''Fun Mom Dinner'' is a 2017 American

comedy film A comedy film is a category of film which emphasizes humor. These films are designed to make the audience laugh through amusement. Films in this style traditionally have a happy ending (black comedy being an exception). Comedy is one of the ol ...

directed by

Alethea Jones Alethea Jones is an Australian film and television director. She is best known for her films ''Lemonade Stand'' (2012) and ''Fun Mom Dinner'' (2017), and the TV series '' Queen America''. Career Jones's first short film, ''When the Wind Chang ...

, from a screenplay by Julie Rudd. It stars

Katie Aselton Kathryn Aselton (born October 1, 1978) is an American actress, film director and producer. She directed and co-starred in ''The Freebie (film), The Freebie'', which was shown in the non-competition "Next" category at the Sundance Film Festival i ...

Toni Collette Toni Collette Galafassi (born Toni Collett; 1 November 1972) is an Australian actress, producer, singer, and songwriter. Known for her work in television and independent films, she has received various accolades throughout her career, includ ...

Bridget Everett Bridget Everett (born April 21, 1972) is an American comedian, actress, singer, writer, and cabaret performer. She has starred in the semi-autobiographical 2022 HBO series '' Somebody Somewhere'', the movie ''Fun Mom Dinner'', and in a one-hour ...

Molly Shannon Molly Helen Shannon (born September 16, 1964) is an American actress and comedian who was a cast member on ''Saturday Night Live'' from 1995 to 2001. In 2017, she won the Film Independent Spirit Award for Best Supporting Actress for her role in ...

, Adam Scott, and

Adam Levine Adam Noah Levine (; born March 18, 1979) is an American singer and songwriter. He serves as the lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist of the pop rock band Maroon 5. Levine began his musical career in 1994 with the band Kara's Flowers, of which ...

. The film had its world premiere at the

Sundance Film Festival The Sundance Film Festival (formerly Utah/US Film Festival, then US Film and Video Festival) is an annual film festival organized by the Sundance Institute. It is the largest independent film festival in the United States, with more than 46,66 ...

on January 27, 2017. It was released on August 4, 2017 by

Momentum Pictures Momentum Pictures is a film distributor and a subsidiary of Entertainment One, itself part of Hasbro. Prior to 2013, it was a brand of Canadian distributor Alliance Films used for its releases in the United Kingdom, and was one of the leading i ...

Plot

When four moms come together for a "fun mom dinner", the night takes an unexpected turn.

Cast

as Kate *

as Jamie *

as Melanie *

as Emily * Adam Scott as Tom *

Rob Huebel Robert Anderson Huebel (born June 4, 1969) is an American actor, comedian and writer best known for his sketch comedy work on the MTV series ''Human Giant'' and for his role of Dr. Owen Maestro on the Adult Swim series ''Childrens Hospital''. He ...

as Andrew *

as Luke *

Paul Rust Paul Robert Rust (born April 12, 1981) is an American actor, comedian and writer. He starred in the 2009 film ''I Love You, Beth Cooper'' and in the Netflix series ''Love''. Early life Rust was born in Le Mars, Iowa, the son of Jeanne and Bob R ...

as Barry *

Sam Lerner Samuel Bryce Lerner (born September 27, 1992) is an American actor, who is most known for his role as Geoff Schwartz on '' The Goldbergs'', Chowder in '' Monster House'', and as Quinn Goldberg in ''Project Almanac''. Career Lerner appeared in ...

as Alex *

Kathryn Prescott Kathryn Prescott (born 4 June 1991) is an English actress, best known for her roles as Emily Fitch on the E4 teen drama series '' Skins'' (2009–2010) and the titular character in the MTV teen drama ''Finding Carter'' (2014–2015). Career ...

as Zoe *

Jaz Sinclair Jasmine Sinclair is an American film and television actress. She is known for playing Angela in ''Paper Towns'', Anna in '' When the Bough Breaks'' and Rosalind "Roz" Walker in the Netflix series ''Chilling Adventures of Sabrina''. She will star ...

