Despite the fact that everyone is, you know, BORN, at some point, the movies give us shockingly little information about pregnancy other than “It’s complicated for women.” Well that’s because there really weren’t any female directors for a while, and even fewer willing to crown the pregnancy movie baby. I apologize for that horrific metaphor, and will instead say go see Pamela Adlon and Ilana Glazer’s Babes, which does a much better job than me of showing the day to day experience of pregnancy and motherhood, as experienced by WOMEN.
We open on Eden (Ilana Glazer) and Dawn (Abbi Jacobsen stand-in, Michelle Buteau) continuing their Thanksgiving tradition of seeing a movie together. Unfortunately, Dawn realizes that not all the seats are wet, and she has in fact started labor of her 2nd baby. Eden helps Dawn until husband Marty (Hasan Minhaj) arrives, helping her friend through the entire experience. On her way home, Eden has an incredible evening with tuxedoed Claude (Stephan James)…but unfortunately realizes that she can get pregnant on her period. Eden chooses to undertake the same 9 month “baby dick inside me” experience her BFF just went through, while Dawn can’t quite be there for her friend the same way because she soon realizes, two kids are WAY more work than just one.
From the get-go, Adlon, Glazer, and Buteau let you know this is not your male directed movie about the “precious gift of life.” I burst out laughing when the previously pregnant Dawn figured this baby would take as long as her last, and simply decided to go get an incredible “last supper” with her BFF Eden. It’s that type of knowing, subversive comedic energy that makes Babes so potent. Yes it’s incredible that a baby can come out of a vagina, but this movie’s more interested in the day to day living of the women growing the baby inside of them/taking care of them after they’re out. Glazer is basically a little bit older version of her Broad City character, giving the same energy and insane commitment to the pregnancy details. Buteau mines incredible humor out of day-to-day new baby mommy life, like unenthusiastic birthday celebrations or really leaning into a rare girls night out with Eden. There’s also an incredible Omen joke that’s going to make parents die laughing at how specific and ubiquitous the minefield can be of raising a child. I definitely learned a thing or two about the female body and raising kids I didn’t before, which the women find a way to mine just incredible humor out of. A great example: during pregnancy, women experience vaginal leaking. In a male director’s hands, this would come up during a sex scene or something. But with this lady triad, that discussion is an R rated masterpiece of weird details, with Buteau nailing the punchline comparing the discharge to female salad dressing. Only lived in experience could give us what Babes did, and thank god Pamela Adlon, Ilana Glazer, and Michelle Buteau all highlight sides of pregnancy and motherhood we didn’t know could be so funny.
Or so human. Because as you soon learn through Babes, the kids are the sideshow here. This is more of a movie about female friendship, and how hard it is to maintain as you get older and start families. The spectre of constant responsibility looms over every moment of Dawn’s life right at the beginning of the movie, with Eden doing her best “go 90 so her friend can come 10” job so she can see what to Eden is her sister. Dawn is stuck between a rock and a hard place as a result: she’s got her matriarch responsibilities to her family she created…but also feels the new pressure of helping her pseudo sister Eden, who needs more of Dawn than Dawn can give her. The strains of the relationship provide the real emotional stakes of Babes, as both women make compelling points, and neither comes off as “the bad guy.” When people get nostalgic for childhood, it’s this stage of life they’re usually struggling with: either overwhelmed by their duties to their loved ones or melancholic and lonely at the loss of day-to-day friendship because of the natural flow of life. Glazer and Buteau completely sell their complex relationship to one another, and you hurt like they do when they let each other down in small, and sometimes big, ways.
But even during those tense moments, a laugh is right around the corner. Babes’s effortless charm and honesty makes it a comedy that as many people should see as possible, especially women on the verge of having a baby. Consider this a glimpse into your future, and how your life is about to drastically change. Also, I’m a little worried about Abby and Ilana. Are they ok? I haven’t seen them since Abbi moved to Colorado in the Broad City finale. Ilana, blink twice if you’re all right.