The romcom ruled the 1980s, and the Apatow comedies ruled the 2000s. The tastes may change, but films that bring incredible chemistry to the screen stand the test of time. It’s why we still watch When Harry Met Sally and The Forty-Year-Old Virgin decades after their release. Babes — a new film from Illana Glazer, Pamela Adlon, and Josh Rabinowitz, wears its inspirations on its sleeve. Yet, with Glazer in the lead, it’s got a unique sense of humor by returning to her Broad City roots.
Babes Plot
Best friends Eden (Glazer) and Dawn (Michelle Buteau) watch movies every Thanksgiving. However, this year, Dawn goes into labor during the tradition. After helping Dawn to the hospital, Eden heads home for the night. While on the subway, she meets an actor who shares all of her interests. The two head home and have a one-night stand. Weeks later, Eden discovers she’s pregnant. Without a partner, she leans on Dawn and her husband (Hassan Minhaj) to help her through the process.
The Critique
The formula of Babes strays dangerously close to the Apatow comedies but does a better job of seeding emotion throughout the story. Visually and humor-wise, it fits in with the Bridesmaids, Trainwreck, and Knocked Up style. The raunchy humor and one-liners are incredible. Babes will likely be the funniest movie of the year, in part because it delivers so many jokes. It’ll be curious to see which dialogue becomes most quotable, because there are legitimately ten to twenty jokes that could capture that distinction.
Adlon, Glazer, and Rabinowitz wear their rom-com influences on their sleeves. A jazzy score, New York setting, and direct references to Nora Ephron all begin a cavalcade of homages. However, Babes shifts from a wildly effective rom-com during the initial encounter to a friend-rom-com. The power of the story lies in the best friends that Glazer and Buteau create. Their ability to sell the ways friendships change as adults will help Babes stay relevant for years.
Glazer delivers her best film performance to date, and she proves her power as a leading lady. Her dry delivery, mixed with some of the most offensive jokes you’ve ever heard, make her a unique comedic talent. She pairs exceptionally well with Buteau — especially when the two remix profane language towards each other. Glazer and Rabinowitz introduce flourishes in the writing to use her physical skills as a performer. It’s a nice change for an actress whose personality has been tied to the human embodiment of a wildcard.
Buteau has often been pushed to second fiddle or the “best friend” role in rom-coms. Here, she takes the spotlight as a co-lead and proves herself more than capable. She not only plays the broad comedy beats to illicit huge laughs but lands the small character moments as well. Early in the second act, she turns away from Minaj, and her smile evaporates as she sinks into a deep depression. The shift gets laughs but ultimately helps establish a growing sense of ennui in the character, which eventually explodes. Buteau delivers one of her best overall performances in Babes and, in many ways, is the heartbeat of Babes.
Adlon also showcases her directional prowess after years of shooting television. The framing often contains visual gags to supplement the comedy in the script. She layers the backgrounds with direct and indirect references to movies the group loves. While the edit tries to make it into a “New York movie,” it does not always work on that level. The rom-com montage between Glazer and James is a stunning sequence. It’s also efficient storytelling to help the audience buy into the choices that Glazer’s character makes the rest of the way.
Additionally, Adlon allows a handful of jokes to overstay their welcome, but the balance on this is tricky. A long opening sequence gets funnier the longer it goes. A motherly homage to Office Space does not illicit the same feeling. The bigger problem lies in the number of gags that attempt to get a similar laugh. In many cases, the comedy plays through the roof, and admittedly, many jokes were drowned out by the audience’s laughter in the premiere. That is a strong sign that Adlon has her finger on the comedic pulse of the moment.
Finally, Glazer and Rabinowitz craft plenty of moments for the bits to shine. Within the structure of the larger story, we get several five-minute scenes that land dozens of jokes. While this certainly helps the comedy, it does feel a little disjointed at times. The way that exposition gets dropped on the audience is also inelegant, including Glazer literally telling a stranger about why she goes to the movies with Buteau every Thanksgiving. The larger story and setup work, but some fine-tuning could have helped the screenplay introduce some elements more elegantly.
In Conclusion
Babes should find an audience later this year and is destined to take its place as a highly rewatchable movie. While themes of motherhood and friendship have been covered before, Glazer, Adlon, and Rabinowitz have made the zaniest version of this yet. The comedy wins out here and will help paper over a few of the nitpicks of the screenplay. More importantly, Babes is the kind of comedy that people complain never gets made anymore. The good news is, it’s here, and it’s good.
Rating: 8/10
Babes releases on May 17th, 2024. Neon distributes.
For more entertainment coverage, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube.