as Olivia * Hart Denton as James *

Paul Rudd Paul Stephen Rudd (born April 6, 1969) is an American actor. He studied theater at the University of Kansas and the American Academy of Dramatic Arts, before making his acting debut in 1991. He received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in ...

as Brady * David Wain as Wayne * John Early as Alfred * Jessie Ennis as Francesca *

Jessica Chaffin Jessica Chaffin is an American actress, comedian, and writer best known as part of the comedy duo Ronna and Beverly with Jamie Denbo. She is also known for her recurring roles as Coco Wexler on Nickelodeon's ''Zoey 101'', Marie Faldonado in the C ...

as Jen * Emmersyn Fiorentino as Grace *

Owen Vaccaro Owen Wilder Vaccaro (born 2005/2006) is an American child actor. He has appeared in feature films since 2015, including '' Daddy's Home'' (2015), ''Daddy's Home 2'' (2017), and in the lead role of ''The House with a Clock in Its Walls'' (2018). ...

as Lucas * Caleb and Matthew Paddock as Henry

Production

On June 22, 2016, it was reported that Alethea Jones would direct ''Fun Mom Dinner'' from a script by Julie Yaeger Rudd, featuring a cast including

, and Adam Scott. Filming began that day in

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

Julian Wass Julian Wass (born November 10, 1981) is an American television writer, director, film composer, producer, and electronic musician from Los Angeles, California. He is the son of actors Janet Margolin and Ted Wass. Music for films Julian Wass first ...

composed the film's score.

Release

The film had its world premiere at the

on January 27, 2017. Prior to Sundance,

and

Netflix Netflix, Inc. is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and production company based in Los Gatos, California. Founded in 1997 by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph in Scotts Valley, California, it offers a fil ...

acquired U.S. distribution rights to the film. It was released in a

limited release __FORCETOC__ Limited theatrical release is a film distribution strategy of releasing a new film in a few theaters across a country, typically art house theaters in major metropolitan markets. Since 1994, a limited theatrical release in the Unite ...

and through

video on demand Video on demand (VOD) is a media distribution system that allows users to access videos without a traditional video playback device and the constraints of a typical static broadcasting schedule. In the 20th century, broadcasting in the form of o ...

on August 4, 2017. It was released through

on December 31, 2017.

Reception

Critical response

''Fun Mom Dinner'' received generally negative reviews from critics. On

review aggregator A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews of products and services (such as films, books, video games, software, hardware, and cars). This system stores the reviews and uses them for purposes such as supporting a website where users ...

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

, the film holds a 33% approval rating, based on 27 reviews, with an average rating of 4.45/10.

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...

gives the film a weighted average score of 46 out of 100, based on 12 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews". Reviewing the film for ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'', Nicole Herrington called it a "thin script" but praised the chemistry along the leads, and Everett's performance. Christy Lemire reviewing for

Roger Ebert Roger Joseph Ebert (; June 18, 1942 – April 4, 2013) was an American film critic, film historian, journalist, screenwriter, and author. He was a film critic for the ''Chicago Sun-Times'' from 1967 until his death in 2013. In 1975, Ebert beca ...

's website gave the film one-and-a-half stars on the basis that the film "makes the repeated mistake of banging us over the head with its running gags and needlessly spelling everything out, making the movie feel longer than its 81 minutes," and summarizing that "These are indeed moms, and they do have dinner, but the “fun” part is in short supply." ''

The A.V. Club ''The A.V. Club'' is an American online newspaper and entertainment website featuring reviews, interviews, and other articles that examine films, music, television, books, games, and other elements of pop-culture media. ''The A.V. Club'' was cre ...

'' gave the film a "C" grade calling the film uninspired, and "undeniably disappointing when a movie called ''Fun Mom Dinner'' isn’t, well, much fun."

Accolades

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Fun Mom Dinner 2017 films 2017 comedy films American comedy films Voltage Pictures films Films shot in Los Angeles 2017 directorial debut films 2010s English-language films 2010s American films