Themes: Expecting a Baby, Foibles of Marriage, Parenthood
Main Cast: Kevin Bacon, Elizabeth McGovern, Alec Baldwin, Isabel Lorca, William Windom
Release Year: 1988
Country: US
Run Time: 106 minutes
MPAA Rating: PG13
Plot
An aspiring writer faces up to the responsibilities of marriage and family in this romantic comedy from writer, director, and producer John Hughes. Despite the misgivings he pours out to best friend Davis McDonald (Alec Baldwin), Jake Briggs (Kevin Bacon) marries high-school sweetheart Kristy (Elizabeth McGovern). After an abortive attempt at graduate school in New Mexico, the couple settle in suburban Chicago. Jake fakes his way into a job as an advertising copywriter, while Kristy settles into her own corporate job. The couple face the typical ups and downs of any new marriage, especially after Davis visits with a bimbo on his arm, regaling his pal Jake with tales of the good life. A few years later, Kristy decides to stop taking her birth-control pills -- and tells Jake about it three months later. Plagued by doubts, unfulfilled ambitions, and images of a fantasy girl (Isabel Lorca) he once spotted in a club, Jake resists the idea of fatherhood. Then he finds out he has low sperm count and, his manhood thus challenged, lines up for fertility clinic-assisted stud duty. The birth doesn't go as smoothly as Jake expected, however, setting the stage for climactic realizations. Edie McClurg, who played the nosy school secretary in Hughes' Ferris Bueller's Day Off, makes a cameo appearance as an officious neighbor. In addition, a who's who of other Hughes alums and Hollywood stars lend their faces and voices to a series of closing-credits shots in which each suggests a name for the titular baby. ~ Brian J. Dillard, All Movie Guide
Review
Sweet but preachy, this John Hughes suburban yuppie fable tells a familiar story in the director's typical Chicago locale. Fantasy sequences, musical numbers, and sight gags, however, keep the material from seeming too frayed at the edges. Elizabeth McGovern gives a typically tart treatment to a role that's a little more mainstream than much of her output, while Kevin Bacon makes a likable enough everyman as the new husband and expectant father struggling to make peace with his vanishing youth. Fans of edgier material probably won't flock to this sort of picture, but the film's intended audience -- relatively well-adjusted middle-class husbands and wives -- will find a lot to like in the sweet-and-sour treatment of family angst, romantic discontentment, and workday-grind blues. The film's most effective sequence, however, owes more to its soundtrack accompaniment than to its actual content; British singer/songwriter Kate Bush crafted the resonant piano ballad "This Woman's Work" specifically for the film's climax, in which Bacon's character must wait in the maternity ward wings while his wife suffers through a difficult breach birth. The obligatory tacked-on happy ending seems like a letdown after such a powerful piece of music has lent its emotional power to the lightweight material. This is, after all, a reassuring John Hughes movie, choice soundtrack contributions notwithstanding. ~ Brian J. Dillard, All Movie Guide
Cathryn Damon - Gayle Bainbridge; Holland Taylor - Sarah Briggs; James Ray - Jim Briggs; Dennis Dugan - Bill; Nancy Lenehan - Cynthia; John Ashton - Ken; Edie McClurg - Lynn; Paul Gleason - Howard; Larry Hankin - Hank; Valeri Breiman - Erin; Angela Alvarado - Model; Bill Erwin - Grandfather; Al Leong - Photographer; Kellye Nakahara - Nurse at Hospital; Lisa Niemi - Model; Gail O'Grady - Laura; Lydia Peterkoch; Cindy Pickett - Suggesting baby names (uncredited); Terrie Snell - Dancer; Steve Tannen - Man with Bike; Lili Taylor - Girl at Medical Lab; Ingrid Ferrin - Nurse; Reba McKinney - Grandmother; Sherry Narens - Nurse at Medical Lab
Credit
