I sometimes write for the Planned Parenthood Advocates of Arizona blog, and as a PPAA volunteer was invited to a screening last night of the movie Obvious Child. I enjoyed it, and want to share some of my thoughts about the film.
I had heard something about it, and seen a trailer a while ago, and had some questions going in - is this really a film about an abortion? Is it really a romantic comedy? Can a film be both?
Well, the answers are yes, yes, and yes. Sort of.
Donna Stern is a woman in her late twenties who works in a hole-in-the-wall bookstore and does stand-up in a hole-in-the-wall club in the evenings. Then her boyfriend leaves her for her best friend, she learns the bookstore is about to close, and she copes by drinking and talking with her roommate and the club owner who are supportive.
One night she meets a man at the club, and he joins her and the owner as they continue drinking. He and Donna click, and she goes home with him. They have a fun and raucous time and she wakes up next morning in bed with him. She leaves while he is still sleeping.
That's the first act.
I had heard that she gets pregnant from a drunken one night stand, and she does, only it isn't like the picture such a description gives. Max, "as Christian as a Christmas tree," is from the start a nice guy, and they clearly like each other.
The second act has two parallel story lines - Donna discovers she is pregnant and decides to have an abortion, and makes an appointment to have it on Valentine's Day. While she waits the two weeks until her appointment, Max shows up, clearly interested in getting to know her. She likes him but is struggling with whether and how to tell him, which complicates her response to him. Her decision to have an abortion is part of what she wants to tell him - she never has any doubts about that.
I'm not going to tell how things work themselves out; the movie is worth seeing, and I don't want to spoil it for you.
These are two nice people who like each other, but whose relationship starts out the wrong way. The question is whether they can move on together.
Jenny Slate and Jake Lacy are perfect as Donna and Max, with the right amounts of chemistry and bumbling awkwardness and shared wit to make you want them to figure things out. They are backed up by a cast of quirky characters who seem perfectly natural in their quirkiness.