The movie Moms’ Night Out sets out to remind us all that we are enough, that people can surprise us, and that it’s okay if things are not always okay. This movie has a dollop of heartwarming schmaltz, a little Happily Married Romance, a little Telling it Like It Is, and a little laugh until you pee your pants. What you won’t get in this film is profanity, sleazy bedroom scenes, “bathroom” humor, or heartbreak. (Although there were several scenes when I wondered why no one seemed to be wearing a seatbelt.) You will laugh, and you will, if you’re a parent, see yourself.
Allyson, played by Sarah Drew of Grey’s Anatomy fame, begins the movie by telling us that her blog has three followers. “Yesterday I had four. So that’s AWESOME.” She has also gotten up in the wee small hours of the morning while her husband is away to frantically clean the house- on Mother’s Day. This is Perfect Storm: Mommy Edition. You know the boat is going down, it’s just a question of when. If you’ve seen her in Grey’s, you know that nobody does “keeping the lid on crazy” quite like Sarah Drew. Her performance is brilliant and true, and it holds the whole move together, in my opinion. If her anxiety, self doubt, joy, and crazy didn’t ring true, this movie would not ring true, either. As it is, she nailed the role and she nailed motherhood. If you’re a mom and you can’t see even a little bit of yourself or your friends in this movie, then you’re not watching it.
Allyson asks herself throughout the movie why, when she is living this beautiful life, does she feel “this way?” By which she means sometimes overwhelmed, sometimes unhappy, often anxious, and frequently like she is messing everything up. We’ve all felt this way. Like we are letting everyone down by not being perfect. By not, as she puts it, ever being enough. This is one of the overwhelming and inescapable facts of life as a parent. Being a parent takes over everything. It creeps into every minute of every day until both the wonder and the not so wonderful of it all feels like it will grind you between its huge, huge teeth and leave only dust behind. I felt a little bit like the movie didn’t explore that theme far enough- but to be honest, I don’t think it’s something you can explore in a movie. Maybe a novel- no, maybe an epic could do it justice. But not a movie. So the fact that Moms’ Night Out acknowleged that we all feel this way and didn’t give it more than platitudes in return is forgivable. (After all, platitudes get that way for a reason: They are frequently true, even if the fact that we repeat them time and again makes them feel glib.)
Distributed by TriStar, Affirm Films, and Provident films, the best way to explain the genre of this movie would be to say that it belongs in the overlap between Christian films and mainstream films. If you liked Saved! you will quite likely enjoy this. The main characters are religious Christians, depicted without sanctimony or ridicule. The producers enjoying surprising us by presenting us with a stereotype and then giving us the unexpected. The giant tatooed biker turns out to be the knight in shining armor. (If you happen to know any tatooed bikers, I realize this is not a stretch, but the story cues in the movie lead you to expect Bones to be more of an obstacle than a white knight.) The buttoned up preacher’s wife turns out not to be quite so buttoned up. Each of the characters overcomes what we perceive as their flaws by the end of the movie, and, in a bit of warm and endearing wish fulfillment, their fellow characters appreciate them for it.
Grab a mom friend or two and go see this- you’ll be glad you did. Or, if you want a family day, take the family. The film is rated PG, and while some of the humor may go over the heads of little ones, there is not a single NSFW moment that need concern you.
Watch the trailer, and mark your calendar to catch it in theaters May 9:
I received free passes to a prescreening of this movie, but I was not compensated in any way for my review or to promote this movie. If I hadn’t enjoyed it, I would have followed my mother’s advice and not said anything at all if I couldn’t say anything nice. But I did enjoy it, and I’ve done my best to give you a clear idea of whether you’ll enjoy it too. Have fun at the movies.
