Baby Boom

Another of the movies that I had the chance to record during one of the free preview weekends was Baby Boom. It's going to be on again, tomorrow (May 4) at 6:31 AM on 5Star Max, so as always I made a point of watching it in order to be able to do a post here.

After a brief introduction telling the viewers about the contributions of modern women to the work force and how they can do any job they set their minds to, we're introduced to one of those modern women. JC Wiatt (Diane Keaton) is a management consultant in Manhattan getting close to becoming an executive at the firm run by Fritz Curtis (Sam Wanamaker). This being the 80s, she's a yuppie, and the sort that back in the day wuld have been called DINKs -- dual income, no kids. She lives with, but is not married to, boyfriend Steven (Harold Ramis), who is in a similarly demanding job.

One night as they're in bed, the phone rings, and it's for JC. There's a bad connection, but apparently what she gleans from the conversation is that some distant relative has died and JC was mentioned in the will, so she's going to have to sign for the bequest, with the busy lawyers traveling through Kennedy Airport. Now, this isn't the way wills work in real life, but if the writers had gone with real life, we wouldn't have much of a movie.

We also wouldn't have much of a movie if JC displayed the sort of acumen that allowed her to get to where she is in the business world. The woman she meets at the airport gives her documents to sign, and JC signs them without reading them. Sorry, but I was yelling at this terrible plot hole. Anyhow, the bequest JC receives is... a baby, a little girl named Elizabeth! Apparently, the deceased relative had no other close relatives, which again makes no sense, and just decided to give custody to JC without having seen her for years and not discussing JC getting custody of the baby should this be necessary.

JC continues her out-of-character stupidity by not fairly immediately going to her bosses and explaining the situation, but instead trying to take care of the baby and in such a way that it really screws up her work. It also screws up her home life, as Stephen was committed to not having a baby. Thankfully, the terms of the will allow JC to put the baby up for adoption if things don't work out. However, when she meets the couple who are going to get custody, she balks.

Still, JC tries to balance both work and personal life, losing the handling of a big contract in the process to a young co-worker (James Spader in a small role). So she decides she's going to get out of the rat race, even though she seems to have no clue about what she's going to do to make a living.

With that in mind, JC buys -- apparently sight unseen, or without asking a home inspector to do an examination -- one of those old country homes in Vermont that are a trope in movies about small-town New England. JC and Elizabeth go there alone, with Stephen not appearing in the rest of the picture. JC finds that she made an incredibly stupid decision, as the house needs a lot of work, and being a city girl, she doesn't know the first thing about country living, knowing only the gauzy brochure pictures.

The only thing the house has going for it is an apple orchard, but she can't get itinerant labor or a trainee doctor who grew up in an orphanage to pick apples for her. She does get a doctor in her life, however, in the form of local veterinarian Dr. Cooper (Sam Shepard), who tends to JC when she faints one day and he's the closest doctor around.

JC uses those apples to make gourmet baby food for Elizabeth, which she barters at the local stores as apparently everybody in small-town Vermont barters. One day, however, a bunch of yuppie tourists who think they can pull one over on those hick Vermonters -- indeed, JC is the sort of person who just a year earlier would have been one of those tourists -- sees the baby food and thinks its a great product to buy. JC, despite the stupidity she's shown a bunch of times up to this point, isn't that stupid, and realizes she might have a money-maker on her hands, selling overpriced trendyfood to gullible rich people. Heck, Starbucks has made billions doing just that.

The business becomes a success, and soon enough, national businesses come calling, specifically, the food conglomerate whose contract JC had been handling back in New York.

Baby Boom is an amiable enough piece of fluff, although you're going to have to suspend disbelief to watch it. It's hard to believe JC could make the dumb decisions she does at so many points. And then there's the stereotypical view of Vermonters. On the other hand, the movie is enough of its time that it's worth a watch just for another look at how the 1980s saw itself.

If you're looking for something that's not particularly demanding, and want to share a bowl of popcorn with some friends, you could do a lot worse than Baby Boom.