5 reasons why I'm not interested in seeing Mom's Night Out

1. I'm not much of a movie-goer anyway.

Seriously, as a freshman in high school, my midterm for my acting class was to write a review of a movie I had seen in the theaters that semester... and my mom and I had to go to the movies that night because I hadn't seen any. Lee and I have been married for nearly nine years, and we've seen less than one movie in theaters each year (and that's including Tangled and The Lorax with kids).

Why would I go and sit uncomfortably close to strangers in a dark place with a too-loud soundtrack and icky sticky floors when I can wait to watch it in my own home? I just don't get it.

That said, I do look forward to many Netflix releases, so my theater-phobia isn't my only reason to not be interested in this one.

2. Pro-motherhood messages are great, but not at the expense of bashing fathers.

I'm all for the affirmation of stay-at-home moms and motherhood in general, but not if it requires bashing husbands/daddies in the process. For starters, here's the blurb describing 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 in order 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?

Let's see, just from the trailer: one dad whines when he hears his wife is going out. one dad leaves the baby with someone unreliable and then it seems that part of the movie is spent finding said baby. the dads go together to a place where the kids can get their hands stamped and be trapped from leaving because the idea of parenting without some exterior back-up is too much. one dad calls his wife to tell her, in a bumblingly foolish way, that he's headed to the ER. two dads are saran-wrapped together at one point. oh, and another guy - not a dad - is a cop who accidentally shoots one of the moms with a stun gun.

All that combines to say this: Women, the fathers of our children are buffoons. You ought to be celebrated, because guys are such morons they could never do your job.

And to be honest, I'm offended by that. My husband gladly mans the house without me so I can do a good number of things outside of our home. I go to book club every other week, travel for speaking engagements every couple months, have coffee with a friend one or two evenings a month, and an evening meeting here or there. I've yet to take all six kids to the grocery store, while he's done it a half dozen times. I was down and out with a stomach bug on the day we'd scheduled all six kids to go to the dentist - many for the first time ever - and he didn't cancel; no, he stepped up and did it.

And? I know a lot of other amazing dads in our circle of friends, so I'm not buying into the "but a lot of dads are like that" excuse for belittling fathers.

One reviewer penned, "Usually I despise the whole sitcom dad-incompetence we see over and over again. I really do miss the Bill Cosby style of father. But in Moms’ Night Out, the incompetence was integral to the goal of the plot." Um, and how does that make it okay? I'm just not seeing it.

3. I don't buy the hype that it's my Christian responsibility to support a Christian film.

What is a "Christian" film anyway? Last I checked, films don't make professions of faith any more than musics or clothing or jewelry or any other inanimate object does.

Sure, it's PG. Sure, I hear there's the cliche Christian film altar call embedded in there. Sure, there's a pastor's wife and a young Christian stay-at-home mom.

But I still - even if I didn't feel like it presented an unbiblical representation of responsible fatherhood - don't have to support it any more than I need to feel more inclined to use a Christian plumber just because he's a Christian. Sure, I'm all for throwing business toward someone in my faith, but you know what? I'm primarily concerned with whether or not he's a good plumber.

Same goes for movies. I don't have an obligation to support something just because it's made by Christians with some Christian messages throughout. Is it a good movie? That's what I care about.

And please, before you boast that it's lacking all the objectionable things of other films, like profanity and nudity and sexual innuendo, backtrack to my second point where I make it clear that I find it plenty objectionable to portray dads as fools.

4. I have four girls, and I hope some or all of them become mothers.

And I hope they marry men who, like their Daddy, man up when it comes to being a father and flinch when people dare to say they're "babysitting" when mom leaves the house for a bit. No, as Lee is quick to point out, that's called BEING A DAD.

I want my girls (and boys) to know that they don't have to bash one thing in order to show merit in another.

5. I have two boys, who I expect will be fathers one day.

And I hope I never reinforce the world's poor image of fatherhood in my desire to show them the importance of motherhood.

Finally...
I know many of you have seen the film and raved about, and that's fine. Truly. My sensitivity to this might be higher than yours, while your sensitivity to other issues in other films or TV shows is probably higher than mine. To each his or her own.

But after seeing approximately one million posts telling me that I MUST SEE THIS MOVIE, I wanted to take a moment to explain why I'm passing on this one.

Because this guy and so many others ROCK at being a dad and not just a punchline.