Babes
Every Thanksgiving for years, best friends Eden (‘Broad City’s’ Ilana Glazer who cowrote with Josh Rabinowitz) and Dawn (Michelle Buteau, "Always Be My Maybe") have met in Manhattan for an early movie, but Dawn’s labor pains redirect them to a restaurant for a last minute binge. On her way home across four subway lines, Eden meets Claude (Stephan James, "Selma," "If Beale Street Could Talk") and the connection is undeniable, but by the time she finds out she is pregnant, Claude has died and the single Eden expects the same support from the married with two kids Dawn as she gave her in “Babes.”
Laura's Review: B-
Director Pamela Adlon (TV's 'Better Things') makes the leap to the big screen with a film that does for motherhood what “Bridesmaids” did for female wedding parties. Not being a fan of scatological humor, I disliked the latter, but “Babes” at least justifies its ick factor with its warts-and-all approach to birthing babies. It is unfortunate that Glazer has created a character difficult to sympathize with, Eden being much more palatable cozying up to Claude, who’s yanked out of the movie far too soon, than as an expectant single mom.
In the film’s opening moments, we learn that movies exaggerate the moment water breaks, Dawn instead experiencing ‘pussy drizzle,’ discovered when she moves her seat in the theater for the third time. Her attempt to enjoy a meal before entering the hospital becomes increasingly fraught and maybe contributes to her excremental birth, one which sends Eden out to vomit in a bucket (just wait until lactation issues begin, Dawn’s breasts given voice by Whoopi Goldberg!).
Eden falls into easy chat with Claude, dressed as a waiter with a bow tie having just come from working on a period film for Martin Scorsese, when she offers him some of the $500 worth of sushi she couldn’t really afford that she’d bought for Dawn and Marty ('The Daily Show's' Hasan Minhaj) but had to bring home. Noshing on a subway car turns into bonding over Street Fighter in Dawn’s apartment, but when their attraction is undeniable, Eden confides she is ‘on her period.’ Claude doesn’t care and Eden proposes both their virgin experience with unprotected sex with a triumphant ‘Let’s go ruin a towel!’
After taking a pregnancy test while on shrooms with Dawn (‘Am I over a toilet?’ Eden asks squatting in Dawn’s living room), Eden is encouraged that Claude left his bow tie behind, but dismayed at being ghosted. Eden goes to see Bobby and Benny (Keith and Kenneth Lucas, "22 Jump Street"), the neighborhood guys both she and Claude got tested by for communicable diseases, only to learn he’d died choking on an almond the day after Thanksgiving, a ridiculous death for such a lovable character. Eden decides to go ahead with the pregnancy, but she’s in for a rude awakening.
There are some amusing moments scattered about, like the aftermath of babysitter Eden allowing Dawn’s four year-old, Tommy, to watch “The Omen,” Eden’s ‘Fourth Floor Walk-up Yoga Studio,’ and the deadpan wit of unflappable obstetrician Dr. Morris (John Carroll Lynch, "Zodiac"). Glazer and Buteau really click as buddies from different economic strata (Dawn’s a dentist to Eden’s yoga instructor), with Minhaj a supportive third wheel and Adlon keeps everything perfectly paced. Watch too for Oliver Platt as Eden’s less than supportive dad Bernie, Sandra Bernhard as a doctor and Darren Criss as a male Doula. And somebody please cast Stephan James in a romcom lead.
Robin's Review: C
Eden (Ilana Glazer) and Dawn (Michelle Buteau) have been best buddies since they were kids growing up in NYC. Now, their lives have gone in different directions with Ilana a free spirit and Dawn the responsible mom. But, that will soon changes in “Babes.”
Something bothered me from the very start of “Babes.” Minutes into it, I realized that the thing that bothered me is its star and co-writer, Ilana Glazer, as Eden, though I did not know she co-wrote the script. Once I learned that, it made perfect sense why she annoyed me. She, and maybe co-scribe Josh Rabinowitz, stacked the deck in Eden’s favor.
The story of two BFFs would have been better, for me, if the script balanced that relationship. Instead, Dawn’s side of things is not given the same shrift. This is too bad, since Michelle Buteau, as Dawn, is very likable as a mother of two, one brand new, who is having her share of life crises. More of Dawn would have been much better.
As such, Eden’s story has her hooking up cute with a handsome young guy, Claude (Stephan James), on the subway, involving food…on the train in a truly fake scene. This ends in a one-night stand, an unexpected pregnancy and tragedy. Eden’s life plight takes full focus and overshadows Dawn’s own real life problems.
The story puts Eden in a bunch of life’s pickles as she decides to have the baby. This creates the rift between the BFFs as Eden’s problems take precedence over Dawn’s. This is one reason why I did not like Eden – she is a selfish person who puts demands on her friend but does not reciprocate. The rift, of course, gets patched up in the blink of an eye, leading to the happily ever after ending.
I am curious about how other think about “Babes.” For, me, it is a “no.”
Neon releases "Babes" in theaters on 5/17/24 with special 5/12 Livestream showings for Mother's Day.