Bill Brown - Associate Producer, Greg Agalsoff - Boom Operator, Jane Alderman - Casting, Steve Jacobs - Casting, Jane Jenkins - Casting, Janet Hirshenson - Casting, Tony Stevens - Choreography, April Ferry - Costume Designer, Mark A. Radcliffe - First Assistant Director, Daniel R. Suhart - First Assistant Director, John Hughes - Director, Bill Brown - Second Unit Director, George Bowers - Editor, Alan Heim - Editor, Ronald B. Colby - Executive Producer, Barbara Lorenz - Hair Styles, Billy Higgins - Location Manager, Dow Griffith - Location Manager, Tony Bowers - Location Manager, Stewart Copeland - Composer (Music Score), Nicky Holland - Composer (Music Score), Tarquin Gotch - Musical Direction/Supervision, Kate Bush - Songwriter, Brad Wilder - Makeup, Keith Peterman - Camera Operator, Robert W. Faison - Camera Operator, Jay Peterman - Camera Operator, John W. Coros - Production Designer, John W. Corso - Production Designer, Donald Peterman - Cinematographer, James Herbert - Production Manager, Ronald B. Colby - Production Manager, John Hughes - Producer, Ronald B. Colby - Producer, Louis Mann - Set Designer, Jennifer Polito - Set Designer, James R. Alexander - Sound/Sound Designer, Eddie Fernandez - Stunts, Rick LeFevour - Stunts, Conrad Palmisano - Stunts, Kay H. Whipple - Stunts, James Fierro - Stunts, Stacy Logan - Stunts, G.A. Aguilar - Stunts, Michael Andrew Hernandez - Stunts, Dana A. Bertolette - Stunts, Maryann Kelman - Stunts, Daniel Maldonado - Stunts, Randy Popplewell - Stunts, Rich Wilkie - Stunts, Conrad Palmisano - Stunts Coordinator, Jeanne Webber - Technical Advisor, John Hughes - Screenwriter, Mark Herzog - Production Assistant, Iono Abrams - Production Assistant, Peter Carley - Production Assistant, Kevin Cronan - Production Assistant, Tim McNeal - Production Assistant, Kathryn Rhodes - Production Assistant, Susan Smith - Production Assistant, Dan M. Rich - Sound Effects Editor, Larry Kemp - Sound Effects Editor, Randy Kelley - Sound Effects Editor, Lorna Anderson - Sound Effects Editor, Anna Boorstin - Sound Effects Editor, Hugo Weng - Sound Effects Editor, Eric Strand - Additional Editing, David Morenz - First Assistant Camera, Leslie Hill - First Assistant Camera, Ted Litchfield - First Assistant Camera, Ken Nishino - First Assistant Camera, Dennis Flanderka - Grip, Earl Linder - Grip, John D. Miller - Key Grip, Tom Kramer - Music Editor, Jeff Passanante - Properties, Stan Ascough - Properties, Jim Davis - Properties, Jack Marino - Properties Master, Timothy W. Tiedje - Properties Master, Don Digirolamo - Re-Recording Mixer, Bob Glass - Re-Recording Mixer, Robert Knudson - Re-Recording Mixer, John Boyd - Re-Recording Mixer, Wilma Garscadden-Gahret - Script Supervisor, Carline Davis-Dyer - Script Supervisor, James Dillon - Second Assistant Director, Jeanne Caliendo - Second Assistant Director, James Giovannetti, Jr. - Second Assistant Director, Joyce Rudolph - Still Photographer, James Zenk - Still Photographer, Lon E. Bender - Supervising Sound Editor, Wylie Stateman - Supervising Sound Editor, Paul Lopez - Costume/Wardrobe, Ingrid Ferrin - Costume/Wardrobe, Michele Neely - Costume/Wardrobe, Gary Scalzo - Assistant Chief Lighting Technician, Kim Bastyr - Assistant Location Manager, Mike Blaze - Assistant Properties, Eddie Villa - Assistant Properties, Jeffrey Thorin - Camera Loader, Gary Palmer - Chief Lighting Technician, William Stuebe - Chief Lighting Technician, Richard Dow - Dolly Grip, Murphy Wiltz - Electrician, Mark Ridge - Extra Casting, Barbara Flinn - Extra Casting, Cathie J. Holzer - Extra Casting, Barbara L. Roche - Extra Casting, Susan J. Bonno-Buckner - First Assistant Accountant, Jerrie Fowler - First Assistant Editor, John Haggar - First Assistant Editor, John Rozman - Leadman, George Parra - Second Second Assistant Director, Stefanie Moore - Second Second Assistant Director, John Hardy - Transportation Captain, Rob Jensen - Transportation Captain, Bill Puluti - Transportation Captain, John Tiano - Transportation Captain, Dale Torri - Transportation Captain, Gaston Veilleux - Transportation Captain, Mike Shepard - Transportation Coordinator, Dan Marrow - Transportation Coordinator, Michon Peacock - Assistant Choreographer, John Agalsoff Jr. - Cable Person, Jeff Williams - Cable Person, Doris Hellmann - Production Secretary, Kay T. Stanford - Production Secretary, Stanford Gilbert - Supervising ADR Editor, Joe Gilbert - Assistant ADR Editor, Christopher Hogan - Assistant Sound Effects Editor, Anthony Fatigato - Painter
She's Having a Baby is an American movie, released in 1988, which was directed by John Hughes.
