Obvious Child (Gillian Robespierre)

[number8]

http://d1oi7t5trwfj5d.cloudfront.net/91/37/3c0f318647f2911a95136bb2a7a4/obvious-child-poster.jpg

IMDB (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2910274/)

[number8]

Charming movie. Doesn't really go anywhere you didn't want it to go, with all the easy conclusions and convenient happenstances that plague the genre. It's pretty much a pure traditional romantic comedy, with its only stand out being that the genre is finally reflecting the more casual and accepting attitude of young people towards situations like this, unlike the very much more roundaboutly uptight perspective of Judd Apatow in Knocked Up.

Still, awesome showcase for Jenny Slate. Unlike In a World..., which was similarly a showcase for Lake Bell's abilities but still mostly padded up by her circle of comedy friends, this is 100% carried by Slate, with Gaby Hoffman, David Cross, and Richard Kind really not doing anything memorable at all in this.

[eternity]

Bored me, frankly.

[Pop Trash]

I'm staunchly pro-choice but I find the marketing campaign for this incredibly annoying.

[number8]

I can't decide if it's a good move or not for them to market it so enthusiastically as an issue movie. Considering that the thing it's being praised the most for is how it treats her decision to get an abortion as a logical given with no debate whatsoever.

[DSNT]

I think one of the strengths of this movie is that it isn't a heavy-handed, cram it down your throat type of issue film. Sure, they probably got the project going as an issue movie with an agenda, but they steered away from politics and controversy. It was merely a device in a romantic comedy, and the act and decision was portrayed as difficult, but normal and something that people have to deal with.

What's unfortunate is that by marketing as an issue film, they've released the anti-abortion trolls. Don't waste your time reading forums about this movie (aside from this one of course).

7/10

[dreamdead]

Yeah, the sequence when Gaby Hoffman lashes out how it's Slate's choice alone strikes me as overly militant for a film that elsewhere holds onto a sweetness that allows it to segue seamlessly into the more conventional aspects of the genre.

I like a lot of the music's ambient choices, and the film does a good job giving us access to Slate's perspective without it becoming too cloying. And it's a sweet last ten minutes.