I know very little about being a mom, so I'm in good company with the writer/directors of A Bad Moms Christmas. In this rushed, ugly sequel to last year's surprise comedy smash, a trio of clichéd, put-upon suburbanites grapples with unannounced holiday visits from their equally cookie-cutter parents. The first film offered some insights into the pressures of motherhood. The sequel transforms Christmas into the ultimate commercial measure of a woman's parenting abilities. It also doubles down on misandry (men are still exclusively depicted as stooges or greased-up, walking erections) and uses kids as profanity puppets. A Bad Moms Christmas relies on our caring about the kind of first-world gossipy nonsense one might overhear at a Whole Foods Chardonnay-and-quinoa tasting. It's entertaining for a couple minutes, sure, but after two hours of wining and whining, you begin to wonder how you stumbled into this garish clown-show in the first place.
Welcome to Kicking the Seat!
Ian Simmons launched Kicking the Seat in 2009, one week after seeing Nora Ephron’s Julie & Julia. His wife proposed blogging as a healthier outlet for his anger than red-faced, twenty-minute tirades (Ian is no longer allowed to drive home from the movies).
The Kicking the Seat Podcast followed three years later and, despite its “undiscovered gem” status, Ian thoroughly enjoys hosting film critic discussions, creating themed shows, and interviewing such luminaries as Gaspar Noé, Rachel Brosnahan, Amy Seimetz, and Richard Dreyfuss.
Ian is a member of the Chicago Film Critics Association. He also has a family, a day job, and conflicted feelings about referring to himself in the third person.