Review: Obvious Child

Watching Jenny Slate in Obvious Child, I was reminded of a time in the Thirties and Forties when actresses like Carole Lombard, Jean Arthur, Rosalind Russell, and Barbara Stanwyck ruled the silver screen. In films like My Man Godfrey, The More the Merrier, His Girl Friday, and The Lady Eve, they were independent, tough, vulnerable, complicated women who were not only glamorous but funny to the bone. They pursued and were pursued, and more than matched their men.

All of the above is a long way of saying that Slate could have easily thrived in that golden era, so delightful is she in Gillian Robespierre's Obvious Child though its abortion plot point and mentions of vaginal discharge would never have made it past the Hays code.

Wallowing in self-pity after she's dumped by her boyfriend, twentysomething stand-up comic Donna Stern (Slate) has a one night stand with the straitlaced Max (The Office's Jake Lacy) - "He's so Christian, he's a Christmas tree," she deadpans before adding, "I'm the Menorrah on top of the tree who burns it down." After playing "Russian Roulette with her vagina," she discovers she's pregnant and decides to have an abortion. Then Max comes around and asks her for a proper date (Slate's crestfallen reaction to his question is heartbreaking).

The decision to have the abortion, and the abortion itself, are treated matter-of-factly but not lightly. Donna understands her situation - she's barely scraping by, she has no interest in raising babies, she's hardly capable of raising herself. So disorganised is her life that her mother (Polly Draper) has put together "a spreadsheet of all your expenses, job opportunities, and miscellaneous tasks you should focus on."

Yet it is also her mother, whose disappointment she fears when she reveals her decision, who surprises her the most. The scene between Draper and Slate as mother comforts daughter by sharing her own abortion story - the procedure conducted at a time when abortion was illegal and shameful - is delicate and touching, delivering Robespierre's feminist message in an emotional rather than didactic manner.

The message is more than a woman's right to her body, it is also a woman's right to her self and her place in society. That Robespierre presents this within the framework of a romantic comedy without the tone becoming sobersided is remarkable. She manages to subvert the genre - note how the woman is front and center while the man is on the periphery - without sacrificing the tropes that define it. One of the best romantic comedies in recent memory and a sterling showcase for Slate's considerable talents.

Obvious Child

Directed by: Gillian Robespierre

Written by: Gillian Robespierre; adapted from the short film by Gillian Robespierre, Anna Bean, and Karen Maine

Starring: Jenny Slate, Jake Lacy, Gaby Hoffman, Polly Draper, Richard Kind, David Cross