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MAYBE
BABY (2001)
The Brits have done it
again! Hilarious and heartwarming comedy about marriage, love, making
movies, and making babies. |
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*GOLD*
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The
spirit of great romantic comedies, like the spirit of all great things,
sometimes finds itself in a time warp and graces us, mere information
age folk, with its wisdom and laughter. Sometimes, the mysteries and
lessons of our travails are best illuminated by laughter, as it is
laughter, at times, that gives us the courage to face the tears. Many of
us may look to Cary Grant, Katherine Hepburn, or Jimmy Stewart for the
best of the romantic comedy genre, but on occasion, and such occasions
seem to be happening in England lately, a movie is made that makes us
feel like a stowaway in a Grant, Hepburn, or Stewart production. Maybe
Baby marks just such an occasion.
Sam (Hugh Laurie) and Lucy (Joely
Richardson) are doing quite well. He is an editor for the BBC. She is a
talent agent. They live in a lovely apartment and enjoy a circle of good
friends. Like most modest people, though, they want more. They want to
have a baby, and Lucy just can’t seem to get pregnant. As their sex
life deteriorates to a mechanized ordeal run by Lucy’s ovulation
schedule, so does their companionship and erotic sizzle. To make matters
worse, Sam’s job is in jeopardy, and he is forced to face his failure
as a writer. Even as he wishes to start writing again, he fears he’s
just lost the touch and has nothing to say. Meanwhile, Lucy is becoming
obsessed with having a baby and is dragging Sam into the agony of
in-vitro-fertilization. They are both supposed to be writing a journal
to express their feelings about what they’re going through, but
instead, Sam is secretly working on a screenplay about a couple
attempting to get pregnant even though Lucy was appalled by the idea of
dramatizing their own lives.
Director Ben Elton wrote the script for Maybe
Baby based on his novel Inconceivable. More accurately, he
wrote the script while writing the novel. The screen result achieves a
stunning blend of comedy and drama. What is hilarious on the surface is
really just a path to the hidden vulnerability, and with a woman so
desperate to have a child that the rest of her life fades out of focus,
there remains a lot to be explored. The movie keeps us on a tight edge
of sympathy for Lucy while exposing how her blind need to be a mother is
also cutting her off from intimacy, companionship, understanding, and
ultimately her sense of self.
In offering a perspective on both male
and female side of the reproductive challenge, the movie creates
unforgettable one-liners, especially in Sam’s exchanges with his work
buddy George (Adrian Lester). In homage to the Renaissance era of the
British theater, Maybe Baby is also a brilliant tapestry of
quirky supporting characters and the wonderful cast chosen to play them.
Tom Hollander delights as the Irish self-proclaimed director genius.
Emma Thompson’s three minute frolic as a new age priestess hits the
mark of female eccentricity. And then, there is James Purefoy playing
the rising movie star Carl Phipps, a seemingly shallow, self-absorbed,
opportunist who just might have that perfectly heart melting rendition
of a Shakespeare sonnet somewhere up his sleeve. It comes as no surprise
that Purefoy has plied his craft with the Royal Shakespeare Company.
With Maybe Baby, the British
cinema shine yet again, and it shines in gold.
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DIRECTED
BY:
Ben Elton
WRITTEN BY:
Ben Elton
CAST:
Joely Richardson as Lucy Bell
Hugh Laurie as Sam Bell
Adrian Lester as George
James Purefoy as Carl Phipps
Tom Hollander as Ewan Proclaimer
Joanna Lumley as Sheila
Rowan Atkinson as Mr. James
Dawn French as Charlene
Emma Thompson as Druscilla
MPAA RATING:
R for sexual content and language
RUNNING TIME:
93 Minutes
ASPECT RATIO:
1:85/1
LINKS:
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