A Bad Moms Christmas: 5 of the best Women Behaving Badly movies

While the R-rated comedy in Hollywood features a lot of grown men, more often than not played by Will Farrell, Adam Sandler or Vince Vaughn, misbehaving very badly, usually under the influence of illicit substances, sometimes, when given the chance, their female counterparts can party it up even more.

With the forthcoming release of A Bad Moms Christmas, we present five of the best movies where females prove they they’re every bit as capable of behaving just as badly as their male opposites…

Bad Moms (2016)

With a script from Jon Lucas and Scott Moore, who previously scripted the first of The Hangover trilogy, Bad Moms is a surprising joy.

There is really nothing new to it, but it puts a lot of lovely effort into making the juggling problems of its protagonists real, and the usual bevy of alcohol consumption and badly behaved antics are legitimately fun and helped by a talented cast made up of Mila Kunis, Kristen Bell and Kathryn Hahn.

Bridesmaids (2011)

With direction from Paul Feig, a script from star Kristen Wiig and a star making turn from Melissa McCarthy, best known up to this point for Gilmore Girls and Mike & Molly, Bridemaids is probably the high point of the ‘women behaving comedy’ genre. With squirm inducing character comedy and a superb bout of bad taste humour after a trip to a Brazilian steak restaurant, the film has a lot of heart to go with its now famous sequence involving food poisoning.

It also features a small appearance from Rebel Wilson, who actually auditioned for the role of Megan, which ended up going to McCarthy.

Sisters (2015)

Without doubt the Queens of American Comedy, Tina Fey and Amy Poehler’s second film together in starring roles after the brilliance of Baby Mama (if you haven’t watched it, please stop reading and do so now) is a much more raucous affair, with a set-piece party in its second half that gets pretty over the top but which is worth the price of admission alone, not least for an unfortunate use of a music box and Bobby Moynihan’s Tony Montana ‘impression’.

Being a Poehler/Fey collaboration, the humour is witty, but the upping of more over the top humour works well, and there is a small supporting role from Kate McKinnon, who is welcome in everything she does, while Fey is cast against type as a somewhat more disorganised character compared to other roles she has played, like in Baby Mama and, of course, Liz Lemon in 30 Rock.

Rough Night (2017)

Speaking of Kate McKinnon, here she is again, this time with Scarlet Johansson, Zoe Kravitz, Jillian Bell and Ilana Glazer, and absolutely stealing the show with what is possibly the greatest Australian “accent” ever put to film.

A feminine take on The Hangover, and featuring appearances from Ty Burrell and Demi Moore as a very horny couple, as well as Arrow’s Colton Haynes, the film recalls the nightmarish humour of many a ‘party gone wrong’ movie, with touches of Very Bad Things and Weekend at Bernie’s on top of the Todd Phillips blockbuster.

Bachelorette (2012)

Although far from the best film on this list, there is one element of Bachelorette that makes it recommended. Initially coming on like an indie cool version of Bridesmaids, what with its punk rock credit sequence, Bachelorette settles into a somewhat comfortable and conventional groove. Starring Kirsten Dunst, Isla Fisher, Lizzy Caplan and Rebel Wilson, remarkably Wilson ends up being the most subtle part of the movie.

Although far from perfect, the film does get points not necessarily for its ‘women behaving badly’ story but for its touching subplot involving Lizzy Caplan and Adam Scott’s characters seeing each other again after a high school romance that ended with an abortion. Featuring the usual array of restroom sex and drug consumption, one ends up wishing writer/director Leslye Headland (adapting her own play) focused more on the winning chemistry between these two instead of cutting back to Dunst and Fisher’s antics more outrageous antics.

What’s your favourite ‘women behaving badly’ movie? Let us know.