Baby Boom (1987)

I love this movie so much

Don't listen to the negative reviews

The storyline feels a little thin and moth-eaten in parts but this sequel is plenty of fun.

It is an exhilarating, distressing, funny and profound film, with one of the more memorable film scores in years,

"Baby Boom" is a sweet, funny fantasy about a staple character of the '80s: the power-suited career woman, played beautifully by Diane Keaton. Her character, J.C. Wiatt, could have been played by Rosalind Russell in an earlier era. She's an Ivy League-educated, ambitious account executive at an NYC marketing firm, and lives with an attorney (Harold Ramis) who is also laser-focused on work and uninterested in marriage or family. When J.C. abruptly gains custody of the one-year-old baby of a dead cousin, her life is turned upside down. She has some hilarious mishaps as a new mom, including dealing with Manhattan helicopter parents and disposable diapers. The upheaval costs her the high-powered job and child-averse boyfriend, so she moves to rural Vermont to discover a much more satisfying life and career where she calls the shots. Her boss, Fritz (Sam Wanamaker), keeps telling her she "can't have it all," or both a career and a family life, but J.C. sets out to prove him wrong in this charming film that skewers the yuppie ethos. Sam Shepard as a laconic, sexy veterinarian is the dream man of many women who came of age in the '80s like me.

Diane Keaton and Sam Shepard star in this 1987 comedy-drama. Keaton plays J.C. Wiatt, a New York business woman who longs to make it to the top of the corporate world. Her life changes, when she inherits baby girl, Elizabeth (Kristina and Michelle Kennedy) and things go unexpectedly for her. She decides to move to Vermont where she becomes successful on her own and finds romance with animal doctor, Jeff Cooper (Shepard). It's then that J.C. realizes that some things are more important and worth giving up for. This is a good 80's film with humorous and heartwarming moments, Keaton is great in it and I think it's one her best. I recommend this.

I love this film in particular Diane Keaton as JC Wiatt (in perhaps her best performance (obviously "The Godfather" was better, but NOT because of her)), to the theme "Everchanging Times" (which was done by Bill Conti of "Rocky" fame), to some really standout nasty performances (James Spader, Harold Ramis, and Sam Wannamaker). Spoilers ahead: It is about JC Wiatt, a career woman, who was a "tiger lady" living with a boyfriend named Steve Buchner (Ramis) in an obviously loveless relationship. Then she finds out that her sister and brother-in law died in an auto accident, and she finds she was given an inheritance which much to her surprise, was her niece Elizabeth. She tries to raise the baby, but Buchner tells her it is me or Elizabeth, and her boss Fritz Curtis, essentially says you much choose between the job or Elizabeth, and she is being threatened by a younger co-worker Ken Arrenberg (Spader). She finally decides to give up Elizabeth for adoption, but changes her mind, when she feels guilty because the couple who was adopting, just wanted her to use her to work on a farm. She then packs up Elizabeth and moves to a farm in Vermont, where everything goes wrong, from the heating to the plumbing, but she sticks it out, and eventually meets Dr. Jeff Cooper (Sam Shepard), who will eventually become her love interest. She then creates a baby food for Elizabeth called "Country Baby" that becomes such a hit, that her old company and a rich investor (Pat Hingle) want to buy her out. She is going to take the offer, but just like when she chose to keep Elizabeth, she realized this was a mistake. As she pointed out to Curtis that "I should not have to choose between a career and a family. no one should." And she took a look at Arrenberg, and said "The rat race will have to do with one less rat." The point behind the film is about JC sacrificing everything she has for someone who really needed her (Elizabeth), instead of putting herself first, and being rewarded with not only Elizabeth, but a better relationship, more money, and the opportunity to be her boss, and not be around those who have no respect for her. The final scene of the film where JC returns to Vermont and Elizabeth says "mama" to her, and the smile on JC's face as she holds her says it all. 10/10 stars

I had read about this film long before I ever saw it. Susan Faludi slated it in her book "Backlash" for being anti-feminist. Perhaps naively, I pretty much took her word for it.I eventually got around to seeing it because James Spader has a small role in it (during the "devious blonde yuppy" phase of his career - he really seems to have it in for yuppies). I was amazed by how completely I disagreed with Faludi.JC (Diane Keaton) is a very determined, resourceful woman. I am not sure how likely it is that she would be able to expand her business without sacrificing her quality time with her adopted daughter and new boyfriend, but I think she'll give it a good try. In my opinion, it is the career-obsessed men who are missing out.This film is saying that women can successfully combine a career and a private life. It may be corny and unrealistic (especially the method by which JC "acquires" baby Elizabeth), but Ms Keaton's character triumphs over adversity.In my opinion, that makes it a feminist film.