Hence, no tears will be shed in Babes that will require you to pull out a hankie unless of course they are caused by laughter. With its hilarity and intelligent writing, the movie is directed by Pamela Adlon, who is also responsible for creating Better Things, which has been highly rated on FX; and played a role in Showtime’s Californication as well. She also boasts of her outstanding voice acting skills she demonstrated in Bob’s Burgers, Rick and Morty among several others including King of the Hill which looks set to 2.0 itself and join the growing number of reboots.
First time directing a feature film for Adlon comes with Babes but she is not alone. This strong point has always been evident even without it, thanks to her sharp eye and keeping the comedy anchored down in reality. Thus explains why this is an unapologetic romp about friendship and motherhood. Adlon joins forces with screenwriters Ilana Glazer and Josh Rabinowitz who were behind Broad City- a female buddy comedy series where Glazer starred alongside Abbi Jacobson.
The babes’ knob goes higher here than any other kind of friend films. The story follows inseparable childhood best friends Eden (Ilana) and Dawn (Michelle Buteau) at different stages in their lives – one pregnant; one drifting along aimlessly. When it dawns on Eden that she is expecting from an ill-fated love affair she decides to have the baby initially prompting Dawn to roll her eyes beyond what anyone would think was possible ever again since we met them off-stage three days ago. These are moments when Babes turns into a wickedly fun comedy full of surprises making it appear like a raunchy raw foul-mouthed flick. However much more funny premise ends up being overpowered by ridiculous ludicrous type humor too much yet Gabby does not fail to deliver winning tale about the empowerment of women, friends, adulthood as well as transition in life.
On that note, Eden observes quite calmly that “Your vagina looks like it’s yawning.” That does not disturb her as much as it makes her curious even though Dawn is having a baby now while pregnant to boot. This was after Dawn’s water broke while they were at a cinema and instead of going straight to the hospital she asked if they could have lunch before seeing a doctor. The drive out of there doesn’t go smoothly either but funny things happen ranging from getting her into a cab to how she ends up inside the delivery room. All this takes place within the first ten minutes.
After all, Ilana Glazer co-writer and star has nothing to hide thus making puns her climax point. If you’ve liked Broad City’s punch then this will be your home turf too. Hence female anatomy/female experiences are fiercely observed and reported here. Therefore expressions which have never been noticed or heard before would be made visible by Glazer; perhaps in order to desensitize or claim victory for these two X chromosomes thereby having her own kind of estrogen pride parade which could use some more bumps along its otherwise suspense-less road – things tend to work out all too easily here – but still, this film is a total blast.
However, that is not going to be the case for our two friends who are destined to have their lives changed. In this second pregnancy of Dawn’s, emotional fatigue begins to catch up with her. She finds herself in a passionate one-night stand with a stranger on the subway (Stephan James) which eventually changes Eden’s entire life. A week or so later he ghosted me without even a courtesy goodbye text. This was when she found out about her pregnancy. (It has a great running joke about Eden’s doctor played by the amazing John Carroll Lynch.) But Dawn knows she has no choice but to support Eden, even though deep down she believes it might be wrong. Eden may be like an awesome friend – they use text messages for every “dump” – but she failed Adulthood 101 class. These two are headed toward one helluva reality enema.
We see Dawn go through another round of motherhood that is emotionally difficult as well as supported by her hubby (Hasan Minaj). Spats between them sometimes break what used to be unbreakable but the movie never dwells too much on these episodes. It gets fixed way too easily in fact maybe there could have been an alternative? It ends up being a uproarious and brutally honest ride into pregnancy with all the things that culture does not talk about: body cramps, mood swings, and an insatiable sex drive.
In this book, Adlon et al uncover all of that and more. The scenes and dialogues do not get so dirty that you cannot watch them anymore but they are enough to make you imagine stuff especially when someone talks about washing their private parts well because… “she’s f***ing dank.” As shown in many episodes of Better Things, Adlon seems like she should definitely direct movies, being observant yet also able to create scenes which click perfectly within context of real life or in this case, a woman’s world.
There is a great moment towards the end of the movie where Eden’s fantastical vision of her prom birth extravaganza reveals her lingering immaturity. (Oliver Platt shows up as Eden’s MIA father who suggests there were deeper layers behind her crazed mind.) Though, it is funny in the same way as Knocked Up, Bridesmaids, and Bad Moms.
Glazer’s script eventually leads to an epic face-off between Dawn and Eden that sees plenty of verbal jabs being thrown but like any rainstorm, this one allows for a purge and maybe a fresh start. Behold! The stork has arrived. Babes is a knock-out, refreshingly fun, irreverent jaunt through motherhood and female friendship. I’d give it four out of five diapers. Babes will open in theaters on May 17th.
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