There’s a quote—from a very “Good” TV show—that could be the logline for BABES: “Girl, you are a messy bench who loves drama and I am into it.” This is 100% the truth about Dawn and Eden. They are the friends fueling this fabulous fiasco and their mess is magnificence. At our screening here in Georgetown, Julian, Mae, and I laughed, chuckled, giggled, quoted in real-time, and threw wide-eyed grins at each other for 109 minutes.
Throwing back to the neurotic New York City dramedies of the 80s and 90s, BABES flips the paradigm, showing a different view of the genre, where lifelong friendship and motherhood collide. I would say “like a subway train jumping tracks,” but a mini-love story embedded in the first act during a Thanksgiving metro ride is the major collision here (and a meet-cute that turns into an inciting incident). More on that later.
In a journey of hallucinogenic hilarity and neonatal hijinks that’s quintessentially New York, a pair of childhood best friends, Dawn (Michelle Buteau) and Eden (Ilana Glazer) navigate the unpredictable ‘broken’ waters of adult relationships and motherhood. After the most amazing one-night stand of all time (aye, Stephan James), Eden, a breezy single girlie, decides to have a baby. This gives Dawn, the married but equally breezy mother of two, more responsibilities than she can juggle with her sanity intact. Especially after her second child nearly plopped out at a movie theater AND her breast milk refuses to flow (unless she’s shroomed). As Dawn and Eden grapple with the plights of being friends for life, BABES immerses us in the challenges, cascading poop, benders, and triumphs of a friendship built tough as family.
Directed by Pamela Adlon, BABES surprised me with its dichotomy, serving up cinematic truth serum as loving as it is raunchy, as tender as it is uproariously shameless. Who wrote this magnificent madness? Ilana Glazer and Josh Rabinowitz. Well done. The fact the film is more than riotous laughs is what connects. Both women struggle with what life delivers. Eden has no other family. Only a father who is such a deadbeat his best moment is to marvel at how well she turned out despite him. Eden needs Dawn. Even when she becomes too needy our compassion remains. Dawn has all the family she can handle and nothing works how it should. Not her return to work as a dentist. Not the nannies, nor the breastfeeding, or the best friend who used to provide escapism and now won’t let her breathe.
These complexities combined with the comedy kept me oscillating between snort-laughing and heart-clutching. It’s a rare juxtaposition in scenes like Eden’s bewildered “He told you?” after her “red rum” inducing, demonically inclined babysitting choices are questioned. Which puts more stress on Dawn. Can she trust her best friend with her child and what does it mean if she can’t? Raunchy and heartfelt, incisive and ridiculous. That’s Babes.
Glazer and Buteau are alchemic, turning an 8 up to 11 with a balance of chemistry and performance. Their banter infuses the film with lived-in authenticity. Somehow they make fifteen variations on “bitch” flow in conversation and you believe them. Not to be left out, the guys are good too. Hasan Minhaj, as Dawn’s husband Marty is grounded and steady. Playing it straight, he ups the dichotomy of laughter and realness with deadpan delivery. Stephan James, while only in the movie for ten minutes is similar. His impact is felt throughout and we know if he hadn’t “ghosted” Eden they may have become soulmates. Both men are rendered to resonant—solid, open, supportive, and fully realized characters, even in secondary and tertiary roles.
In the end, BABES is the ‘fromance’ (friendship + romance) we need, celebrating fifty kinds of love while proving our friendships with our girls aren’t that weird—’cause if we cultivate them they can sustain us.
Keywords: Babes 2024, Pamela Adlon, Ilana Glazer, Michelle Buteau, pregnancy comedy, female friendship, motherhood, raunchy comedy, unplanned pregnancy, comedy film, female experience, female body functions, female empowerment, female-led film, female reproductive system, female bonding, female solidarity, adulthood, NYC, one-night stand, married mother, SXSW Film Festival, May 17 release, heartwarming, laughter, tears, labor pains, Neon, film release, John Carroll Lynch, Hasan Minhaj, Stephan James, Oliver Platt, Kenny and Keith Lucas, Sandra Bernhard, Rotten Tomatoes, Metacritic, 2024 films, 2024 comedy films, 2024 directorial debut films, 2020s American films, 2020s English-language films, 2020s female buddy films, 2020s pregnancy films, American comedy films, American pregnancy films, FilmNation Entertainment, Films shot in New York City
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