Obvious Child tackles the subject of an aspiring stand-up comedian (played by real life stand-up Jenny Slater) who decides to get an abortion after a one-night stand. Just when this bracingly funny film seems too intent on toying with its subject, Slater and director Gillian Robespierre soon shift gears into a resonant realism. The rest of the way they nicely blend the harshly comedic and insight-fully serious elements.
Obvious Child has all the positive trappings of a Frances Ha in capturing the angst of Brooklyn twenty-somethings. Slater, a Saturday Night live vet, conveys an awkward charm as comic Donna Stern. Her musings on her life and relationships are at once edgy and moving, often to the discomfort of her significant other in the back of the comedy club. When she’s not revealing her personal life to to live audiences, Donna receives plenty of advice from her roommate, Nellie (Gaby Hoffman great in Crystal Fairy) or fellow stand-ups Joey (Slater’s real life partner Gabe Liedman) and Sam (David Cross), or a mom (Polly Draper) who’s been through it all herself. Slater is a talented actress capturing a very likable character. Her performance and the writing from Robespierre save the proceedings from what could have easily turned into a cringe-worthy exercise in indulgence.
Jenny’s one-night stand, Max (Jake Lacy) is, of course, her polar opposite. With “nice guy” written all over him, he’s a convenient, straight-laced rebound after she’s dumped by her boyfriend for one of her friends. In no way reminiscent of her artsy ex, Max perseveres in trying to keep in touch with her after the hookup. He knows nothing of her intention to terminate in a couple of weeks. What he does find out quickly is if you enter into Donna’s confessional world, your life soon is all over the stage for public consumption. It’s no spoiler that he turns out to have more depth than is first apparent.
Obvious Child will receive many accolades for being gutsy in a world of Hollywood movies where the subject of abortion is either a suppressed subplot or a main theme taking the safe way out (Juno, Knocked Up). The highly politically and religiously charged subject is often said to be a 50/50 split right down the middle regarding public opinion. Yet here is surprisingly a rare specimen of a film that allows the pro-choice view to be presented in a thought-provoking, paradoxically mature manner. That it takes a bona fide romantic comedy to get us there is all the more ironic and compelling.