A 17-year old Missouri teen named Veronica discovers she has gotten pregnant, a development that threatens to end her dreams of matriculating at an Ivy League college, and the career that could fol...
I’ve read a lot about the trials and tribulations that came with abortion and the mental and physical effect it takes on a woman’s body but despite the religious amount of reading and learning I’ve done about the subject as a whole, I, for one, never really took a particular stance on whether I support it or root against it. But then “Unpregnant” came along on HBO Max to help broaden out my perspective, thankfully, in a more positive light. It’s a very familiar story told from a perspective that’s pretty rare in films and thankfully, doesn’t poke fun at a rather serious subject matter.....but not without a few bones of contention.
To say the direction taken here was amiable but uneven would be putting it lightly. Rachel Lee Goldenberg, who also wrote this alongside the actual bookwriters, takes awhile to set the scene and show us that this is far from a by-the-numbers experience but makes it very clear that she’s not being coy about its subject matter. Her direction does allow the script to deviate away from normal tropes in the genre and give it a personality of its own but somehow placing it within a similar boat to Booksmart.....just less raunchy and timid. The pacing marries its rather dubious comedic and dramatic moments side by side, acting was fairly solid throughout with Haley Lu Richardson and Barbie Ferreira chewing up most of the scenery with their surprisingly fluid chemistry, the characters were, if not likable, then relatable, cinematography, editing and production design were beyond average, there are lessons about growth, friendship, and independence that the film does it’s best to take advantage of and I eventually come to understand the nuance of the abortion discourse as I laughed alongside the two main characters. Comedy wise.....it’s not shabby. Found a couple scenes that were funny but nothing really eye-watering. To be fair though, some moments are put in just to serve as comedic bait without any nuance, by the end of the second act, the tone undergoes a very dramatic shift and it feels like a completely different movie altogether up until the last 35 minutes and the rest of the film almost goes off the rails as a result. Even in its weakest moments, the movie was never a turn-off, for its heart was not the right place, at least to me.
Comedy and abortion might not seem like a natural pairing, but this film allows the humor to shine as a coping mechanism in a quest for access to reproductive healthcare in a day and age where reproductive rights are constantly under attack, just like everything and everyone else in the world. I’d recommend trying this one out.
