The Baby Formula (2008)

Directed by: Alison Reid | 82 minutes | comedy | Actors: Angela Vint, Megan Fahlenbock, Rosemary Dunsmore, Matt Baram, Jessica Booker, Sarain Boylan, Maggie Cassella, Dmitry Chepovetsky, Roger Dunn, Hal Eisen, Maggie-Anne Erechook, Arwyn Gouadec, Michael Hanrahan, Alison Reid, RD Reid

You can safely call ‘The Baby Formula’ an unusual film. A gay comedy in the form of a mockumentary (feature film disguised as a documentary) about two women who become pregnant from each other. How they do that is simple: you take a few stem cells, make sperm from them and Klara is ready. All you have to do is let the families know about the happy fact. But are they really happy with it…

The story of ‘The Baby Formula’ is as nonsensical as it is tantalizing. The new way of baking babies will make the presence of men obsolete in the future. Too bad this mockumentary doesn’t do anything with that fact. After the miraculous conception with which the film opens, the much more mundane pregnancies follow. The role of the family is predictable, especially of the believer segment. Also the ultimate themes – tolerance, tolerance and more tolerance – are too obvious for a gay film.

Fortunately, ‘The Baby Formula’ doesn’t suffer too much from that predictability. The film rarely takes itself seriously, so we are regularly treated to silly humor and developments of the more soapy kind. The makers do not always know how to keep pace, but at times when the film becomes too dramatic or too corny, there is always that self-mockery that puts everything and everyone into perspective.

The greatest strength of ‘The Baby Formula’ is in the acting of Angela Vint and Megan Fahlenbock. The chemistry between the ladies is so strong that you’ll be surprised that they don’t form a couple in real life (although they were pregnant during the recordings in real life. Not from each other, by the way). The girls bitch, tug, whine, cuddle, chatter and argue like a real-life couple. But when it comes down to it, they form a closed front against the evil outside world of family members and camera crew.

That endearing couple is what stays with you most about this lightweight comedy. A couple that is undoubtedly strong enough to raise many more children. Perhaps that is the most important message of ‘The Baby Formula’. If you doubt whether two women are capable of raising children, you should watch this film. Not a high-flyer, but a good-natured and entertaining comedy.