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PARAMOUNT

MOVIE INFO

Director:
John Hughes
Cast:
Kevin Bacon, Elizabeth McGovern, Alec Baldwin
Writing Credits:
John Hughes

Synopsis:
Young newlyweds find out just how unprepared they are for their future together.

Box Office:
Budget:
$20 million.
Opening Weekend:
$3,827,520 on 925 screens.
Domestic Gross:
$16,031,707.

MPAA:
Rated PG-13.

DISC DETAILS
Presentation:
Aspect Ratio 1.85:1
Audio:
English Dolby TrueHD 5.1
German Dolby 2.0
French Dolby 2.0
Subtitles:
English
French
German
Closed-captioned
Supplements Subtitles:
English
French
German

Runtime: 105 min.
Price: $26.98
Release Date: 2/23/2021
Available as Part of “John Hughes 5-Movie Collection”

Bonus:
• “Kevin Bacon Interviews John Hughes” Featurette
• Trailer


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RELATED REVIEWS


She's Having a Baby [Blu-Ray] (1988)

Reviewed by Colin Jacobson (February 10, 2021)

In 1988’s She’s Having a Baby, we witness the growing pains of director John Hughes. He made his name with teen-oriented fare like Pretty in Pink and Ferris Bueller’s Day Off but apparently tired of his status as king of the kiddies.

As such, Hughes pushed harder for more adult-oriented fare, a move that started with 1987’s Planes, Trains and Automobiles.

That film worked due to the considerable talents of stars John Candy and Steve Martin. While it was Hughes’ first movie to concentrate on grown-up characters, it didn’t really concentrate on themes that were unique to adults. After all, 1998’s I’ll Be Home For Christmas used a fairly similar plot but starred late-teen Jonathan Taylor Thomas.

As such, She’s Having a Baby marked Hughes’ first truly “adult” storyline. Here we find newly-weds Jefferson “Jake” Briggs (Kevin Bacon) and Kristy (Elizabeth McGovern). The film starts with Jake’s pre-wedding jitters, and he doesn’t seem to feel comfortable in the relationship until the movie’s end.

Frankly, I can’t blame him, since it appears that he and Kristy have absolutely no personal connection. The chemistry between Bacon and McGovern seems nil, and I could never discern what they see in each other.

They make a fairly miserable couple who come together solidly at the end of the movie just because that’s the way these kinds of stories work. There’s no logic involved but it happens because of cinematic conventions.

It doesn’t help that both characters are terribly drawn and seem very incomplete. Bacon gets the better end of the bargain, as the movie focuses almost exclusively on Jake and Kristy qualifies as no more than a supporting character.

We watch Jake as he goes through all of his growing pains: he has to get a real job, buy a house in the suburbs and contend with in-laws who demand grandchildren. Oh my - what a nightmare!

To say that I feel little angst over Jake’s “plight” is an understatement. He essentially just seems like an immature whiner most of the time.

Granted, I’d probably be pretty upset, too, if I had to deal with a selfish harpy like Kristy. McGovern was always a fairly likable actress, but she displays virtually no warmth here.

Kristy appears to be completely obsessed with her own concerns and almost never seems to give a hoot about Jake. McGovern probably does the best she can with the material, but Hughes’ script paints her into such a small corner that there’s no way she can make the role more appealing.

For God’s sake, the wench decides to halt her birth control but doesn’t consult her husband! I already disliked Kristy, but cavalier gestures like that made me absolutely loathe her.

Apparently the only reason we’re supposed to accept Jake and Kristy as a couple is because a) they’re both reasonably attractive, and b) the script expects us to do so. However, much of the story makes little sense.

Soon after their marriage, Kristy cooks for Jake, an attempt that fails because she clearly has no clue what food he enjoys. Though recently married, the movie tells us that these two have been together for a good number of years. In all that time, she never learned what he likes to eat?

That’s asinine, but it’s typical of She’s Having a Baby, an inane movie that sacrifices all attempts at logic whenever it wants to deliver a gag. The film wants to be a sincere and true-to-life tale of young adults as they move through the stages of adulthood, but not a single moment connects to reality. Despite a likable cast, the movie feeks tolerable at best and execrable at worst.


The Disc Grades: Picture B/ Audio C+/ Bonus C-

She’s Having a Baby appears in an aspect ratio of approximately 1.85:1 on this Blu-ray Disc. The image showed its age but offered a decent representation of the source.

Sharpness was generally adequate to good. Close-ups demonstrated fairly nice accuracy, but wider shots were less consistent.

Though they usually provided positive clarity, they could be a bit on the soft side. This felt like a reflection of the original photography for the most part.

No issues with jaggies or shimmering occurred, and I noticed no edge haloes. Source flaws were nearly absent, and with a strong layer of grain, I suspected no noise reduction issues.

Colors were typical of their 80s roots. They varied from pretty peppy to somewhat runny, but they seemed reasonably perky most of the time, with a tendency toward a warm amber feel.

Blacks were decently deep and tight, and shadows usually looked fine; some low-light shots were a bit murky, but that wasn’t the rule. I felt the image looked more than acceptable and showed limitations related to the era’s photography.

As for the movie’s Dolby TrueHD 5.1 soundtrack, it seemed subdued and only moderately involving and engaging. The forward spectrum dominated and showed some decent stereo imaging.

The music spread cleanly across the front speakers, and I also heard occasional use of discrete effects. These panned relatively well across the channels, and most of the forward audio seemed fairly well-integrated.

The surrounds contributed some minor sound as well, though none of the effects from the surrounds were terribly impressive. Mostly it was the film’s music that was nicely reinforced in the rear.

Audio quality seemed fine for its age. During louder scenes - particularly the leads’ big fight - dialogue betrayed some mild edginess, and the lines could also seem slightly flat at times, but for the most part speech appeared distinct and natural, with no issues related to intelligibility.

Effects were clean and realistic and showed no signs of distortion. The music seemed clear and bright as well. This became a more than adequate mix for a quiet character film.

In addition to the film’s trailer, we find an archival piece called Kevin Bacon Interviews John Hughes. It runs 24 minutes, 10 seconds and includes the expected chat between actor and director.

They discuss story, characters and themes as well as music and other Hughes movies. Though not the most insightful conversation, it acts as an intriguing time capsule.

The story and characters of She’s Having a Baby seem like broad generalizations at best and lack insight into the human situations it purports to depict. The movie also fails as a comedy and really provides little entertainment. The Blu-ray offers adequate picture and audio along with minor bonus materials. This becomes a decent release for a weak film,

Note that as of February 2021, this Blu-ray of She’s Having a Baby can be purchased only as part of a “John Hughes 5-Movie Collection”. The latter also includes Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, Pretty In Pink, Planes, Trains and Automobiles and Some Kind of Wonderful.

This package reuses old Blu-rays for Ferris, Pink and Planes. As of February 2021, Wonderful and Baby remain exclusive to the “5-Movie Collection”.

Viewer Film Ratings: 1 Stars Number of Votes: 1
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