I've blogged about the scene before and the blog post for it seems pretty popular on here. Long story short, the kid Kevin is left behind by his family on Christmas and goes to the local church and sits in a pew as he listens to the choir sing. He is joined there by Old Man Marley, an old man of whom he is afraid. However, there the two bond and from that point on Kevin is no longer afraid of him.
Interestingly enough, Home Alone and A Bad Moms Christmas are very similar. Both are comedy films with slapstick (and in Bad Moms's case, raunchiness as well) and yet have this quiet moment to form solace between two characters.
Unfortunately, this goal is derailed by the arrival of their own mothers Ruth, Amy's mom (Christine Baranski), Sandy, Kiki's mom (Cheryl Hines), and Isis, Carla's mom (Susan Sarandon).
The three women have various different relationships with their mothers. Sandy smothers Kiki profusely whereas Isis is (was) never around for Carla and only shows up when she needs money.
However, the central conflict is between Amy and Ruth. Throughout her life, Amy struggled to live up to Ruth's expectations and now as a mother herself still experiences this. Because Amy has now divorced her husband from the first film, Ruth is determined to give Amy's children a memorable Christmas, given that this is the first Christmas without their father. This means very elaborate plans against Amy's wishes for a laid back Christmas, such as over decorating the house and forcing the family to attend a morbid rendition of The Nutcracker (a plan Amy defies in lieu of Sky Zone) and competing in the annual caroling competition. This all comes to a head when Amy makes Ruth promise to not host a huge Christmas party at her house but Ruth goes through with it anyway. The two have a huge fight with Amy kicking everyone out and destroying all of the party decorations. She also kicks Ruth out - out of her life for good. Amy's children overhear this and get upset with her.
The film is told in a sort of "in media res" fashion, opening up after the kids go up the stairs so Amy retells the story in a "Let me start from the beginning" way. Amy claims that she ruined Christmas for her children, and so now at this point of the story we see how.
Amy has a heart to heart with her father, played by Peter Gallagher, and asks him how he puts up with Ruth. He tells her that he loves Ruth and in reality Ruth isn't as secure as she seems, having been constantly judged by her own mother, and that her greatest concern is how she raised Amy. Amy then has more clarity and wants to find her mother to apologize.
She finds her mother at the church.
Meanwhile, Ruth, Sandy, and Isis all meet up at the church to hear the choir sing and all talk to each other about their issues with their daughters, giving each other advice and some hard truth. At first the church is quite empty, like in the Home Alone scene, but once Amy runs in, more people are in there and it's a bit crowded. There Amy and Ruth share a tearful heart to heart as Amy tells Ruth that she isn't worthless. It's truly the most tearjerker part of the movie. My mother and I also cried during this scene and held hands. After harmony is restored, Amy and Ruth team up to save Christmas for the family. Thereafter Kiki and Sandy and Carla and Isis also come to an understanding.
From what I'm seeing, many Christmas films seem to be like this. Even though it may be a comedy with plenty of craziness sewn in, there is always that one quiet moment that brings everything to a halt to bring the morals home.
Much like the church scene in Home Alone, the church scene in A Bad Moms Christmas serves to join two people who previously have issues. It shows that Christmas is always a time to put aside differences and hold sight of what is truly important. The only contrast between the two is that Kevin and the old man are strangers who look past initial assumptions while Amy and Ruth are family who have know each other for the length of Amy's lifetime (which is I believe 34 years). Family has the potential to be extra difficult during the holidays, making the Bad Moms reunion that much more significant here. The fact that both scenes take place in the quiet, dimly lit serenity of a church shows that Jesus's presence could very well be the encouragement that helps this along.
Merry Christmas, everyone! :) <3
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