Sorry, Baby
When Agnes (Eva Victor, TV's 'Billions') has a joyous reunion with her college roommate Lydie (Naomi Ackie, "Blink Twice," "Mickey 17") in her rural New England Colonial, she seems in a good place, excited for Lydie's pregnancy, but it won't be until little Jane's arrival that we will have been privy to just what she has gone through, a reality faced by far too many women she'll warn Jane about saying "Sorry, Baby."
Laura's Review: A-
Writer/director/star Eva Victor makes a big splash with their muted reflection on a major life event, a devastating emotional setback which nonetheless finds Agnes landing back on her feet, never having lost her sense of humor. Utilizing a five act structure in which only the first is not linear (it is the penultimate on Victor's timeline), Victor allows us to get to know the important players in Agnes's life before imparting what happened to her and how she regained her footing.
'The Year with the Baby' introduces important characters like Lydie and the college friends Agnes isn't overly thrilled to hear Lydie's accepted a dinner invite from, something which becomes clear when we witness hostess Natasha's (Kelly McCormack) comically intense jealousy and attempts at one-upmanship as she notes Eva is their college's youngest full faculty member but that her house is small. We'll also briefly meet Eva's neighbor Gavin (Lucas Hedges, "Manchester by the Sea"), who drops by then quickly retreats as Lydie dishes out speculative teasing about the reason for his visit.
'The Year with the Bad Thing' takes us back a number of years. Now, Lydie is living with Agnes in that same home as both struggle with theses ('I just realized no one gave a f&*^ about Ted Hughes' screams Lydie), but it has a younger, more chaotic vibe, like kids playing house instead of a settled adult lifestyle. Agnes meets with thesis advisor Preston Decker (Louis Cancelmi, TV's 'Billions') who tells her he couldn't put her thesis down, but he's pulled away and when Agnes shows up for their followup meeting, she finds a note to meet him at his house. Victor keeps their static camera across the street as it watches Agnes enter Decker's house, edits turning daytime into dusk, before it moves again, following Agnes back to her car. When she arrives back home, Lydie senses something wrong. 'I don't know. My pants are broken,' the clearly rattled Agnes replies.
What continually surprises throughout "Sorry, Baby" is Victor's use of humor, Agnes and Lydie's trip to an insensitive male doctor's office playing like a tag team comedy routine. And while the situation itself isn't funny, when Agnes goes to file a complaint with the college, comically inept University personnel assure her that while there is nothing they can do, they support her because 'We are women.' We'll witness the beginning of Agnes' relationship with her lovely neighbor Gavin when she heads to his house in a panic to borrow lighter fluid, but makes up more and more ridiculous reasons as to why she needs it. 'I'm stuck in a lie!' she wails to Lydie upon her return, insisting her friend grill two hot dogs in their backyard to validate her story. When she heads to a local market to get a cup of coffee, Agnes will adopt a kitten she finds in the middle of the street, completely deadpan as she denies its presence to a cashier who can clearly see it peeping out of her jacket. Victor has made the surprisingly effective choice to make the chapter which should be the most troubling their funniest.
'The Year with the Questions' and 'The Year of the Good Sandwich' illustrate the long term reverberations of sexual assault, one featuring a perceptive female attorney (Hettienne Park, "Don't Look Up") selecting a jury in Belfast Superior Court, the other a stranger, sandwich shop owner Pete (John Carroll Lynch, "Zodiac," "Gran Torino") coming to the rescue when Agnes pulls off the road having a panic attack. The latter act will also fill in blanks about Natasha's character, lending her some sympathy. 'The Year of the Baby' sees Lydie visiting Agnes once again, this time with her wife Fran (E.R. Fightmaster) and their baby Jane in tow, but not before a beautiful scene between Gavin and Agnes in her bathtub, Gavin gently testing the water about having a family. After sending Lydie and Fran off for some alone time to tour a lighthouse, Agnes offers heartfelt words of advise and loving support to baby Jane, an absolutely perfect ending to a movie that announces a uniquely sensational new cinematic voice, a potential auteur in the making.
The ensemble is beautifully cast, Victor just right directing themself in the lead role, Ackie and Hedges both never better. McCormack makes causticity comical, then upends us with her woeful cluelessness. John Carroll Lynch is a standout as a Good Samaritan Everyman and Park makes a strong impression. The production is steeped in northern New England, the north shore of Massachusetts standing in for Maine where Victor had isolated themself to write their 2025 Sundance Film Festival Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award screenplay. "Sorry, Baby" is a minor miracle.
Robin's Review: B
A24 releases "Sorry, Baby" in select theaters on 6/27, rolling out in subsequent weeks and wide on 7/18/25.
