“Babes” Review

Ilana Glazer (Left) and Michelle Buteau play two best friends navigating pregnancy in “Babes”, a superb comedy film that has achieved nationwide distribution through NEON.

I’d like to take the first few grafs of this review to talk about the film production and distribution company NEON. Founded in 2017, this company has quickly garnered a positive reputation for finding and distributing incredible films, often from auteur and independent filmmakers. Recent films they’ve distributed to theaters have included “Immaculate”, “Perfect Days” and “Moonage Daydream” and they’ve also had an insane streak of garnering the distribution rights to the last five films to win the Palme D’Or at the Cannes Film Festival: “Parasite”, “Titane”, “Triangle of Sadness”, “Anatomy of a Fall” and “Anora”. 

Since I’ve gushed over and over about the successes of A24, it makes sense that I give another company the credit it deserves when it's doing something similar while still forging its own path. While A24 is now known for both distribution and production, NEON is more known for the former. But that can all change and I’m sure that production is soon to become a priority for the company if they keep playing their cards right. 

I write all of this because, whenever I watch the trailers in the movie theater and I see the NEON logo, I get excited. I know that I’m going to get something of immense quality from them and it’s going to be displayed on the best format possible: a gigantic screen. Yes I enjoy my films from major studios but their primary focus is money and that shows. Companies like NEON and A24 are able to fuel cinematic virtue while also keeping a healthy bottom line by focusing on interesting stories rather than trying to balloon their budgets to the point of absurdity. It’s through this process that has produced “Babes”, a sharp and hilarious comedy that takes humor surrounding pregnancy to a whole new level which is saying something considering how controversial it was to depict a pregnancy on “I Love Lucy”. 

Eden (Ilana Glazer) is a yoga instructor in New York City who loves her single life almost as much as she loves her best friend Dawn (Michelle Buteau). With Dawn happily married to an amazing guy named Marty (Hasan Minhaj) and having just had her second child with him, Dawn seems to be perfectly happy with her balance of career and family while Eden enjoys being the supportive best friend. But when Eden becomes pregnant after a one-night-stand and elects to keep the baby, Eden’s life and relationships are completely upended. 

Not since “Juno” has a comedic story of pregnancy felt so refreshing and so sincere but that’s where the comparisons to the 2007 classic end. “Babes” makes its own path with its own brand of humor, ranging from unbelievably childish to insanely dark and weird, and the central relationship of the story had me hooked the entire time. Despite not having the equipment to achieve pregnancy, even I could have some relatability with Eden, Dawn and their collective troubles. Also, Eden dumps Sour Patch Kids on top of her popcorn which is also something I do. It’s a brilliant combination and I’m glad that it’s getting cinematic recognition. That’s what “Babes” does so well. You get attached to these people and you laugh at their actions because you could also see yourself in that position. 

Ilana Glazer is just a delight with how humanly messy she is, as is Michelle Buteau. Their joy and frustrations feel so genuine and you understand that, despite both of them wanting to be mothers, they aren’t always happy with their choices. They feel like they’re doing something wrong because they don’t enjoy every aspect of being a mom and having the immense responsibility of caring for a human being (two in Dawn’s case). This doesn’t make them bad people, in fact it’s the exact opposite. It makes them real and their humor all the more hilarious.

Glazer’s script, which was cowritten with Josh Rabinowitz (a producer of Glazer’s series “Broad City”), is hilariously intense. After watching a film like “Unfrosted”, which got some laughs out of me once in a while, it was so much fun to be laughing so much with “Babes”. These weren’t polite chuckles either. I was about to fall out of my seat at times. I was also enthralled with Pamela Adlon (yes, the voice of Bobby in “King of the Hill”) and her voice as the film’s director. The balance of sincerity and ridiculousness was excellent and I found myself emotionally invested in several scenes with the perfect punchline. 

With “Babes”, this is a great example of why we need more unique voices in comedic cinema. When I think of great comedic films of the past few years, not only do I think of the big blockbusters like “Barbie”, “The Fall Guy” and “The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent”, but my mind also turns to “Bottoms”, “I Like Movies”, “The Holdovers” and “Problemista”. The films that feel small but not in the sense that they’re not important. These films have a raw relatability that makes them essential and they do what good comedy is supposed to do: find the funny side of relatable situations for entertainment and catharsis. I want more films like “Babes” to be released nationwide and the fact that I can see this in the same cinema as “The Fall Guy” thanks to NEON is worth celebrating alongside the many merits of a hilarious film.