The movie portrays a young newlywed couple, Kristy and Jake Briggs played by Elizabeth McGovern and Kevin Bacon, who try to cope with being married and what is expected of them by their parents. Jake must also deal with the fantasy woman of his dreams. The film is largely a parody of traditional 1980s suburban life and the cultural expectations that come along with it. To a large extent what Jake experiences could be described as a form of culture shock, with his best man Davis (Alec Baldwin) as a reminder of his former culture as a single man, and feeling alienated when he overhears his neighbors converse about mundane suburban topics. He feels he has left the culture of single men, and has entered the culture of a married man, and doesn't appear to have a sense of belonging to either.
This film is a look at the lives of Jake and Kristy Briggs, from their wedding day until the birth of their first child. Beginning on their wedding day, it follows both their lives, but moreso Jake's, with his voice over commentaries and several imaginary scenes, based on actual or feared future events. After their wedding Jake and Kristy head off for New Mexico, where Jake works towards gaining a Masters Degree, but leaves before finishing, describing it as "high school with ashtrays". They return to Chicago where Jake, by "setting new records for lying in the job market", impresses his potential employers so much that they give him work as an advertising copywriter. Kristy also gains work, as a research analyst, and they are able to buy a "three bedroom mortgage" in the suburbs. Jake and Kristy then continue to adjust to their new life until Kristy unilaterally decides to cease taking contraceptives, without telling Jake, until after several months she informs him that he has been unable to impregnate her. They then begin a program to assist their efforts to become pregnant, which eventually succeed. The movie culminates with a traumatic yet eventually successful labour and Jake's realisation that his lack of satisfaction and sense of detachment are not due to external factors but his own selfishness and immaturity. The film ends with a rapid succession of suggestions for the name of the baby, a boy.
Autobiographical Aspects
John Hughes, who wrote, directed and produced the film, shared similarities with Jake, the leading character. Both married young (to wives they met as teenagers), both dropped out of University before finishing (Hughes at University of Arizona and Jake at a New Mexico University), both began their post University careers as advertising copywriters, and both came from Chicago. In several scenes Jake is wearing a 'University of Arizona' shirt, which Hughes attended, and in the final credits the words 'Inspiration - Nancy Hughes' appear, Nancy being Hughes' wife.
Reaction
The movie got 47% positive reviews on Rotten Tomatoes, and was alternately panned and praised by critics.[1]
Filmed at the same time as Planes, Trains, and Automobiles.[2] Kevin Bacon has a cameo in Planes, Trains, and Automobiles trying to get a taxi from Steve Martin. There is a scene in Planes, Trains, and Automobiles where Steve Martin's wife is watching television in her bedroom and although you can't see the image, the audio is from the bedroom fight sequence of She's Having A Baby.
In the black and white fantasy scene where Jake's grandfather says "you'll never end up working on a loading dock", the young Jake is played by Neal Bacon, Kevin Bacon's nephew who was five years old at the time.[3]
The song played during the street party is "How sweet it is to be loved by you" by James Taylor
Behind the scenes
The film was shot in Winnetka, IL and Evanston, IL.[4] Most John Hughes's films either take place in Chicago, in the suburbs of Chicago, or are about people going to or coming from Chicago.
The lawnmower dance scene was shot in a rather small subdivision in Skokie, Illinois named "New England Village." The street is 'Salem Lane' and the Briggs house is Number 56. The houses used during that sequence and the ones leading up to it remain much the same as they did. The house used (42°03′10″N87°42′48″W / 42.052646°N 87.713221°W / 42.052646; -87.713221) is also still in much the same condition. The neighborhood is a small circular subdivision, and the movie was shot close to the middle. The residents living there were not allowed to move their cars for the duration of the shooting.
During the end credits there are several actor cameos naming the baby. Most of these are taken from actors in other John Hughes films and projects shot on the Paramount lot during that time (Cheers & Star Trek: The Next Generation).
During the Lawnmower Dance scene, in the beginning there is an Irish flag, placed there by a resident, clearly mounted on one of the houses in the background. The flag disappears about halfway through the scene.
