Movie Review: Babes

 

Michael's Movie Grade: F

A painfully unfunny raunchy comedy. 

This movie tries so hard to be the next classic R rated comedy, that it instead becomes simply painful to watch. This takes the idea of making a Judd Apatow style comedy about pregnancy (which of course Apatow already did with Knocked Up (2007)) but completely misunderstands the charm of the actual Judd Apatow films (which may not be masterpieces but definitely have their charms). While the characters of those films were immature, they were likable, and we enjoyed spending time with them. While the humor in Apatow's films was often very raunchy, there were actually gags and funny situations. None of the same can be said for Babes. The characters are so loud, immature and obnoxious that it is painful to spend one minute with them, let alone a whole feature length film. When it comes to the humor, there are few actual jokes here. Instead, much of the comedy is simply watching these characters saying crude immature stuff in the most obnoxious way possible. Because of this, not only did I not laugh once but I found myself incredibly annoyed during every moment that was supposed to be funny. Much of this comedy was obviously adlibbed but when there are no real comedic situations to build this adlibbing around, there is very little the actresses do to not make this adlibbed comedy fall completely flat. This story tries to also be serious towards the end, offering what is supposed to be a touching look at friendship in adulthood. This however is undone by two things. One is that the characters are incredibly unlikable and selfish. Therefore, these supposed moving scenes are marred by a completely unpleasant mean-spiritedness. The other is that much of the drama is frankly more depressing than heartwarming and feels at odds with what is supposed to be a comedy. What is worse is that this depressing-ness doesn't make any sort of real point, making it simply depressing to be depressing. There are some serious moments that try to be uplifting but they are completely overshadowed by the less happy moments.  

Looking at the critic's reviews I know I am in the minority. However, I found it painful to sit through this whole film and can't see myself recommending it to anyone.