Obvious Child Review

Obvious Child
Twentysomething New Yorker Donna Stern (Slate) is a gifted stand-up with a fine line in observational comedy about her own life. But a drunken one night stand adds another, much weightier burden.

by Olly Richards |
Published on
Release Date:

29 Aug 2014

Running Time:

85 minutes

Certificate:

15

Original Title:

Obvious Child

It's a hard to think of a romantic comedy with a less romantic premise than this: after a drunken one-night stand, a stand-up comic (Jenny Slate) gets accidentally pregnant and decides to have an abortion and not tell the father. And yet it’s weirdly adorable, thanks to Gillian Robespierre’s subtle, smart writing, which avoids ever getting at all ‘issue-y’ about its subject, and a performance from Slate that is so funny and true that you don’t even realise until later just how much rocky emotional ground she’s covered. On both sides of the camera, these efforts should be star-making.

Sharp, funny and feeling, this isn't just Juno-meets-Girls but a smart film that tackles real-life issues with rare frankness.
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