"Obvious Child" Movie Review

            Obvious Child is directed by Gillian Robespierre and stars Jenny Slate. It is about a young woman who, after a turn of events, realizes that she is pregnant and wants to get an abortion, but is afraid to tell other people. There is some other things going on, but I will not risk spoiling them.

            This is a romantic comedy… Is it funny? Some of it is. There are some jokes that are actually conversational humor and not slapstick comedy. There are also many unconventional jokes and some of the comedy is original for the most part. The comedy seems to be real in that it seems like jokes like this could be made in real conversations. Some of the comedy is subtle. It is not all big and obvious.

            Jenny Slate does a great job here. She is in every scene of this movie, and shines in every one of them. She did not seem like she was acting in any one of the scenes. She seemed to be her character the entire time. She delivered lines well, and was very good with the comedy. She helped make the character’s lines funny.

            The overall script was good. The dialogue seemed real for the most part. I thought it did seem like real people talking. The narrative was also handled well. The plot itself was somewhat original, and it was told somewhat unconventionally.

            I enjoyed this movie overall. It is a short film, less than ninety minutes in running time. It gets into the plot quickly and does not drag… for the most part. While I did have a good time watching part of this movie, I did not enjoy watching another part of this movie. I think the main reason for that is the characters. The main character gets one scene of character development, and that is during the opening credits. I never really latched onto the main character. As for the rest, they did not have much development either. There were only about two others that contributed to the plot, and they little to no development.

            And also, while some of the comedy elements worked, there were jokes that missed. It was only about fifty percent of the comedy that I laughed at. Some of the comedy was conversational humor, but not all of it. There is a lot of immature humor in this movie. Sometimes, the first time it would be funny, but there would be more and more comedy centered around jokes very similar to the first, and they would not be funny. Some of the jokes themselves just missed, too.

            While the plot itself was original, the characters were not. The construction of the characters was familiar, and I knew exactly where the plot was going. Some of the events that happen are clichéd. Many things characters do are clichéd. Some of the characters are just big clichés.

            Overall, I have good and bad things to say about Obvious Child. Though, I did enjoy most of this movie, and I think that it is not a bad movie. I do not recommend going to the theater to see this movie, but it is a good rental. It is an alright movie.