebelling against but they couldn’t be more unlike their characters. When we sat down with them at the Bad Moms Press Junket, we found them to be charming, down-to-earth, and very funny. It’s no wonder all these incredibly talented actresses were chosen for these roles.
Like Kunis & Hahn, they had several stories about mother hood, Applegate describing her school drop off with dirty, not-washed hair (she was real, ladies…). They also discussed their least favorite mom jobs. For Applegate, it’s waking up:
“Waking up is real rough, and I’m trying to have a better attitude with it because sometimes she would come in, and she’d be like, morning, Mama. And I’d just be like hi. And I’m like, oh, my God, that’s horrible. That’s like the first thing she sees is me just like resenting the fact that she’s like waking me up 15 minutes before my alarm has gone of.”
And though these working moms feel the guilt, they recognize the importance of making time for yourself. Mumolo spoke of if you are not taking time to take care of yourself, you can’t be the mother you hoped to be anyway. And Applegate summed it up nicely like this:
“Cut yourself some slack. It’s okay to fail. And it’s okay to fail in front of your kids. It teaches them that that’s how life goes and to not hold yourself to such insane, unrealistic standards in life because life’s going to throw crap at you all the time. It’s about how you get back up and how you keep moving on, and I think that’s what we’re trying to say in this movie.
It’s saying to moms don’t judge each other. Don’t judge yourself because usually we’re shaming ourselves. We’re telling ourselves that we have to be more than we’re capable of doing. You know? We’re mothers at the end of the day.”
Bad Moms is in Theaters July 29, 2016
In this new comedy from the grateful husbands and devoted fathers who wrote The Hangover, Amy has a seemingly perfect life – a great marriage, over-achieving kids, beautiful home and a career. However she’s over-worked, over-committed and exhausted to the point that she’s about to snap.
Fed up, she joins forces with two other over-stressed moms on a quest to liberate themselves from conventional responsibilities – going on a wild, un-mom-like binge of long overdue freedom, fun and self-indulgence – putting them on a collision course with PTA Queen Bee Gwendolyn and her clique of devoted perfect moms.
Bad Moms celebrates “Bad Mother’s Day” on July 29 – the Mother’s Day you really want and deserve! Get tickets now: http://www.badmomstickets.com/
