Maybe Baby

"Maybe Baby" is a very British comedy about a married couple who are having trouble making a baby. He's a script writer who sees the foibles and farces involved in their attempts to conceive as fuel for a screenplay which could save his failing career. She's a Barbiesque beauty who's avoiding the advances of a charismatic actor while trying to conceive. A fun frolic through the camp and corny, "Maybe Baby" is about 80% comedy with the remaining 20% spread over drama, pathos, romance, contemplations about married life, etc. resulting in a light hearted romp which should play well with more mature married-with-kids types, especially females into English humor, in spite of lukewarm critical reviews. (B)

Well, as a fan of British movies and comedies, (Trainspotting, Full Monty, Mind Your Language, Blackadder series, etc you get the point), I was happy to catch another British movie, especially one starring most of my fav actors and actresses, (Hugh Laurie and Rowan from Blackadder, Dawn French, Joanna Lumley and Joely Richardson,) I was more than willing to fork out the money to support another British movie.

Too bad the dialogue must have been considered too risque for Singaporean tastes and various parts of it were snipped, including the opening scene. The humping seemed to be intact though. Figures.

I expected risque and witty dialogue from British productions, being brought up on British comedies. I never get enough of risque humor. Benny Hill anyone? ;-) ;-)

Word of advice: avoid the movie in Singapore and get the DVD. I know I will. Come on guys, give Joely Richardson a chance. I think her acting was convincing, and Rowan playing the desensitized gynaecologist is a hoot, though a tad limited due to being just a cameo appearance. Hugh Laurie definitely steals the show, but more could be made of Joanna. Again, being a cameo, her role is very limited. Maybe there will be a director's cut that will be longer, 2hours or more hopefully.

I watched this movie after What Lies Beneath starring Harrison Ford and Michelle Pfieffer, so I got a bit more kick from this movie, which is also about Marriage and couples.

Well, let's see....

It's got Hugh Laurie in it, so it must be funny, right? And it's about making babies, so it must be very funny, right? And it's written by Ben Elton, so it has to be very, very funny, right? Well, the ingredients may be there but this christmas pudding is a stale pancake. As a brit, may I be honest and say that the term "British comedy" is very much a contradiction in terms these days.

Trouble is, all the 'in crowd' who make films here don't have a shred of genuine humor between them. For 'comedy' read 'stupidity' - so far as these idiots are concerned, they are interchangeable.

Sadly, only americans know how to do humor now. They don't know how to do much else, but they do know humor.

This romantic comedy lost its way a bit leaving it only partly romantic and I'm afraid not always very funny. There are a few shots at Auntie (the BBC for our overseas readers) and several very good lines though some may be very familiar to those who have seen writer Ben Elton's stand up show or his BBC series.

A full cast of 80s alternative comedians makes their appearance, Emma Thompson almost looking identical to her mother in 'Saving Grace' in her mad hippie cameo and Dawn French affecting a bizarre Aussie accent as a nurse.

Hugh Laurie does well as always in his role as a sort of alternative 90s Cary Grant and James Purefoy will get most people's juices running (cf. the line by Joanna Lumley's character quoted in an earlier comment) but all in all this just wasn't funny enough, I don't know why, perhaps there were just too many targets.

Only 6/10 from me I'm afraid.

This is quite possibly one of the worst comedies I have ever seen. I don't know if I laughed once throughout the whole film! It was terrible. The story of a couple trying for a baby belongs in the world of soap opera and not the big screen. This is especially true when it is clear Ben Elton has nothing funny to write about his true life experience. DO NOT WATCH THIS FILM!!!