...
Maybe Baby is the film made from Ben Elton’s book, Inconceivable, the story of a thirty something couple who are trying to have a baby. It is based, apparently, on Elton’s own experiences. Hugh Laurie and the gorgeous Joely Richardson play the couple in question, Sam and ... Read review
Do you want to know a secret? Maybe Baby Body Lotion! Warm, provocative, spirited & ... more
fresh, nothing smells as beautiful as Maybe Baby with its lingering fusion of white ginger, apricot & a tumble of white blossoms. Now, nothing feels as beautiful as Maybe Baby Body Lotion. Blend this fragrant body lotion with its champagne shimmer from sexy shoulders to flirty feet… its all you need for bare-skin beauty.
Do you want to know a secret? …Maybe Baby This warm & inviting ... more
fragrance captures a playful tumble of white blossoms. Like a wink across the room or a lingering gaze... “am I dreaming?†… Maybe Baby A sparkling floral blend combining top notes of apricot and white ginger with cyclamen, lychee and bergamot on a base of white musk, poppy and peach.
Do you want to know a secret? …Maybe Baby This warm & inviting ... more
fragrance captures a playful tumble of white blossoms. Like a wink across the room or a lingering gaze... “am I dreaming?†… Maybe Baby A sparkling floral blend combining top notes of apricot and white ginger with cyclamen, lychee and bergamot on a base of white musk, poppy and peach.
Hugh Laurie (Sam) and Joely Richardson (Lucy) star in this international romantic smash ... more
hit as an irresistible couple who seem to have everything - good looks, successful careers, matching motorbikes and an enthusiastic love life. The only thing they lack is the one thing they really want - a baby. Sam sets his sights on writing a successful screenplay, a comedy about a couple trying for a baby. The only problem is that Lucy is horrified at the idea and forbids him to do it. Creative fulfillment is too much for Sam to resist and meanwhile an increasingly hormonal Lucy is distracted by the attentions of the handsome Carl Phipps (James Purefoy). Sam and Lucy's love for one another , the most important thing they both have, will now truly be put to the test....
Sam and Lucy Bell (Hugh Laurie, Joely Richardson) are bright,thirtysomething media ... more
darlings - he's a TV Commissioning Editor forthe BBC, she works in a theatrical agency - who seem to have theperfect life. More than anything, Sam and Lucy want a baby, and sothey embark on a rigorous schedule of lovemaking dictated byovulation charts rather than passion. Nothing appears to work. Indesperation, they deliver themselves into the hands of Dr. James(Rowan Atkinson), who suggests the possibility of IVF as the wayforward. The endless medical tests soon take their toll on the couple'srelationship. Sam vents his frustration by penning a screenplaybased on his current predicament: a comedy about a couple tryingfor a baby. Meanwhile, Lucy's hormones are all over the shop andshe finds herself increasingly attracted to the star client at heragency, suave and debonair actor Carl Phipps (James Purefoy).
A married couple desperately trying every conceivable method of becoming pregnant may not ... more
seem obvious comedy material, but Ben Elton, drawing on his own experiences of infertility, has proved that it can be, first in his book Inconceivable and subsequently in the film Maybe Baby. Opening with a Paul McCartney cover of Buddy Holly's "Maybe Baby", the soundtrack's 15 other songs take us through the highs and lows of Lucy and Sam's pregnancy attempts. The music dates from the 1960s through to 2000 with artists ranging from Elvis Costello to Melanie C, Roxy Music to Tin Tin Out. All in all, a not unpleasant selection with, fortunately, not a not of Drusilla's whale music to be heard. --Rebecca Agnew
Postage & Packaging:Free! Availability:Usually dispatched within 24 hours...
