Un bébé à tout prix

I've been on a string of romantic comedies this month and I've never stopped a movie or fast forwarded to the end like this movie. Miss Conception tells the story of Georgina, a 34 year old woman who is entering an early menopause and only has 4 days left to conceive. Unluckily for her, she gets into a fight with her boyfriend and he leaves for work.

As the title suggests, her main goal is to conceive a baby. During a 4 day period, she goes from zany encounter to encounter. This is where the film ultimately fails. The story would like us to believe that it's just that hard for her to get laid and in reality it's really not, especially a woman as beautiful as Heather Graham.

Like all romantic comedies, the resolution is predictable. It's not that it's a bad thing, but the way that the events turned out, it makes you want to skip right to the end. It's pointless because there's nothing there to makes you want to keep watching. Even for fans of romantic comedies, I highly recommend against watching this film.

I thought it was pretty good. The plot centers around a 34-year old woman who is about to hit menopause early. I've always felt that Heather Graham is an undervalued actress who could go far with the right material, eg. "Broken" (2007) but I think that the plot would have been more credible with a slightly older looking actress, Graham still looks like 25. Perhaps the scenes with Zack's adventures in Ireland and his ditzy production assistant wasn't really essential to the plot. I never really understood why Georgina fancies Zack at all when the chemistry and emotional depth between Georgina and her friend Clem appears to be much deeper. The incident with the sperm sample and the birthday cake felt very contrived.

I noticed the frequent use of "Darling" and "Sweetie" which at times made the movie sound like a P.G. Wodehouse novel or an episode of "Absolutely Fabulous". Kudos to first time screen writer Camilla Leslie for making a new twist on the romantic comedy formula.

Apparently, Georgina Salt's biological clock has been ticking a great deal faster than she ever could have imagined. For upon visiting a fertility clinic, the attractive young woman (Heather Graham) learns that she has only two weeks to go before her ovaries dry up, rendering her forever unable to have a baby. The problem is that her longtime boyfriend (Tom Ellis) has no desire to be a daddy, so Georgina is forced to look elsewhere for sperm-donor options. Her search leads her to employ all sorts of desperate measures, including advertising for a "lodger," picking off mourners at a funeral, hooking up with a muscle-bound exotic dancer, succumbing to the advances of a horny employee, pressuring her gay best friend to perform the service and, when all else fails, even turning to a semen-filled turkey baster to get the job done.

Directed by Eric Styles, "Miss Conception" is a modestly amusing little British comedy filled with pleasant moments and droll performances, though, frankly, nothing in it is quite as teasy or clever as its punny title. On a sociopolitical level, the movie squares things with the feminists in the audience by counterbalancing Georgina's obsession with having a baby with the fact that she runs her own construction company. The one-note premise does lead to some contrivance and repetitiousness in the plotting, but the performances and consistently upbeat tone offset some of the movie's weaknesses.

A really sweet, funny, film that's a lighthearted take on the difficult subject of infertility. Heather Graham's wonderful - I know she's much maligned these days but she's such a charismatic and warm actress that you really feel for her character, Georgina, who's only got a few days left in which to get pregnant. I didn't know Mia Kirshner or Tom Ellis before but both were excellent, making the whole film really watchable. Both girls do well with their English accents, and the depiction of modern Britain (OK, I'm a Brit) was refreshing compared to the likes of Four Weddings, Love Actually etc., which are stodgy and stereotypical by comparison.

I loved this movie. It is all a Romantic Comedy should be. AND TOM ELLIS !! I simply cannot understand the low ratings and bad reviews. Did you people even watch this???