Babies is a comedy for people who have never been asked, “When are you going to put a baby in there?!” It stars Anna Kendrick and Seth Rogen as Annie and Aaron, a child-free couple whose friends have all become parents. The movie is written and directed by Lauren Miller Rogen, Seth’s wife.
The film follows Annie as she navigates the pressure to have children while also caring for her mother, who has dementia. It’s a story about ambivalence, responsibility, and the complicated relationship between generations — all wrapped in a movie that refuses to make child-free people the butt of the joke.
Annie and Aaron’s Wobbly Middle Ground
Annie works on building her own art gallery while juggling the needs of her friends, who are now moms with babies and bigger careers. Aaron is happy-go-lucky, loves making pottery and smoking weed, and shares a lot of overlap with the actual Rogens, including being child-free and having a mother with dementia.
The movie sets up two models of parenthood. Blissful Becky, played by Issa Rae, is radiant when pregnant, adored by her husband Zach Cherry, and managing the demands of her daughters while holding down a job. High-strung Eliza, played by Kate Berlant, is a real estate agent with a quirky kiddo and a mirthful manchild husband who she’s steadily growing to hate. These two figures give Annie a clear choice: the dream of motherhood or the nightmare of it.
The Baby Test and the Care Test
When Annie and Aaron are trusted to babysit a friend’s kid for months, it becomes a sampling of parenthood. They respond with amusement, irritation, and horror — a mix that keeps the movie fun without turning it into a slog.
But the film doesn’t stop at the baby test. Annie’s mother, played by David Straitharn, is no longer ambulatory, can’t speak or eat on her own, and is cared for by her husband and a health aide. These scenes are tender, tense, and occasionally heartbreaking, and they show that the child-free have substantial personal responsibilities too.
Heartbreaks and the Bigger Picture
Mashable’s review argues that this mix of humor and drama is what makes Babies feel fresh. The scenes with Annie’s father push her to consider what she wants for her life and what he needs for his. In this collision, both grow closer, even in the face of grief.
The review calls this “a thoughtful dose of drama amid poop jokes and comically high-energy crashouts.” That’s the whole pitch: the film is smartly serious without losing its comic energy.
A Climax That Satisfies
The review describes the climax as silly and satisfying, and says what Aaron and Annie choose won’t be determined by pressure from friends or family, or the fears of what might come. In that, the comedy is not just entertaining and heartwarming, but a welcome representation of living child-free without regrets.
The movie was reviewed out of its World Premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival.
What We Make of It
Babies is a comedy that respects people who don’t want children. It treats Annie’s ambivalence as something genuine rather than a punchline. The movie’s strength is its willingness to move between humor and tenderness without losing either.
The review is clear that this is a welcome representation. It’s a comedy about child-free living that doesn’t make it a joke, and that’s the whole story.
Key Facts
– Title: Babies
– Writer/Director: Lauren Miller Rogen
– Stars: Anna Kendrick, Seth Rogen, Kate Berlant, Issa Rae
– World Premiere: Toronto International Film Festival
– Review verdict: Welcomed representation of living child-free without regrets
“Babies isn’t taking the Knocked Up route, splitting the focus between Rogen’s chuckling dude and his anxious partner. Most of the movie is firmly on Annie.”
That’s the review’s central claim, and it holds up. Babies is a comedy about the pressure of parenthood that actually respects the people who decide against it.
Source material: “Babies review: Child-free couples finally have a comedy that doesnt make them a punchline,” Mashable.
Get the Notebook.
The day's best stories and every fresh verdict, in plain English, in your inbox by seven. One email a day, no more.