Moms' Night Out

A harried housewife (Sarah Drew) plans a night out with her best friend (Andrea Logan White), who is almost as stressed out over her twin toddlers, and their pastor's wife (Patricia Heaton), who has issues of her own with a rebellious teenager (Sammi Hanratty). Of course, Murphy's Law kicks in big-time. There are worthy intentions in this frantic, noisy farce directed by Andrew and Jon Erwin (which the latter co-wrote with Andrea Gyertson Nasfell), and the preaching stays low-key. But the comedy is shoveled on with clumsy hands—also, Drew's character is a compulsive, neurotic whiner, and she doesn't have the comic chops to engage our sympathy. The effect is more obnoxious than amusing; everybody would have done well to take a cue from Sean Astin, restrained and low-key as Drew's supportive husband.