After grossing $183.9 million worldwide off a $20 million budget, there was never going to be any doubt that the very mediocre comedy BAD MOMS would spawn an obligatory sequel so soon. BAD MOMS 2 or A BAD MOMS CHRISTMAS, as it’s known in the U.S, may not have much to improve on, and yet is still the first pre-Christmas turkey this year to hatch on the big screen.

You see, BAD MOMS 2 has a predilection for taking its outrageous scenarios and absurd characters to often ridiculous extents. If you have no boundaries for its excess, then BAD MOMS 2 won’t have the same problem finding your funny bone that it did mine. The worst culprit and best example of this is supplied by the character Sandy, whose aforementioned and (wayyyyyy) over-the-top neediness exposes a complete lack of judgement and awareness in its comedic writing. There are times that the writing stoops to insensitive and even nasty new lows. Once again, Sandy is the worst culprit and best example of just that during a scene shared with her daughter Kiki that takes place at the psychology practice of Dr. Karl (Wanda Sykes). To show that I’m not picking on her, another scene to feature a group of Santa’s stripping on the bench of a bar has its fun severely reduced the moment that laughter is asked to come at the expense of a person that may not be classified as fit.

If BAD MOMS 2 does remain tolerable, it is largely thanks to the perfect delivery of dialogue and physical acting from the experienced hands of Christine Baranski, who manages to ground some of the over-cooked shenanigans surrounding her with real sharpness in her timing and tone.

2 stars