Generation

A play-like movie with fine acting. Some clever and funny lines in the dialogue. It's overall humorous but it is not a "mad-cap" or outrageous or raucous kind of humor. You wouldn't say. "This movie is hysterical." It's funny in a low-key way, and cute. The main thrust of the story is the tension and conflict between the daughter/husband and the father. The father is very worried about his daughter having her baby delivered at home by his (non-doctor) son-in-law and tries to bring in outside assistance. But they end up working together and it makes the whole story a happy one.

Just-married New York City couple, residing in an East Village hovel (apparently rat-infested, and with drunks sleeping in the doorways), have prided themselves on living a totally independent lifestyle--the husband is even determined to deliver his wife's baby at home (the point, one assumes, is that hospitals are a rip-off). Enter David Janssen as the girl's father, a suit-and-tie advertising executive from Denver, who finds his daughter's arrangement rather appalling. Lousy generation-gap comedy-drama by William Goodhart, adapted from his own Broadway play (which starred Henry Fonda as the Establishment dad), wants to have a two-way argument on the facts, but the couple's sunny, optimistic outlook is kiddie-cute and illogical. These two seem foolish turning down the father's many offers of financial help (although dimply Pete Duel does have a moment where he questions his own motives as purely selfish). A few funny bits near the beginning are nearly canceled out by stagnant third act wherein the daughter goes into labor. Sterilize the sheets! Boil the water! Find a better movie! *1/2 from ****