Obvious Child

I caught the indie romantic comedy Obvious Child on iTunes streaming (it had a limited theatrical release early this year) and I kind of loved it. It stars Jenny Slate (who? she was on SNL for one season but dropped an F bomb in her first skit and never came back… and she plays Jean Rafael’s insufferable sister on Parks and Rec – she’s actually pretty great in this movie). She plays a stand-up comedian of little fame who has a bad breakup and meets a great guy one night, gets drunk, and has a one-night stand… and winds up pregnant. What makes this story unique is that it doesn’t go in the direction of, say, Juno or Knocked Up… controversially (depending on your politics but regardless of your politics, it’s controversial for a Hollywood movie) she decides to have an abortion. It’s not necessarily an easy decision though they make some off-color (coping) jokes about it. Yet, despite the not-exactly-celebratory plot, the movie is laugh-out-loud funny at times, sweet, charming, romantic, and cute. And smart. I liked it. It’s kind of worth seeing just for being daring… but also for all its actual assets.