Festive Names

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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Mel O'Drama" data-source="post: 371790" data-attributes="member: 23">Baby Boom (1987) <img src="https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=https%3A%2F%2Fi.pinimg.com%2F736x%2Fb8%2F88%2F6b%2Fb8886b8ec0c19537170fd8ac06f9c6d3--baby-boom-quad.jpg&f=1&nofb=1&ipt=8dc03416c369e073622c11f0bae4ac4a041f20366e4563ffc0acca72e861f0b9&ipo=images" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" /> Yet another well-known Eighties film that I was aware of but that completely passed me by. At least I think it did. I couldn't swear that I've never seen this, but then it's so comfortably predictable it's also the kind of film that one could probably practically play out in one's head without ever having seen it. This is especially true given other films of the era with similar tones and themes, such as Three Men And A Baby (Diane Keaton herself later starred in others that I associate with this kind of romanticised conservative genre of comedy with Father Of The Bride). In many ways it's very of its time. Keaton's character - with her Armani suits, Oliver Peoples glasses and minimalist apartment - is the epitome of the Yuppie (the very point of the character, of course. By film's end she's learnt a valuable lesson). It has a cutesy, boing-y synthesised Eighties score which tells you when to laugh or get tearful or whatever (saving the viewer the trouble of having to think too much about what's actually going on). It's a warm film and quite a soppy one. I have a low tolerance for cutesy films, especially cutesy baby films, but I found myself investing in this one. The girl (or girls, since she was played by twins) is cute without being precocious and the film really sells J.C.'s journey with her (there's a scene at the adoption office which almost broke my stony heart). I suppose the underlying message of the film is that you can have it all on your own terms... if you're creative and resourceful enough. The ending is upbeat and happy enough, but there's just something about it that could have been a bit more. [SPOILER="Plot spoilers"]For the first half of the film, it really felt as though J.C. was on her way to achieving something significant. There's a terrific moment after she decides to keep the inherited baby where Harold Ramis's character announces he can't do it, and she calmly but simply says "OK" and then he's gone. I found it quite admirable that she (well she and he both, really) had sacrificed this in order to step up and be there for the child. After all, she still had her career. Then that, too, was gone and I wasn't sure how to feel about this because it leaned into the "all women are slaves to their maternal instincts" trope. She gave up what was most important to her life to be a mother, which seems  retrogressive. Then comes the baby food business she sets up, starting with the homemade apple sauce, and she's the capitalist again (so she can have it all on her own terms). But the unnecessary icing on the cake was the romance with the vet. So she has the money, the career and the man. And that's kind of the measure of her success.  It ended up lazily ticking all the conservative boxes. And while it worked fine, I'd have found it a stronger film without the Hollywood ending.[/SPOILER] I'm trying to think how many films I've watched with Diane Keaton, and the answer is "not enough". The First Wives Club; The Godfather films; the occasional more recent film has been streamed recently. To my shame I've never watched Annie Hall, and it has been in my watch list for a while. I do find her a charismatic actress. It's quite a feat to essentially look the same in everything and display many of the same quirky mannerisms, yet still be completely in the moment and somehow become that character completely. I'm fascinated by her features: the fixed smile; the sad "weary of life" eyes. And her timeless style, of course. Plus she seems to be ageing both relatively naturally and like fine wine. Oh yes - that was when she was setting up her "Vesta Rose" agency with the old colleague from the nursing home.This reminded me to look up who played "whaddayathink" woman.I don't recall her getting a close-up, and I remember thinking as I watched that she looked rather like Marilee Stone from Dallas (even though she didn't sound at all like her), so I wanted to see who it was.Turns out it was June Gable, who went on to play Joey's agent Estelle from Friends.Funnily enough, after watching the film, I took a peek to see if it was available on DVD.Seems it's long out of print, but I'll certainly keep an eye out for either an affordable copy or for the series becoming available to stream. I'd be very interested to see how it's aged, and - since it made a big impression on me as a kid - how I view it as an adult.</blockquote>

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