I made the mistake of seeing this movie on accident for Screen Unseen with a bunch of guys and childless people, which I think are probably… not? the desired demographic for this movie, which is mostly a paint-by-numbers pregnancy and post-pregnancy plot where most of the jokes are basically “this is how it REALLY looks–NOT like in the movies!”
Ilana Glazer and Michelle Buteau have excellent chemistry and their improvised moments together (an extended back-and-forth of “bitch,” for instance) are obviously the highlights of this unusual comedy that rightfully sports the “Bridesmaids of babymaking” tagline in its marketing. This mildly raunchy babes-behaving-badly comedy contains within it a truly surprising headfake with the conclusion of Eden’s (Glazer) meetcute with the Stephan James, who plays Evanescent Millennial Hot Guy so so well.
Cameos from John Carroll Lynch and Oliver Platt are rewarding recurring gags, though Hasan Minhaj’s indefatigably chipper father character grates with his perfectly coiffed hair and unquestioning devotion to Dawn. Actually, his devotion feels weirdly out of place considering the fact that he seems completely unaware of her post-partum depression despite all the warning signs the audience witnesses. It made me wonder at point point when they’re talking after her benighted “babymoon” with Eden if he was going to admit to an extramarital affair or something, but it never materializes, and now I wonder if it should’ve at least been a joke that Dawn would suspect it if not for the lack of opportunity and time. It’s also rich to have Minhaj declare without evidence how much he hates his job (Dawn returning as a mother seems like she takes solace in not having to parent a newborn, which is entirely understandable, but his criticisms of being a dad at work don’t quite land, especially when he has such trouble separating himself from his professional persona as a standup comedian).
Dawn and her husband’s jobs actually are a source of even more criticism for the film more broadly. A lot of the plot and humor of their relationship requires them to have an endless font of money that requires them both to be working but not TOO hard, like not enough for them not to stay home for days when their daycare is interrupted, and for minor water damage to the house not to cause major financial hardship. In fact, Eden’s entire childcare plan seems to require their financial involvement from the very beginning–we get a glimpse of it when she talks about paying for her own healthcare and being self-employed as a yoga instructor. Everyone I came with either didn’t care or didn’t gasp like I did when a single woman with no family in the area blithely declared she would be able to afford childcare and health insurance for her newborn, or maybe it was just such a stupid plot point they didn’t bother to get emotionally involved.
So much of this movie relied on the solution of “Money will solve it,” which seems like such a disgusting deus ex machina for a film that is so interested in giving the “real take” on pregnancy and parenthood. But also, the other obvious solution to this movie, and the one that should’ve been way more forcefully suggested should’ve been Eden getting an abortion in her first trimester.
I’m giving this movie one Babadook and a trigger warning for anyone with actual children that this will just dredge up the thing you’re trying to desperately to escape by going to a movie in the first place.
