Babyfever

Babyfever
Babyfever

Babyfever

“Babyfever,” according to Henry Jaglom, is one more in his series of casual fictionalized documentaries. Talking earnestly and at great length about the problem du jour this time, whether or not to have a child the characters are once again too much with us. It’s too long, it’s too talky, it’s self-indulgent; but because it’s sincere and sometimes funny we’ll stay with it.

There will be a Jaglom retrospective someday, and what we’ll be watching then is the most expensive personal journal anybody ever kept. Following him around all these years I’ve noted his girlfriends, his thoughts on marriage, on careers, on movies. I’ve suffered through friends as they agonized over fidelity; over eating disorders; over “choices.” Now we have a movie about babies and no wonder its star and co-writer is Victoria Foyt, Mrs. Henry Jaglom, who has just given birth to their second child.

Foyt plays a character named Gena who is ready to take the plunge with her boyfriend James (Matt Salinger) as the movie begins. He’s kind of safe and kind of boring but maybe she needs safe and boring now dammit she argues. Then pretty soon along comes that dangerous and exciting guy (Eric Roberts) she’s trying to get over with so we see her point.

She is not alone in this plot; all her friends are reaching that age when that biological clock starts ticking audibly. If you want to have a baby ever you better do it now (NOW TODAY! says one woman) but still where is the father? Should they hold out for Mr. Right? Enlist a friend as volunteer? Visit sperm bank? Get “accidentally” pregnant? (“Only two kinds of women gets accidentally pregnant,” observes another character: “Idiots or liars.”)

Foyt, torn between her bland current boyfriend and her maddening former one, attends a friend’s baby shower. And this is the point where Jaglom switches into his preferred mode, the pseudo-documentary. Using the excuse of a documentary being made about the baby shower, he cuts in the thoughts of more than a dozen women. Some have babies. Some want them. Some never want them. Some do not know whether they do or not. Most are articulate most notably Frances Fisher (who later said making this movie helped her decide she wanted a baby with Clint Eastwood).

Jaglom has a slight problem here: These women are not saying anything new on this subject; none of them are dumb enough to think that there is anything new to say about this subject. They’ve been talking it to death for years in print and on talk shows, and it always comes down to: Fall in love with perfect partner have perfect babies.

Some people don’t. Many who wish they could can’t or haven’t yet

Jaglom uses a funny subplot to avoid wall to wall interviews. The subplot involves Mark, the husband of the hostess and employer of Gena. He is a realtor who lacks funds and therefore raises money by all means necessary. (One shot shows a closeup of a nail hole in a wall; it then pans down to the angry wife, asking him what happened to the painting that was there this morning.) Norman infuses his character with comic desperation, which is refreshing amid all the earnestness.

I felt as though I had attended a party with some nice people who stayed too long at the end of the movie.

I was glad to have met them, I hope they will get on well, but I would rather not hear anything about babies for several weeks now.

Watch Babyfever For Free On Gomovies.

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