Babyfever Rating: Release Date: 11 March, 2003 Retail Price: $24.98 OUR Price: $21.99 You SAVE: $2.99! Cast: Victoria Foyt Matt Salinger Eric Roberts Henry Jaglom

Babyfever Reviews

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I Couldn't Take It Anymore!
Now, this may read strangely coming from a Jaglom fan, and a young father at that, but "Babyfever" was excrutiating to watch. I made it roughly midway and had to (1) stop, (2) rewind and (3)return. Sorry.

what baby food is to food, this is to good Jaglom
Having recently discovered Jaglom's films, particularly Eating, and Last Summer in the Hamptons which featured the charming Melanie Mayron look-alike Victoria Foyt (and Jaglom's wife), I was curious about this title. However the extreme reactions of the existing reviews gave me caution. The format is similar to Eating, where straight to camera interviews are intercut with a narrative. Jaglom's strength is in presenting cinema verite conversations between actors, but since he takes nearly an hour to begin the baby shower that the cast assemble for, we have to endure Foyt with Matt Salinger. These scenes feel improvised to the miniscule degree and Foyt overplays her discomfort, especially when she barks to release tension. Her energy in general here seems lower than it was in Hamptons, and soon her anguish over Salinger and whether or not she is pregant to him becomes tiresome. There is an unnecessary diversion with Zack Norman as the husband of the shower hostess, Norman being the least talented of the Jaglom/Emil/Norman triumvirate. Thankfully Eric Roberts turns up for one scene (odd casting even for Jaglom) as a past suitor and brings some edge. However things pick up for the shower when the film populates. Jaglom amusingly shows us a wall of cascading water to coincide with the confirmed pregnant women, though surprisingly the one with a born child is removed quickly. Foyt is better when she has scenes with the deep-voiced Dinah Henney, and scores a laugh when the aforementioned baby reacts badly to her. I liked Henney's line referring to Salinger, that you can't marry someone who deals in golf metaphors. The range of opinions expressed to camera covers alternative views, including career women with no interest in childbirth, a lesbian couple, women married to men who don't want children, those infertile, and those who believe motherhood has deprived them of careers. We also get a female doctor on hand, who herself looks pregnant, to deliver technical advice which bogs down proceedings. Perhaps the confessions have less depth and reveal less pain than the shameful feelings on display in Eating, but I guess this topic is less prone to such negative emotions. Unlike the end of Eating where Jaglom identified each actor by face and name, there are some quirky touches that I am unable to attach to an actor, though perhaps not being able to identify the singer who delivers some bum notes in her performance is a blessing.

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