Obvious Child (2014)

Film: Obvious Child (2014)
Stars: Jenny Slate, Jake Lacy, Gaby Hoffmann, David Cross, Gabe Liedman
Director: Gillian Robespierre
Oscar History: Jenny Slate got a career bump and a Spirit nod, but nothing with the gold guy.
Snap Judgment Ranking: 3/5 stars

I actually remember when Jenny Slate swore on SNL.  I was watching it live (okay...it was 2009, I was watching it the next day on my TiVo), and thought "what a poor girl, she's finally received this amazing opportunity and it was her first episode on the show, and she will now eternally be known as the girl who dropped an F-bomb on an NBC institution."  Slate was only on the show for one season, and I have to admit that for a while there it felt prophetic.  Admittedly, she frequently found herself in hilarious side roles on shows like Parks and Recreation and Bob's Burgers, but until I saw her in Obvious Child, I have to confess I figured she'd be like so many of those one-season players on SNL that disappear into obscurity and casino comedy tours.  While that could still be the case for Slate, at the very least she got her second chance on the big screen, and here she nailed it.  If producers see what she can do in Obvious Child and don't come knocking, it's their own damn fault.

(Spoilers Ahead) The movie is about Donna (Slate), a comedian who is down-on-her-luck after losing her day job and her boyfriend in one full-swoop.  She randomly meets a handsome, kind man at a bar named Max (Lacy) whom she decides to have sex with one night.  Unfortunately he forgets (or possibly just breaks) the condom, and as a result Donna finds out a few weeks later that she's pregnant. The film proceeds with Donna, who is too early-along to have an abortion, having to wait two weeks for the procedure, and in the middle finds herself falling for Max and trying to confront where her life is going.

The film is great in certain ways because it doesn't rely on your traditional string of filmic abortion cliches.  There is little time spent on the weighing of her getting the procedure or on a series of moral quandaries of the rightness or wrongness of the procedure, where it so easily could have gone that way (Donna has a condescending mother and Max seems like a relatively conservative guy, so both probably could have delivered the "abortion is wrong" speech without sacrificing too much believability).  Instead, this film is about how Donna has to deal with something that is right for her.  It's an abortion film that's largely free from politics, and about a fully-felt person, and that's incredibly refreshing when most cinematic treatments of this subject are either Lifetime-style weepers or where the character a-characteristically decides against the procedure at the last minute (Miranda on Sex and the City, anyone?).

The film does, however, get bogged down in other cliches.  The performance from Slate, it has to be said, is wonderfully touching and very thoughtful.  She never makes this larger-than-life character seem larger-than-reality, and I loved the way that she genuinely uses humor whenever she's uncomfortable.  There's something magnetic there, and it's definitely a star turn-there's so much charisma in the way that she delivers her Donna that I hope that some great screenwriter sees this and realizes that they have a talent on their hands.

However, the plot itself is occasionally rough-going, and for a film this short, occasionally has a bit too much going-on, in my opinion.  Jake Lacy is charming as Max, but not realistic-I've sort of become obsessed with the cinematic idea of the Manic Pixie Dream Guy since I saw The Fault in Our Stars, and in so many ways that's what Max is-he's just a little bit too complimentary to her.  If the film was striving a bit more romantic comedy I'd buy that (and in many ways, it is in fact a romantic comedy), but it's trying to stay grounded in reality and in reality, men like Max don't actually exist.  Most of the side characters, in fact, were not my cup-of-tea.  Richard Kind has a small, out-of-place part as Donna's father (his too persona is too well-known and large for a role this background) and David Cross (who has become too ubiquitous for his own good at this point) totally takes us out of the movie and appears largely as a way to spread the plot (he plays a creepy guy that makes Donna stand-up Max, which seems pretty damn out-of-character for a woman obsessing over trying to get some alone time with him).  Even Gaby Hoffmann (speaking of ubiquity) doesn't quite know where her side friend is headed in the role-is she a feminist or angry or what is her motivation?  The part is too large for me to be asking such questions.  All of this jumble makes what is a good film (anchored by its originally-felt handling of abortion and Slate's stellar work) get held back from being a great one.

Those are my thoughts on this film that lit the independent film set on fire earlier this year, so I feel very late to the party.  What are your thoughts on the movie?  Are you also excited where Slate goes next?  Did you feel like the film didn't know quite what to do once it left its subject and its star?  And what other social issue do you think the movies needs to tackle in a fresh way?  Share your thoughts in the comments!