A Bad Moms Christmas (Blu-ray Review)

A Bad Moms Christmas is an odd one for me to be reviewing here on the site.  It’s not because it’s a female centric film, but because I was so opposed to the first one.  For some reason I wanted absolutely nothing to do with it.  However, one boring Austin, TX afternoon I was able to pick Bad Mom’s up at a really cheap for my fiancee.  She wanted very badly to see it so it can’t always be about me.  Much to my surprise I was taken aback by not only how pumping the audio was in the rear speakers behind my viewing seat, but also how much I shockingly enjoyed the feature.  It was fun, fresh and crude in all the right which ways I love my comedies to be.  So needless to say I was very excited to see the next chapter in the Bad Moms franchise.  While oddly it’s a Christmas movie that was released way before even the 2017 Thanksgiving holiday I’m going to go into whether or not it delivers on all the goods the first did.  In other words I’ll let you know if it fires on all cylinders.  Here we go!

Film 

A Bad Moms Christmas is written and directed by Jon Lucas and Scott Moore (The Hangover, Four Christmases).  The original trio of ladies, Mila Kunis (Ted), Kristen Bell (Forgetting Sarah Marshall) and Kathryn Hahn (“Transparent”), are joined by newcomers Christine Baranski (“The Good Wife”), Cheryl Hines (“Curb Your Enthusiasm”) and Susan Sarandon (“Feud”) as the their respective mothers.  The film also stars Justin Hartley (“This Is Us”) and Peter Gallagher (“Law & Order: SVU”).  And just in case you did not know this is a direct sequel to the 2016’s breakout hit Bad Moms.  They made this one pretty fast, huh?  In a nutshell these overwhelmed and overworked mothers are literally ambushed during the holidays by their own moms.

I guess I can never truly relate because I won’t ever be a parent (at least it’s trending that way), but for mom’s their version of NFL’s Super Bowl is the family gathering holiday of Christmas.  Needless to say if the title of the movie did not clue you in already, this one is all about the familial pressures and expectations during the Christmas holiday season.  And there are some moms, most notably our younger three here, who just want their own quiet version of the holiday.  Obviously you can at least be guaranteed of clashing opinions here as to how family Christmases are supposed to be celebrated.  It’s young versus the old across the three families here as we are left in suspense as to what generation of moms will define how the holidays should ultimately be spent.  Who knows the moms and their respective moms just might all come out unscathed here with closer relationships to boot too.  Ah who am I kidding it’s a heart warming comedy.  You already know that on the surface.  So instead of me beating a dead horse I’d rather discuss what I thought of it all.

Needless to say unless you’re named Empire Strikes Back or The Dark Knight it’s nearly impossible to top the first movie in a franchise.  The critics and even the general moviegoing audience was not kind at all towards A Bad Moms Christmas.  Sure it had its moments, but for the most part it was like stale eggnog compared to the freshness and laughs of the first film.  You would think with the likable cast names I mentioned above alone this one would sell itself and couldn’t possibly suck.  While I do not think it sucks I do feel it offers only little and occasional laughs ultimately due to its hollow storyline.  What drew me into the first one was how stressed out the three younger moms were.  However, in this one I just didn’t feel that sense of gravity.  Instead I found myself laughing more with the older moms.  I guess you could say I found some lumps of coal in my stocking.  In the original entry seeing Mila Kunis killing herself at work and raising kids on her own were the appeal to me.  That felt real and something I could identify with.  Having my mom visit for the holidays, times three here in the numbers department, is just superfluous to me.  It will never happen in my lifetime.

Now that’s not to say there aren’t laughs to be had here.  There are, but they are just few and far between.  Hahn is still one of my favorites of this series.  The off the wall stuff that just flies out of her mouth at any given time is what saves this film for me from being a complete time waster.  In the end there’s really a heart warming story underneath it all, but the fun of what it took to get there in the first film is just bogged down here.  Perhaps they rushed this one and thought all the likable names in this one would sell itself, and in the marketing department it did (made 130 million at the box office off a 28 million budget), but I wanted this to be so much more.  Were my expectations too high?  You tell me.  Even after a second viewing my feelings remain the same towards A Bad Moms Christmas.  I wanted more slapstick and “real-life” stress like the first one had in my second helping with A Bad Mom’s Christmas.  For me I think it’s the charisma of the cast that carries this one along as well as the touching ending.  It never quite captures the hilarity of the first film, but the conclusive emotionality of it all brings it in.  Plus how can you not at least chuckle along with Big Bang Theory‘s Christine Baranski?  There’s always the song that the cast dances to during the beginning of the credits too.

