Movie Review: Moms’ Night Out

Movie Review: Moms’ Night Out

For 364 days out of the year, I take care of my family. I cook meals, I chauffeur to and from school, the skate parks, the store. I run to the store at strange hours because my family waits until the last-minute to tell me they need something. I fix the cuts and scrapes, kiss the hurt away, and stand as a fierce protective tiger over my children when they have been hurt. I schedule appointments, I am the keeper of the calendar and keeping everyone organized and where they need to be when they need to be there. I wash clothes every single day, and it never seems to get finished.

I teach them right from wrong. I talk to them about having respect for others, and themselves. I gently correct when they mess up, and I hand out the punishments when it just doesn’t sink in. I usually fall into bed well after everyone else has drifted off to sleep, and I am always the first one awake in the morning to make sure everyone else gets up on time and their day goes smooth.

I get tired. I sometimes wonder if I’m doing all “this” correctly. What if I don’t teach them what they need to know to survive on their own? I was a legal assistant for over 18 years before I became a stay-at-home mom and I’ve dealt with my fair share of ‘difficult’ attorneys but raising children is ten times more difficult – and a thousand times more enjoyable. With that said, however, every mom needs a break – now and again.

How many of you moms out there can identify with Allyson from the movie? All Allyson and her friends want is a peaceful, grown-up evening of dinner and conversation . . . a long-needed moms’ night out. But to enjoy high heels, adult conversation and food not served in a paper bag, they need their husbands to watch the kids for three hours… what could go wrong, right?

I was absolutely thrilled to be able to take two of my friends and my daughter to the première of Moms’ Night Out on Friday, May 9th. I swear it was the absolute highlight of my Mother’s Day weekend and I was just beside myself with joy to be able to escape the house for a few hours and have a peaceful, grown-up evening of dinner, conversation, and some fun that didn’t involve skateboards or fishing!

The four of us plotted and planned just how we were going to celebrate those few hours together and we finally settled on dinner and drinks at O’Charleys and then we’d dash across the street to the movie theatre. What could go wrong, right?

Tonya, Tammi and I were going to ride together to the restaurant and the theatre, and we would meet my daughter at the restaurant at 6pm. Tonya (our designated driver) got held up at work and was running late. April (my daughter) had already secured a booth for us at the restaurant, so Tonya told Tammi and I to go ahead and she’d meet up with us at the restaurant as soon as she could. Thankfully, that was just one of two slight hitches to our plans Friday night!

The food was delicious, the conversation was wonderful and even though we missed the first few moments of the film (there was a line at the theatre – go figure!) we had an awesome evening.

A Refreshing Change of Pace

I love watching movies. If I’m not on the computer, I’m on Netflix or the television looking for a good movie to watch. Want to know what I found extremely refreshing about Moms’ Night Out? This was the first movie that was extremely entertaining, a laugh-your-butt-off movie, that didn’t have one single solitary cuss word in it.

Imagine that? A movie that made me laugh, cry, relate and identify with the characters and the story line without one single profanity hurled at me all night long. It was refreshing!

Critics are NOT in Touch with Viewers

I absolutely loved the movie – a 5 star rating from this mom, so you can imagine my surprise when I started reading what the critics had to say about Mom’s Night Out. One female critic stated,

Seriously? I spent 18+ years as a legal assistant and I choose to make being a stay-at-home my primary profession. Raising my children is a much more fulfilling profession. I came home every night as a legal assistant feeling as though the weight of the world was on my shoulders, worrying about clients who were severely injured in accidents with people who had no insurance, attempting to find proof on those that only pretended to be injured to get money from the insurance companies, dealing with neurotic attorneys that felt legal assistants were their personal whipping posts. Sure I still feel as though the weight of the world is on my shoulders at times – but I am raising the next generation who will run this country – and doing a damn fine job of it most days thankyouverymuch.

The insult in that comment is beyond belief – especially considering Rose Byrne’s character in Neighbors is a Stay at Home Mom and this same critic called that film a raucous but intelligent farce …oh the irony.

How out of touch has our media culture become? On the movie review site Rotten Tomatoes, MOMS’ NIGHT OUT is given an acceptable score by 16% of the critics … while it’s liked by 85% of everyday people.  People like Jenna, who wrote on a Facebook page:

Renee adds:

See what REAL moms had to say about the movie Moms After Seeing MOMS NIGHT OUT video

Thousands of years ago, a very opinionated “critic” named Isaiah got it right when he said,

Countless centuries later, here we are, living out his warning in a land where we are bullied and oppressed for simply trying to love our children. 

Please stand up against these insults – instead of standing by – and help us say NO bullying! Show your support for moms and families everywhere. 

Moms’ Night Out was an exceptional movie, a movie that portrayed mothers exactly as we are – normal human beings with faults and meltdowns and the weight of the world on our shoulders. Yet we handle it all in stride. When the meltdown kicks in, we give ourselves a Mom’s Night Out to recharge our batteries, we pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off, and head back to the trenches.

We’re awesome like that.

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