Pamela Adlon’s Babes begins with one of the most unconcerned “she’s in labour” scenes in recent memory. Eden (Ilana Glazer, also one of the screenwriters) and the heavily pregnant Dawn (Michelle Buteau) attend their 27 year long tradition of seeing a movie on Thanksgiving. Dawn realises her seat is wet, so they move. The next seat is also wet, so they move again. Could it be that it’s Dawn who is maybe leaking? Eden gets out her phone and checks. Yes, it seems Dawn’s waters have broken and she’s in labour, but no need to hurry as her previous kid took hours before he turned up, so off to a fancy restaurant they go for a last meal. Lines which will no doubt end up in someone’s lexicon such as “Who are you, the Gordon Ramsay of her pussy?” are spoken before Dawn realises that she’s crowning, and they probably should get an uber to the hospital. Welcome to pregnancy in NYC, 21st Century Broad City style.
Written by Glazer and Broad City producer Josh Rabinowitz, Babes continues Glazer’s trademark “how to adult” formula of comedic storytelling, but in the decade since Broad City’s first airing, the stakes are quite different. “How to adult”, for Glazer, is less “how do we hustle to pay rent and navigate dating, partying, and functioning” and more “how do we do the next part? Work, kids, real friendships?”
Dawn and Eden have been friends since forever. Eden is still holding on to her Astoria lifestyle (fourth floor walk-up apartment/yoga studio) and random dating plus lots of drinking and shroom nights. Dawn has just given birth to her second child, Melanie, with her loving husband Marty (Hasan Minaj) and has a four-year-old son, Tommy, in their brownstone. Eden and Dawn adore each other, they’re “family” but their bond is put to the test when Eden decides to keep a baby she conceived with Claude (Stephan James), who would probably have been the love of her life if he hadn’t quite tragically died the day after they met and made love.
Eden is convinced she can do the ‘single parent’ thing if Dawn is by her side every step of the way. Dawn, on the other hand, is realising that having a second child isn’t a walk in the park even with Marty being the most wonderfully supportive person. Tommy is regressing out of jealousy, and Dawn is having trouble with breast feeding. Eden’s unpreparedness for motherhood is wearing her down and she’s not the kind to join a “glowing moms to be” group.
The comedy in Babes is for the most part what you’d expect. Breezy, a little bit gross, (im)mature, and generally very good natured. Glazer and Buteau feel like they have known each other forever and have always had each other’s backs – so when the fractures in their friendship start to show the dramatic aspect has impact.
There have been plenty of films over the years which have spoken of the challenges of motherhood. The exhaustion, the lack of identity, the feeling like there is no time for anything, and the guilt associated with those feelings. Babes doesn’t pretend what Dawn is feeling is unique. She admits she knows it isn’t – she can’t even define why she’s so upset all the time. When she talks to her husband Marty about it, he says he understands because he feels it too. That’s parenthood. That’s the deal. Dawn feels she’s the one who has to “nourish” everyone – but as Eden points out she does that just by existing. She’s allowed to give herself a break and not feel like she’s failed because of low breast milk levels.
Dawn is used to Eden being her childless ‘sister’. Fun, and beloved, but miles from the “settle down” part of life, and when it comes to Eden becoming a mother, she requires guidance. Eden’s own mother died before she was four, and her dad, Bernie (a sweet cameo by Oliver Platt) didn’t step in to fill in the gap. Dawn underestimates the depth of connection Eden found with the love of her life on their single night together, and how seriously she wants to be a mother. Within the broad comedic shenanigans exists a genuine narrative of the importance of the families people make for themselves when theirs aren’t around. The “Oh god, pregnancy is gross and insane” jokes are funny, but Babes really hits when it reflects on what a family is, and what “growing up” means when few examples were provided.
There are plenty of laugh out loud moments, including when Eden is babysitting Tommy and decides a good way to stop him acting like a baby is to get him to watch The Omen. Some of it can be over-the-top and stretch a little thin, but Babes is witty and sweet, and has its heart firmly in the right place.
A wonderful example of how tender the writing can be is when Eden meets Claude. In the space of four train rides they get to know each other in a profound way. Her oddness is matched by his, but neither of them seem like weirdos, just specific kinds of people who in another film would be the couple you wanted to see together forever. Never have the words, “let’s mess up a towel” seemed sexier.
Instead, the couple you want to see together forever is Eden and Dawn – they’re the “galentines” of Babes and the movie structures itself around the rom-com staple tropes. Ilana Glazer and Michelle Bluteau are wonderful as the women working out their lives together and separately. The babes with babes in Babes will make you laugh and cross your fingers that everything works out for them and their big and small families.
Director: Pamela Adlon
Writers: Ilana Glazer & Josh Rabinowitz
Starring: Ilana Glazer, Michelle Bluteau, Hasan Minhaj, Stephan James, and John Carroll Lynch
BABES is screening for the Melbourne International Film Festival on the 15th and 25th of August. Details here
