BABES - Mark Reviews Movies

Babes, Neon

Follow on Facebook | Follow on Twitter | Become a Patron

Review by Mark Dujsik | May 16, 2024

Babes is a funny comedy, featuring some fine gags and performances that are admirably committed to those bits, but it's even better as the sweet and honest story of a longtime friendship. If star Ilana Glazer and Josh Rabinowitz's screenplay occasionally loses sight of that central relationship, that's only because the friends themselves do the same. It's tough to balance even the most important of bonds when life inevitably gets in the way.

It already has for Eden (Glazer) and her best friend Dawn (Michelle Buteau), who grew up together and, until recently, have been all but inseparable. Dawn got married to Marty (Hasan Minhaj), had a child, and moved from the Astoria neighborhood of New York City, leaving Eden with a lengthy subway commute whenever the two friends want to meet up—instead of calling, texting, keeping track of each other with a location app, and sharing pictures of particularly momentous trips to the bathroom.

In case that description doesn't make it obvious, the two are very, very close, which becomes even more apparent in the opening sequence. Meeting up for a yearly tradition of watching a movie together on Thanksgiving morning, the friends soon realize that Dawn, who's only a couple weeks from giving birth to her second kid, has gone into labor. The specifics of the discovery and a mistaken estimate of how far along Dawn actually is in the process are best left unmentioned here. Besides, the scene is funny beyond the particulars of how the scenario plays out, with Glazer's deadpan running commentary on what Dawn's downstairs situation looks like, while Buteau puts her all into the vocal and physical strain of contractions in a couple of inconvenient locations.

It's a great scene, really, not only in how the humor and stakes of it evolve with each beat, but also in the way it immediately establishes each of our main characters, the deep connection between them, and how it has become a bit strained. Eden, after all, hasn't changed much or at all in the years or even decades since the two friends have known each other. She's still single, not really looking for a romantic relationship, and living in the neighborhood where she has been most or all of her life.

How much does she really figure into Dawn's life at this point? The friend has a family of her own now, a successful career as a dentist, and so much to balance—just in terms of raising two kids and maintaining a marriage and juggling all of that with her job—that Eden's need for her might be greater than Dawn's ability to be there for her friend.

This new dynamic for the friends becomes the core the story, which seems to be heading in one direction, only for it, like the opening sequence, to evolve into something else entirely. On the way home from being there for the birth of Dawn's second child, Eden meets a stranger on the subway. He's Claude (Stephan James), an aspiring actor on his way home from a movie shoot, and as the two talk, they realize they share a lot in common.

Getting back to Eden's apartment, they decide to have sex, and after not hearing back from Claude for a while, Eden discovers she's pregnant (As for why the seemingly perfect guy is out of the picture, that's an unexpected twist that's mostly ignored, since the script already has so much else to do). She decides to have the baby, much to the obvious confusion and frustration of Dawn—who has already promised to be there for her friend no matter what. This definitely wasn't the choice she expected her friend to make.

The rest of the story is one of a string of smart balances, overseen by director Pamela Adlon, making her feature debut. We follow Eden as she experiences oddities of pregnancy and the struggles of being a pregnant woman mostly on her own. We witness how Dawn faces her own challenges. Some of them are the messiness of trying to manage so many things at once, and others are on account of post-partum depression. A few are because Eden screws up (There's an amusing payoff to her babysitting that involves a horror movie and a devoutly religious nanny) or assumes Dawn will put her life on hold for doctor's appointments and other pregnancy-related matters.

In that way, the film is genuine about this friendship, because it's not all joke-filled hangouts and rosy feelings. There are disappointments and built-up resentments with which to deal on both ends, as Dawn becomes increasingly irritated by how much Eden expects of her, while Eden is barely treated to a "babymoon," a pre-birth getaway, which becomes more about Dawn escaping her responsibilities and having fun.

All the while, the screenplay balances these thorny developments in the relationship with its jokes. Within them, there's a fine variety, too, from frank talk about bodily functions (ranging from the details of birth to the consequences of centuries-clogged plumbing), to the friends' fears being revealed by way of hallucinogenic mushrooms, and to some quirky characters—a montage of potential doulas, Oliver Platt as Eden's agoraphobic father, John Carroll Lynch as a doctor whose attempts to cover up or embrace his baldness become a consistently good running gag.

Equal parts funny and sincere, Babes serves as a nimble comedy about pregnancy and a wise study of a worthy friendship that comes under pressure. The jokes work, but the ups and downs of the central relationship give the film its heart.

Back to Home

Buy Related Products