“Babes” is, clearly, about being pregnant, which supplies loads of alternative for physique humor involving fluids and openings and different issues. However it’s simply as a lot about friendship, and concerning the battle to keep up connections when life circumstances change. It’s additionally about how irritating younger parenthood could be, even in case you have the flexibility to pay for assist and don’t fear concerning the roof over your head. In sum, you possibly can nearly hear the film saying, grownup life is a land of contrasts, and also you’d higher simply cling on for the bumpy trip.
All of which is humorous. Being pregnant continues to be comparatively uncharted territory in mainstream comedy, in all probability as a result of it’s exhausting to write down jokes about it should you haven’t gone by way of it, and a large chunk of comedy writers hasn’t. Friendship is extra generally plumbed for comedic materials, however “Babes” is considerably uncommon for focusing totally on the on a regular basis bits of friendship — babysitting your pal’s child, going to the films, wanting to simply drop by unannounced — that are likely to play higher in a hangout sitcom, with loads of character growth, than in a feature-length movie. There are a bunch of humorous gags, too, the very best of which includes the ever-evolving hairstyles of Eden’s long-suffering obstetrician (John Carroll Lynch).
However there’s a looseness to the supply and the rhythm of the performances that doesn’t match the ping-ponginess of the script. It’s much less about any component being fallacious by itself and extra of a mismatch, at the least within the scenes the place Glazer and Buteau’s characters are supposed to be riffing on an extended, intimate friendship. Generally it feels just like the jokes are funnier to the characters than to us, which leaves us feeling as if we’re being excluded. No one likes that.
Adlon’s type has all the time struck me as drawn out of the Seventies, somewhat meandering, a while to suppose and take a look at the display, and that’s proven off to good impact within the movie’s extra contemplative scenes. However that very same calmness means Eden, in contrast, begins to be grating. Glazer’s vitality is usually chaotic, and I imply that in a great way — however caught in the course of this much less chaotic movie, she appears to embody the type of lady who was once quirky and cute in her 20s and is now simply exhausting to be round. Eden is aware of she’s “loads,” as she tells Daybreak, however after a when you get the sneaking suspicion that she’s being cute on goal, and it looks like compensating for one thing. No matter it’s, it begins to be exhausting to be round her.
