Conception

Caught this terrific little movie at a film festival and wondered why can't Hollywood, with its huge budgets, manage to turn out something half this good.

Conception tackles a tricky subject with humor and warmth. In our baby obsessed culture, trying to conceive is on many people's minds. The script managed to find the humor in it and reveled in the small moments.

The cast was terrific. Great to see some television actors get to flex different muscles. The interactions felt genuine and real and touching. It's nice to watch a movie that manages to walk the line between comedy and being heartfelt without feeling overdone and treacly. Conception does this with style and grace.

I wonder why there aren't more smart, charming romantic comedies like Conception.

"Conception" is charming, cute, and sincere. The situations are realistic and relatable, and the characters are true ... and it hits every note perfectly. I won't summarize it here (it's pretty clear what the storyline is!), I'll give the filmmakers credit for finding new ways to surprise us, to keep the stories engaging, and to make the relationships, whether they're brand-new or established, realistic and sweet. And although you might think it's going to end in a very predictable way, it doesn't. The ending is more poignant than you might expect. It's certainly not a movie for kids, but certainly a good movie for a date (maybe not a first date!), or if you and the Mrs. (or Mr.) have a night without the kids. It's easy to understand why this was a festival success.

Conception (2011) is a comedy drama movie that was written and directed by Josh Stolberg with a great ensemble cast and it was pretty good.

Positives for Conception (2011): I like the idea behind this movie where you focus on these 7 different couples on their relationships in small sections. You have a great ensemble cast and they play their roles very well. The comedy and drama are balanced well enough. The movie moves at a great pace that keeps your attention from start to finish. And finally, the ending montage during the end credits is pretty funny.

Negatives for Conception (2011): Theree isn't enough time given with these couples for me to fully care about them. This movie needed 20 or 30 more minutes to spend time with these characters for me to care about them as people. And finally, this doesn't feel like a movie that Josh Stolberg would make, it could literally be made by anyone and you wouldn't know the difference.

Overall, Conception (2011) is a good comedy drama movie from a filmmaker doing something different which I can respect, but I won't be in the rush to rewatch it anytime soon.

This is a great date night movie to either inspire baby-making or discourage it, depending on your place in life ;)

It is really funny, the characters were all really human, and I could relate to the situations.

The film touches on all the ways in which babies are conceived, for better and for worse, but handles it all with levity and humor.

The performances are all excellent and it's directed and shot with a light touch.

Gregory Smith, one of my favorite young actors, is a adorable and very sexy.

This film should have had a theatrical release, but I was lucky enough to be able to see it on demand.

Cute, refreshing, and a little bit of raunch!

Jumping persistently between so many couples throughout the entire movie is a technique I've never really seen before, especially in how it so effectively sucks you in AND breaks most Hollywood conventions while still being relatable. Conception earns its R rating through edgy adult dialogue and sparse nudity without jumping onto the "shock value" bandwagon of tastelessness and pointless crudity.

This is a sweet movie at heart, and Stolberg's ability to navigate through a wide variety of characters that you quickly grow to love and understand without the slightest bit of confusion makes it quite a rare gem.

And, for any of us who know filmmaking- shooting it in ten days (at least that's what I read somewhere) with roughly ten locations (I think), one for each couple, is flat out remarkable- and it certainly doesn't hurt to have such an experienced, likable, recognizable cast filling out every single scene: it's not often (or ever) that every single face in a low-budget movie with so many characters can actually be recognized, let alone have been pulled from some of the most groundbreaking television (and some movies) of the last few years- though half of those cast are actually working on hot shows right now.

This isn't a cliché-ridden, formulaic romantic comedy where characters are forced to figure out how much they really love each other, then lose each other, then get back together in the end- it's hanging out with real people who subtly (if not sneakily) grow on you, straight through to a culmination that ties everything together in a very charming way.