Comedy - Director: Terry Jones, Terry Gilliam - Original Language: English - Classification: 15 years and over - Starring: Carol Cleveland, Eric Idle, Graham Chapman, Terry Gilliam, John Cleese, Michael Palin, Terry Jones
Comedy - Original Language: English - Classification: 12 years and over - Starring: Tessa Peake-Jones, Buster Merryfield, David Jason, Nicholas Lyndhurst
Comedy - Director: Richard Boden, Mandie Fletcher, Martin Shardlow - Original Language: English - Classification: 15 years and over - Starring: Hugh Laurie, Miranda Richardson, Stephen Fry, Brian Blessed, Tim McInnerny, Tony Robinson, Rowan Atkinson
Production Year: 2004 - Comedy - Director: John Hay - Original Language: English - Classification: 15 years and over - Starring: Jennifer Love Hewitt, Jimi Mistry, Kate Miles, Dougray Scott
Advantages: Tom Hollander supeb performance, a selection of tremendous scenes. Disadvantages: The miscast cameos... uneven combination of humour and drama in places.
...concerned.
Maybe Baby is the film made from Ben Elton’s book, Inconceivable, the story of a thirty something couple who are trying to have a baby. It is based, apparently, on Elton’s own experiences. Hugh Laurie and the gorgeous Joely Richardson play the couple in question, Sam and Lucy. She was last seen in the topic of my last film review The Patriot. There are also a whole host of cameos from the usual crowd… ... .../>
To me Maybe Baby seemed to suffer from a slight identity crisis. The amusing initial scene… a phone call from Lucy to Sam who is the middle of a ‘new’ BBC meeting with the enticing request for sex… is followed by him jumping on his motorbike and storming off home, firmly sets the tone for humour. However after the initial play for humour the story develops and the film seems to reach for a more emotional response ... more
Suffering the inevitable problem of living with three girls, as I do, the weekly request for a video of nothing overly violent… nothing scary… something funny and well sweet is hardly surprising. Why the hell they can’t just say romantic comedy I don’t know because its obvious that nothing else fits the bill. Hence after recently renting out a British gangster movie, it is now to the only other British genre that has had any success over recent years, inspired by Four Weddings and a Funeral, the British romantic comedies. Unfortunately these have seemingly succumbed to quantity over quality of late so I was concerned.
Maybe Baby is the film made from Ben Elton’s book, Inconceivable, the story of a thirty something couple who are trying to have a baby. It is based, apparently, on Elton’s own experiences. Hugh Laurie and the gorgeous Joely Richardson play the couple in question, Sam and Lucy. She was last seen in the topic of my last film review The Patriot. There are also a whole host of cameos from the usual crowd… Joanna Lumley, Rowan Atkinson, Emma Thompson and Dawn French… but I’ll come that later… so to the plot.
The basic story follows the trials and tribulations of Lucy and Sam in their quest for a child. Sam, a budding writer, who works for the BBC seizes on the idea of making a movie of their experiences and against Lucy’s wishes and knowledge, proceeds to put a film into production. At the same time Lucy has desires of a totally different kind namely in the form of handsome actor Carl Phipps (James Purefoy). The film plays out along fairly predictable lines that I’ll leave you to work out or watch…
To me Maybe Baby seemed to suffer from a slight identity crisis. The amusing initial scene… a phone call from Lucy to Sam who is the middle of a ‘new’ BBC meeting with the enticing request for sex… is followed by him jumping on his motorbike and storming off home, firmly sets the tone for humour. However after the initial play for humour the story develops and the film seems to reach for a more emotional response with the distressingly intrusive nature of IVF treatment made apparent. The uneven mix of comedy, and there are certainly some fantastic moments, and the more serious issues addressed prevent the film from reaching the heights it could have.
As far as the performances go, Laurie is certainly adequate and deals with the humour easily but seems a little out of his depth in places, admittedly he is not helped by the script, which develops Lucy’s character far more than Sam’s. Richardson is on fine form and is very believable in her role displaying anguish and emotion in tandem with some superb comic lines. Purefoy is successfully charming and sleazy. By far the best character however is trendy Scottish director (Tom Hollander) who lights up every scene he appears in.
The other roles, perhaps with the exception of Atkinson as a doctor, are either miscast or not given sufficient time on screen or both. Adrian Lester who plays Sams best friend, George, is given little more than the job of listening to his friends problems and acting as his conscience. Both Dawn French as a nurse and Emma Thompson as a new age mother are badly wasted. The project is helmed by Elton who was probably ill advised to direct what is obviously such a personal subject. The indulgence of Lucy at the expense of Sam and the unsure nature of the film in places seem signs of both a directorial debut and someone trying to pack too much into the film.
