Moms' Night Out 2014

Bilge Ebiri, New York Magazine/Vulture: If the concept of a moms' night out is premised on the notion that mothers can never get away for fear their families will collapse in their absence, then this movie cruelly confirms that fear. Read more

Farran Smith Nehme, New York Post: The first half of this mommy-comedy could be charitably deemed "gently amusing." But it's hard to find new laugh riots in kids trashing a house, and there's no evidence anyone tried. Read more

Justin Chang, Variety: A shrill feature-length sitcom for the faith-based family values crowd, if nowhere near as good as that sounds. Read more

Mike D'Angelo, AV Club: The film never seems hectoring or preachy. Unfortunately, it never seems funny either, coming across like a sanitized remake of some raunchier laughfest. Read more

Marc Snetiker, Entertainment Weekly: What this PG comedy lacks in cursing, it also comes up short on plot, character development, originality, and overall pleasure. Read more

Gary Goldstein, Los Angeles Times: While the characters are mostly one-dimensional and the children here merely props, whiny and overwhelmed main mom Allyson proves a particularly galling, unfunny creation. Read more

Rafer Guzman, Newsday: It's rare that a movie fails on absolutely every level, but "Moms' Night Out" is a remarkably vivid example. Read more

Elizabeth Weitzman, New York Daily News: "Moms' Night Out" is really all about moms staying home, where, according to this movie, they apparently belong. Read more

Neil Genzlinger, New York Times: Seldom has wackiness been as tedious as it is in "Moms' Night Out," a Christian-themed film that is desperate to make adherents seem wild and crazy but mostly makes them seem incapable of raising children. Read more

Christy Lemire, RogerEbert.com: Basically, the moral of the story is: Don't go out. Because if you do, all hell will break loose - or rather, all heck. Read more

Bill Zwecker, Chicago Sun-Times: Some of these plot twists require more than the normal suspension of logic that often happens in similar comedies. Yet the characters are all appealing. Read more

Kate Taylor, Globe and Mail: What ensues is frenetic and never as funny as it should be because directing brothers Andrew and Jon Erwin are not skilled enough at pacing the action and varying the volume. Read more

Linda Barnard, Toronto Star: Too-long, one-joke scenes with a flakey restaurant hostess (Anjelah Johnson) and a dim-witted clerk in a tattoo parlour (Manwell Reyes) are typical of the sins of lengthy excess committed by Mom's Night Out. Read more

Claudia Puig, USA Today: There's no fun to be had - and not a drop of originality - in this chaotic and contrived mess. Read more

Heather Baysa, Village Voice: Outrageously enough, the moral of Moms' Night Out seems to be that moms should never get a night out. Read more

Ann Hornaday, Washington Post: "Moms' Night Out" possesses the production values and awkward pacing of a lame amateur production with big ambitions. Read more