FilmSnobReviews

Title: Baby: The Secret Diary of a Mom to Be
MPAA Rating: Not Yet Rated
Director: Yee-sum Luk
Runtime: 1 hr 34 mins

What It Is: A successful and driven young businesswoman finds herself having nightmares in the early stages of her pregnancy with her basketball-player husband. Determined to get the best care for mother and baby, her mother-in-law hires a savvy pregnancy expert to help guide the family into becoming proper caretakers as the reality of parenthood becomes more and more intimidating.

What We Think: A short and sweet little film, this is something that parents with lighter tastes in movies might very much enjoy. It’s cheesy, it’s silly, a little overdramatic, and convenient, but not without some solid dialogue, some scenes reading as quite natural to the setting and characters. It means to be a playful little family comedy (for adults) but doesn’t seem to go as far as it needs to in terms of quirkiness, humor, or even horror (the first scene hilariously includes a dead baby joke, and then nothing that twisted happens in the film ever again). The proper story elements exist, the acting is solid, characters’ backstories and distinctions are present–you’re at least partially interested in their dilemmas, but it never got one chuckle out of me outside the first scene. There are some contrivances that make the obstacles feel minor, even at times petty… I would have definitely enjoyed it more had it taken its comedy and the dark humor to a 10 instead of a 2.

Our Grade: D+, I really couldn’t say I enjoyed this. Too saccharine, too simple, boring, and even at times random–this movie isn’t really for me, nor does it mean to be. As I mentioned, parents would probably enjoy this much more if they’re into cheesy “we’re having a baby” kind of comedy that feels like the filmmakers are just playing house. It’s a harmless flick, but certainly an uninteresting one.