SummaryAfter becoming pregnant from a one-night stand, Eden (Ilana Glazer) leans on her married best friend and mother of two, Dawn (Michelle Buteau), to guide her through gestation and beyond.
Directed By:Pamela Adlon
Written By:Ilana Glazer, Josh Rabinowitz
Babes
Metascore
Generally Favorable
72
User score
Mixed or Average
6.0
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Top Cast
Metascore
Generally Favorable
72
83% Positive
25 Reviews
25 Reviews
17% Mixed
5 Reviews
5 Reviews
0% Negative
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
May 22, 2024
88
With Pamela Adlon (“Better Things”) directing in a style reminiscent of the best Woody Allen and Nora Ephron movies of the 1970s and 1980s, a sharp and hilarious and poignant screenplay by Glazer (“Broad City”) and Josh Rabinowitz, and winning performances from the co-leads, “Babes” is one terrific friend-com, or should we say a mom-com, and I can already picture Eden and Dawn making fun of that latter term.
Mar 20, 2024
85
Babes’ benevolent humor skims the great heights of a Nora Ephron film for a modern take on womanhood that feels close to classic on arrival.
User score
Mixed or Average
6.0
50% Positive
21 Ratings
21 Ratings
31% Mixed
13 Ratings
13 Ratings
19% Negative
8 Ratings
8 Ratings
Aug 3, 2024
7
It is what it is. It’s quite apparent that this was written from the mind of a very specific person, intended for a very specific audience. But nonetheless, it was well done and great chemistry between the two female leads.
Jul 25, 2024
6
IN A NUTSHELL:
The story is about two best friends who navigate pregnancy and childbirth, as it changes their relationship.
The film was directed by Pamela Adlon in her directorial debut. Writing credits go to Llana Glazer, Josh Rabinowitz, who also co-produced it with Susie Fox, Ashley Fox, and Breean Pojunas. Already, the film has been nominated for awards by two film festivals. THINGS I LIKED:
Michelle Buteau and Llana Glazer have fantastic chemistry together and are believable as besties since childhood. Llana Glazer was really pregnant while writing and filming this movie. She drew inspiration from her own experience with pregnancy and motherhood. I got a kick out of her physical humor as she played a spunky, energetic yoga instructor who gets knocked up after a one-night stand.
There are a lot of funny moments that are often simultaneously cringe moments. Some audiences will love that.
All of the secondary characters did a great job too, and include John Carroll Lynch, Oliver Platt, Sandra Bernhard, Hasan Minhaj, and Stephen James.
I love it when New York City is one of the characters in a movie. New Yorkers are very different kind of people from the ones I live around.
There is a raw honesty about motherhood. Hopefully, men who watch this film will better appreciate what women do.
How lucky are those who have best friends like this who are fiercely loyal. THINGS I DIDN’T LIKE:
The film is extremely raunchy, disrespectful, and profane. It’s not my cup of tea, but I can absolutely see why some audiences will think it’s hilarious and smart. It reminded me that there actually are people out there who live and speak like this in real life.
The content about bodily fluids and exhaustion is repeated over and over. While I wanted them to move on to new territory, I absolutely recognize that motherhood is filled with those things!
One of the things that made me sad about this movie is the focus on the negative side of parenting. Yes, being pregnant and raising kids is exhausting, but it’s also the most rewarding thing a woman will ever do in her life. The ending is predictable, yet still made me a little teary-eyed. TIPS FOR PARENTS:
This absolutely not appropriate for kids.
No subject is taboo in this movie.
TONS of super crude language and people
We see a full nude pregnant woman. She tries to cover various body parts with her hands.
We see two women take psychedelic shrooms
An unmarried couple has a one-night stand (we don’t see the action)
A woman tells a 3-year-old boy to watch a rated R movie with her: The Omen, which is a terribly scary movie for kids and incredibly inappropriate. He ends up writing 666 in red on the walls of his bedroom.
When a doctor asks a pregnant woman if she wants to know the gender of her baby, she explains she doesn’t want to put a binary name on it.
Lots of alcohol
Lots of talk of intimate relationships (if you know what I mean)
Aug 5, 2024
80
Even in the most crass jokes, where fluid pours out of orifices, Babes is a delightful and profound study in growth.
Jun 13, 2024
75
Life, as a character in Babes points out, isn’t always like a Nora Ephron movie, but it’s a pleasure to watch these two stumble toward their own happy ending.
Mar 10, 2024
75
While Babes begins its approach to domesticity with the same aversion to responsibility that powered “Broad City,” it ultimately settles on a more mature attitude that illustrates the way many of Glazer’s fans are growing up alongside her.
Mar 10, 2024
70
Although Babes nails its comedic swings, the film strains to build the narrative tension and stakes needed to land its more serious moments.
May 17, 2024
40
Babes is the kind of comedy that makes you wonder what jokes are, exactly, and if what you just saw contained any.
Nov 8, 2024
5
Por mais que pouco me agrade o excesso de piadas escatológicas tentando ser engraçado, soa mais como uma versão feminina de comédias besteirol mesmo. Mas o roteiro, ao pôr duas amigas em suas respectivas maternidades, tem muito a oferecer em termos de sonoridade, orbitando por questões pertinentes ao universo das mulheres. Uma pena que faltou trabalhar melhor esse roteiro, bem como o filme precisava de uma pegada mais realista pra experiência ser mais visceral. Como optou por ser uma comédia, muitas vozes sobre tanto o tom que fica tudo muito over.
May 25, 2024
5
How disappointing it is when you see a movie that you were looking forward to only to walk away unimpressed, if not largely disappointed. So it is with director Pamela Adlon’s debut feature, a comedy-drama about the wild and crazy relationship between two lifelong thirtysomething New York BFFs (Ilana Glazer, Michelle Buteau) who share the experiences of pregnancy, childbirth and parenthood while struggling to maintain the kind of free-spirited friendship they had before becoming mothers. The narrative consists of a series of vignettes – some outrageous, some touching, some serious – involving various aspects of their connection, their individual lives and their interactions with others. Unfortunately, these episodes are wildly inconsistent, regardless of their nature. Some work well (especially, surprisingly enough, those that get unapologetically down and dirty with unbridled raunchy humor), but most others fall stunningly flat for a variety of reasons. The biggest problem here is the writing, which frequently tries far too hard to make the material work. Some segments simply aren’t funny, relying on excessive exhausting mugging and overacting to win over audience members and unsuccessfully persuade them otherwise. Others are utterly preposterous and implausible (despite trying to come across as “zany” or “outrageous”), lacking credibility in terms of plot devices, character development and story flow. And others still are just plain inauthentic, particularly when driven by the strained chemistry between the two often-immature leads, whose supposed bond simply isn’t convincing. What’s more, when the film unsuccessfully tries to turn serious, scenes that are supposed to move and touch viewers don’t work, because the film doesn’t do enough to engender sufficient interest in the protagonists, their challenges or their relationship with one another. To its credit, the film features some fine performances by supporting cast members (John Carroll Lynch, Stephan James, Elena Ouspenskaia), but the leads grow progressively tiresome, especially the longer the movie drones on. In short, “Babes” is a big misfire that fails to deliver despite a few modest laughs along the way. Best bet for this one? Wait for it to come to streaming.
Production Company:
- FilmNation Entertainment
- Range Media Partners
- Starrpix
Release Date:May 17, 2024
Duration:1 h 49 m
Rating:R
Awards
Miami Film Festival
• 1 Nomination
SXSW Film Festival
• 1 Nomination
Phoenix Critics Circle
• 1 Nomination
