Obvious Child (2014)

Jack and I really liked this story of a 20-something stand-up comic who gets pregnant after a drunken one night stand. It's funny, cringey, pro-choice, warm, and just plain smart. Jenny Slate (22 episodes of Saturday Night Live, seven as Mona-Lisa on Parks and Recreation, nine as Doug's wife on House of Lies, ten as Jess on Married (not all have aired yet), five on Bored to Death, and she co-wrote and provided the voice of the youtube hit Marcel the Shell with Shoes On) is adorable and awkward in the lead role of Donna. Donna's roommate and best friend Nellie, played by Gaby Hoffmann (she started acting when she was a child and some of my favorites of her work are Field of Dreams (1989), This Is My Life (1992), The Man Without a Face (1993), Now and Then (1995), Everyone Says I Love You (1996), You Can Count on Me (2000), Life During Wartime, and four decidedly unchildlike episodes of Girls), demonstrates the importance of female friendship to this plot. More warmth is delivered by the strong relationship Donna has with her parents, played by Polly Draper (best known for 85 episodes of thirtysomething and last mentioned in these pages in Side Effects) and Richard Kind (most recently in A Serious Man). We mustn't forget Jake Lacy, about whom Jack and I whispered until we finally remembered his playing Pete in the final 21 episodes of The Office (the American version), as the one night stand Max.

Director/co-writer Gillian Robespierre fleshed out her 2009 23 minute film into this 84 minute feature, both co-written by Anna Bean and Karen Maine (the latter was in the short but not the feature). Elisabeth Holm has a credit for the story along with Maine.

The title is taken from the Paul Simon song, but, even after reading the lyrics, I don't know why. Because it's been almost five weeks since we saw it, my memory of the music is a bit sketchy. However, a little detective work turned up this list of musicians featured in the movie. There's a free download from the first link. While writing I've been enjoying the instrumental stylings of Frank LoCrasto from that list (skip the first one with the out-of-tune piano).

Rotten Tomatoes critics are favorable, averaging 87% to audiences' 77. Check out the video when it's released October 7, 2014. I feel bad that we let the ticket seller talk us into seeing They Came Together instead of this during Amy's brief visit in June. Sorry, honey! Get the DVD in the fall.