Babes Review: Big Laughs in Pregnancy Comedy

HENDERSON, Ky. (WEHT) – Babes is Knocked Up (2007) meets Bridesmaids (2011); it is a relatable comedy with big laughs about a young woman going through an unplanned pregnancy with her close friend. Pamela Adlon directs Ilana Glazer, Michelle Buteau, and Hasan Minhaj.

Babes is a lovely crowd-pleaser of sorts. The film mines its comedy from a few raunchy scenes and some rapid-fire one-liners in addition to experiences that many new parents and expectant mothers will find all too familiar. Pregnancy comedies like Baby Mama (2008), Juno (2007), and many more have explored all the awkwardness and complications of new parenthood, but Babes finds new territory to explore, as it treats pregnancy as fodder for gross-outs and sex jokes.

All of that is carried through with great performances by the two leads, Glazer and Buteau. Although Glazer’s performance veers towards attitudes of the classic “chipper comedic lead,” rather than fully embodying a character, she is nevertheless charming and charismatic and delivers the witty lines with aplomb.

Babes is about pregnancy, but it is also about friendship and how friendships must adjust as our lives change. The character development shines, as it feels like these people are real friends, and their conflicts are grounded and authentic. Not all of the conflicts are resolved by the end, but how many friends do you have where all of your conflicts are resolved?

The story is a bit predictable. Babes hits all of the plot beats that you might expect, but the film is not about originality as much as it’s about the characters’ affability and the situations’ relatability.

Babes presents adulting as difficult and unwieldy, but its message is that anxieties about early adulthood are manageable with good friends and good humor.

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