SXSW Film Review: Babes

Credit: Courtesy of NEON

The cinematic lovechild of Ilana Glazer and Pamela Adlon is a raunchy exploration of pregnancy pitfalls, bonded women, and bodily fluid mishaps. Navigating early motherhood has rarely been so belly-laugh hilarious or filled with excellent nasty truth reveals about growing bodies inside our bodies.

After witnessing the birth of her bestie Dawn’s second baby and then having a meet-cute on her commute, Eden (played by Glazer) finds herself learning firsthand everything she didn’t know about pregnancy. Co-written by Glazer and Josh Rabinowicz, Pamela Adlon’s feature directorial debut – Babes – is as delightfully irreverent as fans of Adlon’s Better Things and Glazer’s Broad City could hope for. Loaded with positive affirmations and glorious examples of mothers as humans (moms like sex and mushrooms too), it’s a simple story that leans on the comedy expertise of its cast and crew. The film’s goal isn’t plot twists and mysterious subtext; it’s straightforward comedy iced with just enough emotion to keep it real.

The Babes red carpet (l-r): director Pamela Adlon, co-star Michelle Buteau, and co-star/co-writer Ilana Glazer (photos by Gary Miller)

At Saturday’s SXSW world premiere, the Paramount Theatre audience roared with laughter from opening scene to end credits. (The cute stranger next to me was laughing so hard I was concerned for their health.) Statistically it’s likely that most reviews of this movie by women about women will be written by men, so normally we’d be concerned how that would affect distribution. Thankfully, the still unrated Babes was picked up by Neon, which means audiences everywhere will soon have the opportunity to enjoy this wild ride, too.

Glazer holds down the film’s fort with her signature antics, riotous wit, and “yes girl” empowerment. Her co-lead, Michelle Buteau, shines as Dawn, a worthy counterpart whose in-labor crawl will likely prove as memorable as Maya Rudolph’s wedding dress street shit or Melissa McCarthy’s “hot lava” scene. If we’re calling 2011’s Bridesmaids the predecessor of Babes, let’s also acknowledge that’s a clear indication the world deserves more extremely funny, female-centered, female-written, and female-directed comedies, pronto. Everyone poops, pregnancy is insane, and friendships evolve.

Oh yes, the film’s men: Hasan Minhaj as Husband, John Carroll Lynch as OB/GYN, Oliver Platt as “Deadbeat” Dad, and Stephan James as Lover are all wonderfully cast, each offering his own platform on which the co-leads riff and dance.

During the post-screening Q&A, Adlon and Glazer continued producing laughs and maintained the “women support women” vibe. They noted the film was an inspired compilation of actual pregnancy experiences, but when asked “What truths about motherhood did you highlight in this film?” Adlon deadpanned “Uh, what?” She continued: “Well it’s raw. You see all this same raw stuff in men’s comedies and we weren’t trying to be salacious. It’s important because we laugh so much as women and also as mothers it can be dark and scary.” The film's additional themes of consent, men needing validation, women as the unsung knights in shining armor, and legitimate mom fear – “like a lion is chasing me” – are intentional. And the Dawn-Eden duo’s charming dynamic? “It makes me want to cry because that is women’s friendship. That’s real.”

Babes

Headliner, World Premiere