- This page is about the romantic comedy; for the Paul Simon song, see The Rhythm of the Saints.
Obvious Child is an American romantic comedy film written and directed by Gillian Robespierre (based on her 2009 short film, co-written with Anna Bean and Karen Maine) in her directorial debut. The film stars Jenny Slate, Jake Lacy, Gaby Hoffmann and David Cross.The film follows Donna (Jenny Slate), a stand-up comedian, who after a drunken one-night stand finds out she is pregnant and decides to have an abortion. The film premiered at the 2014 Sundance Film Festival as part of its NEXT section and was picked up by A24 for a U.S. release. It won the Red Crown Producer’s Award (including a $10,000 grant) at the festival.
The film's soundtrack features the titular Paul Simon song from The Rhythm of the Saints.
Cast
- Jenny Slate as Donna Stern, a comedian who works at a bookstore
- Jake Lacy as Max, the object of Donna's one night stand
- Gaby Hoffmann as Nellie, Donna's roommate and best friend
- David Cross as Sam, a comedian and friend of Donna's
- Gabe Liedman as Joey, Donna and Nellie's gay friend, who is also a comedian
- Richard Kind as Jacob Stern, Donna's father
- Polly Draper as Nancy Stern, Donna's mother
- Paul Briganti as Ryan, Donna's boyfriend who broke up with her
- Cindy Cheung as Dr. Bernard, a physician at the Planned Parenthood clinic
- Stephen Singer as Gene, owner of the bookstore at which Donna works
Release
The film made its premiere at the 2014 Sundance Film Festival as part of its Narrative Spotlight on January 17, 2014. A Kickstarter campaign to help send the film to Sundance was created by the director on December 13, 2013, earning a total of $37,214 by January 14, 2014. Independent film distributor A24 picked up the film for an undisclosed 'low seven figure', and gave the film a theatrical release starting June 2014. International rights were picked up by The Exchange.
Reception
The film has been met with positive reviews from film critics, currently holding an 88% "fresh" rating on Rotten Tomatoes, based on 116 reviews. The consensus from the website states, "Tackling a sensitive subject with maturity, honesty, and wit, Obvious Child serves as a deeply promising debut for writer-director Gillian Robespierre." Slate author Amanda Hess praised the film for its treatment of abortion, while Peter Travers described the film as "uniquely special" in Rolling Stone. A variety of conservative groups, including the Family Research Council and the Heritage Foundation, criticized the movie. Daniel Schindel of The Young Folks.com praised the film's new take on the genre of pregnancy comedy and called it, "A different stripe of rom-com, and it’s probably the best one of the year for it."
Accolades
References
External links
- Obvious Child on Facebook
- Obvious Child at the Internet Movie Database
- Obvious Child at AllMovie
- Obvious Child at Box Office Mojo
- Obvious Child at Metacritic
- Obvious Child at Rotten Tomatoes