Movie review

'Moms' Night Out' fails to hit its stride

Share with others:

Print Email Read Later

Editor's note: "Moms' Night Out" was not previewed for Pittsburgh critics.

Faith-based films have become downright commonplace this year.

But faith-based comedies? Comedies that work? That's still a very short historical list -- the George Burns blockbuster "Oh, God!" and Andy Griffith's "Angel in my Pocket" are the only two to come to mind.

'Moms’ Night Out'

Starring: Sarah Drew, Sean Astin, Patricia Heaton, Trace Adkins.

Rating: PG for mild thematic elements and some action.



Sarah Drew plays Ally, a stressed-out mother of three preschool-age tykes, a "Mommy blogger" who brags online about being "a clean freak" who can "actually FEEL the house getting dirty" but whose reality doesn't measure up to that.


She's unhappy, so her husband urges her to take a night for herself. She talks her mother-of-two pal Izzy (Andrea Logan White) and, oddly, that icon of motherly virtue, her pastor's wife (Patricia Heaton), into a girl's night out "to remember."


As the night runs from losing their reservation at a pretentious restaurant, to losing their phones, to losing their minivan, to losing a baby and their husbands losing their minds, overwhelmed by simple child care, "Mom's Night Out" sets itself up for laughs that it rarely delivers.

For 45 minutes, the writing/directing Erwin brothers ("October Baby") can't manage so much as a smile, mainly due to the blandness of their leading lady. Ms. Drew is good at whiny, not good at amusingly whiny.


Bones, who has a hint of hell raiser about him, thinks he knows the straight-laced Sondra from somewhere.





"Live Aid?"


With missed communications, a lost parakeet and a lot of scenes of manic women, shrieking at cops, a stoner and a British cabbie (Ms. Heaton's husband, producer David Hunt), "Moms' Night Out" gets up a head of steam, for a few minutes anyway.





You have 2 remaining free articles this month

Try unlimited digital access

If you are an existing subscriber,
link your account for free access. Start here

You’ve reached the limit of free articles this month.

To continue unlimited reading

If you are an existing subscriber,
link your account for free access. Start here