Whilst the film is most definitely flawed it is still more than watchable, saved by some great moments, especially one in which Lucy finds out about Sam’s deception. The combination of drama and comedy, out of balance throughout much of the film, is beautifully worked in this instance. It just seemed to me that the cast assembled and the clever script could and indeed should have produced a more memorable final product.
So to my advice, if you don’t mind a film that doesn’t achieve a laugh a minute but has plenty of amusing moments this is well worth renting. If you’re looking for a comic masterpiece then I’m afraid this will not fit the bill. All in all a little disappointing.
Advantages: It’s a big screen British comedy. Disadvantages: Not genuinely funny enough though.
Ben Elton’s debut as a director encompasses his own experiences with IVF (and of course, adapted from his book, ‘Inconceivable’), ‘Maybe Baby’ goes from one mood to another without really finding a firm footing as it shifts from an air of romantic comedy to drama, quite quickly.
The story involves Sam (Hugh Laurie) and Lucy (Joely Richardson) when they find out they cannot naturally conceive, become increasingly desperate ... ...the BBC as a producer and agent. Together, they go through the process of IVF....
Lucy however, is on the verge of having an affair AND Sam is having adulterous thoughts.
Sam is secretly writing a film and basing it on THEIR life. Lucy disapproves and this threatens their relationship....
It begins affable enough being funny, then edges it’s way to a dramatic conclusion.
Some of the best scenes are inevitably when the pair are in hospital. ...
kingmaker 21.07.2001
· Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Maybe Baby (DVD)
Advantages: Better than you might anticipate, generally Disadvantages: Not quite as witty as it thinks it is, possibly
...Inconceivable, and therefore Maybe Baby, deals with infertility and a couple's increasingly desperate attempts to produce a sprog. Elton's first-hand association with the often de-humanising machinations and rigmarole that childless families have to endure gives Maybe Baby a level of insight and wry humour that could so easily have ended up farcical and bereft of credible emotion or drama. Fear not, for this film is no Mad Cows.
Instead, we have ... ...much does here too.
Maybe Baby is resolutely nice...which these days is quixotically more of a sin than being a nasty, vulgar slice of cheap exploitation. No matter, it's a relief to have at least a small handful of British movies every year or two which don't subscribe to that school of film-making.
In fact, a running joke through the script is a thinly-veiled swipe at that very style perpetrated by Studios and TV Stations alike. Elton, once the ...
EnglishPatient 31.01.2001
· Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Maybe Baby (DVD)
Advantages: funny, great cast, interesting plot Disadvantages: not as good as the book
...the book (Still with me?), Maybe Baby. We had both enjoyed reading it and looked forward to seeing the movie version. Of course, with hindsight, we realised we should have seen the film before reading the book – so a warning to anyone out there, get it round the right way!
The movie was made last year and stars Joely Richardson as Lucy with Hugh Laurie as her husband, Sam Bell. As in the book, the main focus of the story is about their infertility ... ...turns up at the door but without the right package. It’ll be interesting to see what people thought to it as a stand-alone film, not having read the book, maybe they enjoyed it more. I would certainly recommend it, it’s worth seeing, but is inferior to the novel. ...
KarenUK 15.10.2001
· Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Maybe Baby (DVD)
Advantages: great cast, the shakespeare! Disadvantages: not funny, misses its potential
As ciao seems to be a family forum I'll refrain from naming the part of the giant chalk man's anatomy which appears in this movie, but given the subject of the movie, and the fact I won't name it, I'm guessing you got there already. Famous fertility rite apparently. So the formidable and witch-like Drusilla, played by Emma Thompson tells the keen-to-be-parents, Sam and Lucy Bell. Sam and Lucy Bell, played by Hugh Laurie and Joely Richardson, are ... ...important thing in either of their lives, desperate enough to try the wacky suggestions of the witchy Drusilla, even desperate enough to try all that conventional fertility treatment has to offer. Predictably this makes for some comic moments, but although the potential for this to be an absolutely hilarious movie is all there in the cast and subject matter, once again this is a British comedy which somehow misses it. I found myself writing scenes ...
