Christmas is a stressful time for the three Moms we met in the first film as they try to get it perfect whilst also having to deal with their own overbearing mothers! But will the plan to take Christmas back work?
Amy, Kiki and Carla each have different reasons to be sick of their mothers and having them at Christmas certainly added to the stress of the season. Amy's mother taking over everything and wanting a perfect Christmas her way for her grandchildren enjoy. Kiki's mother being way over the top about her and wanting to be her best friend is just too much. Carla's mother being very similar in character liking drink and drugs but only seems to arrive when she needs more money from her.
This all escalates in the week building up to Christmas throughout the film we are given a days until Christmas countdown and everything gets more ridiculous the closer it gets to Christmas Day. The thing is though I am pretty sure I secretly enjoyed the first film and thought it had some rather amusing moments in it. The biggest problem with a comedy sequel? They pretty much reuse the same jokes over and over again, which I guess is what happens with this one at times.
Add in a male stripper and dancing all over Santa and you have a pretty terrible attempt at a Christmas film to be brutally honest. I mean you could have easily done a sequel with the mothers at any time, but having it at Christmas adds in the rubbish and pathetic sentiment that it is all supposed to be perfect and amazing, which come on we all know does not really happen.
I will give praise to Christine Baranski who absolutely stole every single scene she was in, absolutely fantastic as Ruth (Amy's mother) who had a very tough exterior and some incredible moments. The Carol singing being a particular highlight, honestly she was the only good thing in the whole film for me. Such a shame her talents were wasted on an absolute dud like this!
This is one of those films though that gets groups of women into the cinema, which lets face it doesn't happen very often. I certainly should not have gone to a packed screening on the first day it was open, was always going to end up with people behind me talking all the way through, like seriously why bother going to the cinema if you are going to talk constantly, I just don't get it?!?
I also think the very early release date is because it really wasn't going to be able to compete with some of the films that are coming out in the build up to Christmas, so its out-of-the-way now for me at least. I certainly will not be recommending this one to many people, as I wouldn't want to be responsible for anyone wasting time and money to watch this one. Stop forcing fake Christmas films on everyone!