Video 

• Encoding: AVC MPEG-4
• Layers: BD-50
• Resolution: 1080p
• Aspect Ratio: 2.40:1 Widescreen
• Clarity/Detail: Like most modern day comedies on the Blu-ray format things are razor sharp in the presentation here.  I love the intricacy of everything here.  The sets are highly detailed as are the close-ups where you’ll see ever mole, freckle, stubble and out of place hair.  Textures are equally amazing too like those in the many sweater garments, wood grain on the house shingles, camel fur, broken glass and more.  There are a few moments of softness, but those are mainly due to lighting moments such as sunshine, etc.
• Depth: This one is pretty easy to relate to because of the three-dimensional pop to pretty much everything in this presentation, living and non-organic.  There’s a sense of vastness and depth to pretty much everything here from interiors within the home and rows Christmas decorations out front to shopping malls and suburb streets.
• Black Levels: What else can I say except the fact that the black levels were like a pristine looking comic book, inky and deep.
• Color Reproduction: The color palette changed a bit here due to its environments.  However, for the most part all colors were bold, bright and vibrant throughout.  Outside shots in the snow looked stunning, even though I hate snow, while most indoor sequences were a tad on the yellowish side due to lighting.
• Flesh Tones: The skin tones can be a bit warm at times, but for the most part they are normal and accurate.
• Noise/Artifacts: There’s absolutely nothing in the way of noise to complain about here.

Audio 

• Audio Format(s): English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1
• Subtitles: English SDH, Latin American Spanish
• Dynamics: Like the first film the audio presentation is big, bold, bright and beautiful thanks in part to the kicking jams that despite the lulls in the movie here at times really pumps you up and energizes.  You need that here.  Trust me.  Other than that I can attest to the fact that sounds and effects are authentically reproduced so there is that.
• Low Frequency Extension: The name of the game is low, deep bass as the jams are pumping and thrilling here through the many montage rides we are taken on.  I love hearing and seeing my subwoofer get a workout like this.  Even stapling Christmas decorations to the walls and getting hit by dodgeballs pack quite a wallop here.
• Surround Sound Presentation: What can I say except the fact that this booming and pumping soundtrack really immerses you here in every moment it jams in.  From kids screaming in the mall to partridges taking flight during “The 12 Days of Christmas” there are plenty of moments to cherish the rears here for, but let’s be realistic.  This is a comedy movie so best effort most of the action takes place front and center.  Speaking of center…
• Dialogue Reproduction: The dialogue levels are clean, clear and loud throughout.  I do want to point out one minute word outside the supermarket when Hahn and Sarandon are collecting cans for the “homeless.”  One spoken word here of Hahn’s sounds really hot, but other than that this vocal track is stellar.

Extras 

The Blu-ray release of A Bad Moms Christmas features a gag reel, deleted scenes, trailers and an extended music video.  In addition you’ll also find a redemption code within good for the Digital HD version, which will seamlessly redeem on Movies Anywhere so you can conveniently watch it both in iTunes or on your favorite UltraViolet player.  As an added bonus the iTunes version does allow playback in 4K.  How do you like that?  There’s a digital 4K version, but not a UHD disc one.  Unbelievable, but I digress.  So let’s take a close look down below at the Blu-ray extras.

• Gag Reel (HD, 6:36) – Maybe it’s because of the likable cast, but this six minutes goes by quickly.
• Additional Scenes (HD, 3:52) – This mostly consists of alternate takes and different attempts at dialog.
• Crew Music Video (HD, 2:25) – The crew behind-the-scenes dance to “I Want To Be Your Santa Claus” much akin to the cast during the credits.
• Theatrical Trailers (HD) – There’s two trailers here with a Play All option: Theatrical Trailer #1 Red Band and Theatrical Trailer 2 Red Band.

Summary 

I honestly don’t know if we will see another entry in this female driven franchise beyond A Bad Moms Christmas.  I have not heard or read anything on the topic at all.  I’m not sure what they can do to reconcile it either, but since I like this cast so much I’m open to it.  If they go back to the premise of the first focusing on the three younger moms, where do they ultimately go with it without it feeling stale and redundant?  That one even I don’t have an answer for.  I do know this that you can say what you want about A Bad Moms Christmas, but the video and audio presentations here are both clean and pristine on the Blu-ray Disc.  It’s super light on the extras side of things, but what do you expect from a comedy like this?  I know an EPK or making of would have been great, but in reality what are you going to do?  Your mileage may vary with this one, but I would optimistically say this one is for the fans only in the purchase department.  All others should either proceed with caution and/or give it a rent first.  Either way…enjoy and thanks for reading.  Happy Belated Christmas.

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It May Be January Now,

But Let’s Celebrate The Holidays Again w/

A Bad Moms Christmas

on Blu-ray & DVD February 6th

PRE-ORDER Now!

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