lily7star 31.03.2001
· Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Maybe Baby (DVD)
Advantages: thoughtful story, good cast Disadvantages: a bit wooden, doesnt flow quite smothly
First of all I will start by saying that me and my partner have been trying for a baby for over a year now with no success, so the subject matter of this film was a concern as well as a draw...I didnt want to end up being offended by what was being said or done, but sometimes it just feels good to see portrayed on screen the things that are happening in life. I will also point out that I have not read Ben Eltons book, inconceivable, but might give ... ...The main thing about this movie was the fact that, despite being a comedy, it is in no way taking the mick out of conception or infertility etc, there were obvious jokes about sperm and the likes but nothing offensive. This really appealled to me from a personal point of view and made the film more endearing. I believe that these are the conversations that couples trying for a baby will have (and when you're ovulating, believe me it doesnt matter ...
kirstenc1985 06.09.2009
· Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Maybe Baby (DVD)
Did you enjoy it?
Story
Characters / Performances
Special Effects
How does it compare to ...
Similar reviews »
Reviews which might be of interest for "Maybe Baby (DVD)"
Advantages: Great music, sparkly costumes and lots to choose from Disadvantages: Quite complicated and difficult to keep up with
it really is a good way to lose weight and tone up. Each of the routines target different areas of the body and all have a cardiovascular content too.
Of course it wouldn't be Strictly without some glitzy costumes - for each routine the girls wear a different sparkly outfit (no ballgowns though) along with matching shoes.! (Not too sure about the silver dance trainers though). I would do anything for Erins abs (I'll keep working at the DVD and maybe one day......), in fact both girls look fantastic and Karen is an inspiration as like me she has had a baby and has used dance as a way to get back in shape.
The DVD is 100 minutes long and considering there are no extras this means you really get your moneys worth. It's retailing for between £11 and £12 (cheapest at Amazon I think) and there are a few available on ebay too.
So my ...
Sam and Lucy are a couple who have everything they want and need except for one thing - a baby. Lucy becomes increasingly broody and is attracted to the handsome Carl. Now Sam and Lucy's love is really put to the test.
Interactive Menus, Theatrical Trailer, Direct Scene Access, Audio Commentary By Ben Elton And Hugh Laurie
Sound
Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround
Dubbing Sound
Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround English
Professional reviews
Review
"...MAYBE BABY is both poignant and outrageously funny, skillfully alternating between the two extremes..." (Box Office, p.61, 01/10/2001)
"...Beguiling....Ben Elton has come up with bright dialogue and clever comic goings-on..." (Movieline, p.35-6, 01/09/2001)
"...[A] fearless and funny comedy....MAYBE BABY maintains a surprisingly secure comic footing..." (New York Times, p.E20, 24/08/2001)
DVD Description
Novelist-playwright-comedian-screenwriter-television writer Ben Elton (THE YOUNG ONES, BLACKADDER) tries his busy hand at directing with MAYBE BABY, a short, sweet romantic comedy about a couple very much in love but having difficulty conceiving a child. Hugh Laurie (Sam) and Joely Richardson (Lucy) are perfect as the struggling couple. Sam works for the BBC, where his new young boss shoves mottoes and buzzwords down his employees' throats. (One of the best is "Stay on message.") Sam and Lucy try anything and everything to conceive, reading books, following quack advice, using special massage oils, and seeing doctor after doctor to determine what the problem is. An aspiring writer, Sam has been looking for just the right story. When he suggests to Lucy (who keeps track of all of her thoughts and emotions in her diary) that he write about their struggles trying to have a baby, Lucy is furious that he would even consider making light of their personal relationship. But when he goes ahead and does it anyway--without her knowledge--their love is tested in more ways than one. Elton's witty debut film also features small parts played by such British stars as Emma Thompson, Rowan Atkinson, Dawn French, and Joanna Lumley.
Compare Maybe Baby (DVD) to other similar Comedy »
