Taglines: Merry is relative.
With Christmas Eve just around the corner, the raucous gang of suburban moms, Carla, Amy and Kiki, are already beginning to buckle under the pressure of the most wonderful time of the year. And to make matters worse–as if a very busy schedule and parenting aren’t enough–the overworked mothers have to face yet another challenge: create the perfect holiday for their smothering mothers who decided to show up for Christmas. Undoubtedly, the holidays are never easy, and as the mothers and daughters struggle with their neuroses, pulling off the most magical Christmas seems like an impossible task. Can the girls renegotiate their relationships?
A Bad Moms Christmas is a 2017 American Christmas comedy film written and directed by Jon Lucas and Scott Moore. It is a sequel to the 2016 film Bad Moms. The plot follows the three moms from the first film (Mila Kunis, Kristen Bell, and Kathryn Hahn) dealing with their own mothers (Christine Baranski, Cheryl Hines, and Susan Sarandon) visiting during the Christmas holiday.
Principal photography on the film began in Atlanta, Georgia in May 2017, and the film was released by STXfilms in the United States on November 1, 2017. As of January 21, 2018, A Bad Moms Christmas has grossed $72.1 million in the United States and Canada, and $58.5 million in other territories, for a worldwide total of $130.6 million, against a production budget of $28 million.
As of January 21, 2018, A Bad Moms Christmas has grossed $72.1 million in the United States and Canada, and $58.5 million in other territories, for a worldwide total of $130.6 million, against a production budget of $28 million. In North America, the film was projected to gross around $25 million from 3,615 theaters in its first five days (including $17 million over the weekend). It took in $2.7 million on its first day, and $17 million over the weekend, for a five-day total of $21.6 million, finishing second at the box office behind Thor: Ragnarok.
About the Story
Amy is now in a happy relationship with Jesse and is looking forward to having a simple Christmas. Her plans are derailed when her overly critical mother, Ruth, texts her to say she is coming for Christmas.
Meanwhile, Kiki is still overworked with her four kids but now her husband Kent is much more helpful. Kiki is surprised when her mother Sandy shows up three days earlier than expected and is planning to spend the next three weeks with Kiki. Sandy’s love for Kiki is overwhelming, and smothering Kiki.
When Carla gets home, her mother, Isis, has arrived, telling her she intends to spend time with her for the first time in years. Surprised by this turn of events Carla is excited to spend time with her. Eventually, Amy, Kiki and Carla go to the mall where they express their misery over the holidays. But while commiserating about the pressures of the holidays they make a pact to “take Christmas back”. Ruth tries to create a spectacle out of Christmas, rather than keeping it simple like Amy wanted. In an effort to temper down those plans Amy takes the family to Sky Zone to meet up with Kiki and Carla and their families. Ruth, Sandy and Isis all meet and chat while their daughters have fun with their kids.
At work, Carla meets an erotic dancer named Ty, who says he is competing in a Sexy Santa competition and he asks Carla to be his date, which she enthusiastically accepts. Kiki continues to have issues with her mother’s overbearing ways and decides to bring Sandy to Dr. Karl to discuss these issues. This leads to a breakdown in communication leading to Kiki scolding Sandy and causing her to leave the session.
Amy and Kiki join Carla as they attend the Sexy Santa show. All the ladies in the room are impressed with Ty’s dancing. To everyone’s surprise, Isis gets up on the bar and starts dancing with Ty. Carla runs up to get Ty back, leading to a fight. When Carla brings Isis home, Isis tells her she needs money for a new investment, but Carla knows she’s just going to gamble it all away and then disappear from Carla’s life like it’s been for years. Nonetheless, Carla relents and loans Isis the money.
On Christmas Eve, Sandy tells Kiki that she put up a cash offer for the house next door so that she can live right next to Kiki. Finally, Kiki lashes out and tells Sandy she cannot live next door and that she wants some space. Sandy leaves the room crying.
Amy gets angry with Ruth when she discovers Ruth has invited a bunch of strangers over to her home to throw an elaborate Christmas party. Exactly what Amy did not want. Amy loses her temper and demands everyone leave her home and tells Ruth to leave and get out of her life forever. The kids, Jane and Dylan, witness this outburst and become upset with Amy. Meanwhile, Carla finds a note from Isis indicating she has just taken off with the money she lent her and Kiki is all alone as well.
Ruth goes to church for Midnight Mass and is surprisingly joined by Sandy and Isis. All the ladies criticize each other for their efforts as mothers, with each of them realizing their flaws. Amy’s father goes to her to talk about Ruth and the horrible fight they had, but acknowledging that while Ruth can be difficult to deal with, she has always been insecure over her work as a mom toward Amy, always worried whether or not she was doing a good job as a mother, but she always had the right intentions and loved Amy unconditionally. Amy goes to the church to try and repair her relationship with her mother. They apologize to each other and express their love. Once the clock strikes midnight, Amy and Ruth rush home to fix Christmas.
A Bad Mom’s Christmas (2017)
Directed by: Scott Moore, Jon Lucas
Starring: Mila Kunis, Kristen Bell, Kathryn Hahn, Cheryl Hines, Justin Hartley, Christine Baranski, Susan Sarandon, Jay Hernandez, Peter Gallagher, Oona Laurence, Wanda Sykes, Christina Applegate
Screenplay by: Scott Moore, Jon Lucas
Production Design by: Marcia Hinds
Cinematography by: Mitchell Amundsen
Film Editing by: James Thomas
Costume Design by: ulia Caston
Set Decoration by: Kristie Thompson
Art Direction by: Marcia Hinds
Music by: Christopher Lennertz
MPAA Rating: R for crude sexual content and language throughout, and some drug use.
Distributed by: STX Entertainment
Release Date: November 1, 2017
