I have what I like to think is a reasonable broad taste in cinema, so while I may enthuse at length about foreign and arthouse films at the same time I can not go past a solid Hollywood comedy. Bad Moms is a case in point: it’s a 2016 comedy feature written and directed by Jon Lucas and Scott Moore. It stars Mila Kunis, Kathryn Hahn, Christina Applegate, and Kristen Bell. It is by no means a classic, but I had fun with it. When you are looking for straight-up commercial entertainment – basically the film equivalent of a decent burger and fries – it fits the requirement with ease. Will you watch it twice? Possibly not. Will it linger in the mind? Almost certainly no. Will you enjoy yourself? I suppose it depends on measured expectations, but certainly I came away satisfied.

Kunis plays Amy Mitchell, a 32 year-old marketing manager and mother of two. After separating from her unfaithful husband and getting fired from her toxic job, Amy ‘quiet quits’ motherhood. Exhausted from caring for her children, she vows with newfound friends Kiki (Bell) and Carla (Hahn) to become a ‘bad mom’. When her new approach raises the ire of PTA president Gwendolyn (Applegate), Amy spontaneously elects to challenge her re-election.

If the set-up seems familiar, that is because it is. The protagonist teaming up with two losers to take down the school’s queen bee is essentially the premise of Mean Girls, and once you strip away the specific detail of Bad Moms it is clear that the film is a reworking of the typical high school comedy. It has lifted the age of the characters by a solid decade-and-a-half, but Bad Moms portrays a parental world that is status-obsessed, competitive, bitchy, and downright cruel. The pressure to succeed remains, as does the stigma of failure. As ideas for comedies go, it is a pretty smart one.

Lucas and Moore direct the film solidly, although their screenplay perhaps leaves a little to be desired. What saves it is the film’s tremendous lead cast. All four women – particular Applegate and Hahn – are grade-A comic talents, and it is hugely enjoyable to see them taking the spotlight over any male competitors. Also particularly strong is Oona Lawrence as Amy’s highly strung daughter Jane – essentially a walking Pixar character in live action.

Sure the film kind of falls apart at the very end, and there is often a sense that some of the funniest opportunities have been left on the table, but what there is remains funny and enjoyable. Bad Moms is solid, and it’s enjoyable. If nothing else it represents 100 minutes in the company of several very funny comic actors. That hardly seems a terrible way to spend your time.