Maybe Baby (2000)

As Good As It Gets

Absolutely the worst movie.

I cannot think of one single thing that I would change about this film. The acting is incomparable, the directing deft, and the writing poignantly brilliant.

The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

And I kinda sorta did.But there were lots I didn't like too. The movie couldn't make up its mind what it wanted to be, comedy, drama, romance, wevs. It dragged atrociously in the wrong places, and galloped through more sensitive scenes. And why oh why in heaven's name was Rowan Atkinson cast in the part of an ObGyn and all he can manage is make like Mr. Bean down to the mouthy business, this was out and out farce and completely out of sync with the rest of the film.Hugh Laurie could stand and stare at paint drying and I would still watch him but here again, there is major script letdown.And seriously a major invasion of his wife's privacy? I'd call that monstrous and a total dealbreaker.And I could not get excited about Emma Thompson in a role out of her reach as some kind of hippy-dippy clairvoyanty soothsayer. Did not buy. Natasha was lovely and witty but the director could have reigned her in as at times she was way over the top.There was a beautiful movie in there dying to get out. But not in all their hands unfortunately.Too bad.5 out of 10

I'm not a fan of British comedies unless they have sub-titles, without which I cannot understand half the dialogue, and I guess they didn't think this DVD would be sold outside Great Britain; no subtitles, which left me scratching my head during the scenes with the character of the Scottish director.Now, having said that, I loved this movie. I'm not too familiar with most of the players in the film, but Joely Richardson has made enough American films that she is a familiar face, and I thought she was perfect in the role of Lucy, which makes me wonder if some of these reviews are of another film. She was incredibly beautiful and brought life to her character It is a story of a childless British couple, Sam and Lucy Bell, who desperately want a baby but are, so far, infertile. Sam is a screenwriter who has developed a writers block and needs inspiration for a movie plot, and he decides, against Lucy's wishes, to use their struggle to become pregnant as the plot for a script.Lucy is having her own problems as she undergoes humiliating treatments and examinations by her weird OB Gyn, Rowan Atkinson, of Mr. Bean fame, and finds herself drawn to an actor client who has set his sights on her, and we find ourselves wondering if she will succumb to his advances. The story is billed as a comedy but it wanders back and forth between comedy, pathos and drama, and in the end leaves you wanting to see it again.....and if you are like me, again.

Okay, this was not the Worst Movie Ever Made. But still, it is a too pathetic piece... It drags, it's lame-- even the concept is tired (the old "movie about making a movie thing"-- Been there, done that!)and even if true, it's not enough to make this worth watching. Hugh Laurie is nearly always worth watching-- hell, we'd probably enjoy watching him shave or change his motor oil, but the writing in this is ho-hum, the acting is uneven-- some very, very nice bits indeed, but cojoined with some truly looney characters (Emma Thompson, who I otherwise love, is simply whacked out here) and Mr Bean just doesn't belong in this movie. The film doesn't know if it's a drama or a comedy, or a comic drama or what. It lurches forth and back in tone, sort of keeping the viewer guessing. I think the movie may have been just an honest mistake. The director, after all, had a wife going through IVF at the time. Yes, there is humor in everything (well, most things), but this wasn't a comedy and it wasn't a drama-- It was like a steak and banana milk shake. Steak is fine, bananas are fine, but they don't go together mixed that closely. Is this film worth seeing? Sadly, no. It doesn't offer solace to the infertile, it doesn't offer enough laughs for those for whom infertility isn't a touchy subject, it's just there, and like a pile of dog doo in a meadow, it's best avoided.

I got a hold of this film only because I was interested in seeking out more of Hugh Laurie's work. I did not know what to expect - did not even know it was a comedy.And it turned out to be a hoot. One of the funniest films I've seen in a long time. I thought the screenplay was excellent. Fantastically clever dialogue.Now I'm very keen to embark on a quest to unearth whatever else screenwriter and director Ben Elton has done.One of the things I especially liked about how this film was put together was the way it combined absurdity and farce with a more conventional rom-com approach.The cameos by Emma Thompson and Rowan Atkinson were fall-out-of-your-seat hilarious (as were the more lengthy contributions of Matthew Macfadyen). At first I sort of wondered if they would jerk me out of involvement with the story line but they did not.In fact, I think this is a really smart approach to doing a comedy. Too much broad farce in one film can quickly lead to burn-out. But when it's limited for the most part to cameos, it's very welcome and entertaining and enhances rather than detracts from engagement with the plot.The casting in this film was inspired. Joely Richardson was perfect. Matthew Macfadyen could not have been better. James Purefoy was wonderful. As was Adrian Lester.Surprisingly, since it was his work specifically I was initially looking forward to seeing, Hugh Laurie's was the only performance in which I was somewhat disappointed. Laurie seemed to go out of his way to low-key it. I think he chose to go too minimalist in his interpretation of his character. Just my opinion. But hey, Hugh Laurie, even not at his best is still pretty darn terrific.I think writer and director Ben Elton created an exceptionally entertaining and at times very moving film that is very much worth seeing. In fact, I think this film has the potential to have the lifespan and long reach of many of the screwball comedies of the 40s.