Sometimes you’re stuck on an airplane and have to pick what to watch. Moms gone wild? Sororities girls gone wild? Or Anna Kendrick gone wild? Here’s my two cents on these three movies.
Bad Moms
A seemingly cathartic movie for moms who just can’t have it all, Bad Moms has a similar appeal to women as the smell of a baby’s head. Almost everyone on the plane I was on was watching it, with Mila Kunis in different stages of pouring vodka on herself all across the aisles. A powerful thing to watch. Unfortunately, this movie isn’t as guilty fun as it sounds. Odd scenes of reckless driving, grocery store looting and real parental negligence make this movie implausible beyond forgiveness. It’s probably worth watching about 1/3 of it on a very short flight if you’ve had a couple bloody marys.
Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates
Something about this movie seems stupid from the get-go. Maybe because it features two respectable actresses as characters who play dumb to get a free trip to Hawaii? Maybe it’s trying too hard to be Wedding Crashers? Or the idea of guys needing to find wedding dates just doesn’t seem enough of a conflict for a movie? Who knows! I watched it anyway. At first, I found it surprisingly watchable. Aubrey Plaza is even going outside of her usual deadpan acting playbook. She’s also not wearing pants for like half the movie — not saying that this is a plus or a minus, it’s just strange for her. Then we get to a scene where Kumail Nanjiani plays a mystical masseuse who gets paid to give the bride a few pseudo-yogic O’s. It made me cringe a lot. The whole movie went way downhill from there. Watch only if on sleeping pills.
Neighbors 2: Sorority Rising
I watched the first Neighbors movie on a flight to England, and laughed so hard that an older gentleman came up to me after the flight and asked what movie I had been watching. As you can see, I liked the first one quite a bit, but I actually found the second one even better.
This movie features a lot of my favorite comedy actors, including Hannibal Buress, John Early, Jerrod Carmichael and Kyle Mooney. Selena Gomez graces it with her presence, and it even features the rapper Awkwafina, who gives a hilarious performance. Chloë Grace Moretz and Kiersey Clemons (of Dope) bring a fresh and young lady vibe to what was once more of a bro-down. Plus, Rose Byrne is always delightful and Seth Rogen is very sweet/charming/funny. My only criticism is that it has too many jokes about a toddler playing with a vibrator. Like that’d be funny if it only happened once.
Also, I picked the British poster because I liked it better. Apparently the British version is called Bad Neighbours.
The Winner: Neighbors 2. Next time you’re on a plane, this irreverent send-up of frats and sororities will make your flight a lot more enjoyable than the other two movies. Zac Efron both loses and wins in this round.