Mean Moms Hit The Big Screen

We have mixed feelings about the advent of Mean Moms, which, says Variety, “will carry some resemblance to Paramount’s 2004 comedy Mean Girls.”

Now, that’s not the recipe for lame it may sound: after all, like the 2004 Lohan triumph, Mean Moms is adapted from a Rosalind Wiseman book, this time Queen Bee Moms and King Pin Dads: Dealing with the Parents, Teachers, Coaches, and Counselors Who Can Make — or Break — Your Child’s Future. So like the other film, it’ll ostensibly be rooted in actual cultural issues rather than 2-D mommy antics. And, unless this is the beginning of some kind of “mean-women” franchise (Mean Nanas?) there’s no reason we shouldn’t give the filmmakers the benefit of the doubt.

It’s also good to see a film out there that will (presumably) provide roles for women of a range of ages. That said, we’re not getting excited just yet: if Uma Thurman’s Motherhood showed anything it’s that, even by the two-dimensional standards of most Hollywood characters, the modern mom is especially easy to reduce to risible cardboard. And yes, we’d probably feel that much more comfy if Tina Fey were, once again, on-board. That said, hope springs eternal. And we’re holding out hope for a Poehler cameo.