October Baby (2011)

Don't listen to the Hype. It's awful

Beautiful, moving film.

The biggest problem with this movie is it’s a little better than you think it might be, which somehow makes it worse. As in, it takes itself a bit too seriously, which makes most of the movie feel kind of dull.

The movie's not perfect, but it sticks the landing of its message. It was engaging - thrilling at times - and I personally thought it was a great time.

The story begins nicely but then jumps to the main theme quite abruptly. The development proves to be somewhat better than the opening. Yet the screenplay feels a bit overly flat on the story build up, not really using the comic relief part well, yet not really striking in the drama aspect. The twist later is on is another good thing to see although it's very predictable thanks to the hint earlier on. The finale is just a great job for drama enthusiast to enjoy, and the epilogue completes the movie very nicely. Rachel Hendrix puts a good acting job in this movie, just enough to depict Hannah's inner anxiety Jason Burkey gives a nice balancing role for the story to build on.

This movie is well made, well acted, and has heart...Unfortunately, it is SLOOOWWW PACED and rather predictable. A teen girl finds out that she's adopted. She goes on a road trip to find her birth mother. When something is actually happening that matters, the movie is entertaining. Unfortunately, the movie is inundated with spans of quiet...For example, early on there is a scene in a library where we have 8 seconds of a young man walking up the stairs and then joining his friend at a table... That 8 seconds might not seem like a big deal, but multiply the movie is riddled with those 'empty spaces.' I think if the director removed those 'empty spaces' the movie would have a good pace.Now, to be clear, it is ultimately a heart-warming and touching film. If you have patience, you'll likely enjoy the movie.

After college student Hannah (Rachel Hendrix) passes out during the performance of her play, she finds out from her doctor that that moment as well as previous ailments are related to her premature birth which forces her parents (John Schneider and Jennifer Price) to reveal that she's adopted and that she's the product of a failed abortion. I'll stop there and just say that this was quite a touching movie about a girl's journey to find her birth mother and the painful emotions she goes through in doing so. Besides the above players, I also liked the supporting turns by Jasmine Guy as the nurse who explains what happened during Hannah's birth, Jason Burkey as a close friend of hers, Rodney Clark as the priest who tries to get Hannah to forgive, and Shari Rigby as the bio mother. Ms. Rigby also appears in the end credits as herself when she mentions something in her real life that helped her performance. Now, while I believe in a woman's right to choose (especially if the male partner wants nothing to do with the infant's life), I actually appreciated the way this film tells how dangerous such a choice could be, not to mention how such a choice could still be hurtful to the person who made it. So on that note, I highly recommend October Baby.

This is, literally, one of the worst movies I've ever seen - and I've seen Howard the Duck and Leonard Part 6...and compared to this, those movies were Oscar contenders. I wanted to abort MYSELF about 20 minutes in, because I saw where this film was going. But I stuck with it.Where do I start? The anti-choice/"pro-life" propaganda? The AWFUL Christian rock soundtrack that pervades the entire film? The complete and utter suspension of disbelief (or brainwashing) required to buy even the slightest detail in this film?The main problem with movies made by Christian people is that they structure them around the way the feel life SHOULD BE, rather than how it actually is. This movie is infused with the propriety of adults, when it's supposed to be about KIDS - Christian or not. A bunch of broke college kids on a road trip. Despite the fact that they embark on said road trip in a VW camper with the "untouchable love interest/good Christian boy's" cousin, who looks like the biggest stoner outside of Dazed and Confused...yet no sex, no smoking, no drinking, not even so much as a cigarette, because good Christian kids don't do those things...right. They talk about vegetarianism and baby turtles instead.And despite being "broke college kids", they buy multiple hotel rooms, because it's just too taboo for them to share a room together?! Really? Jesus doesn't want boys and girls to sleep together, even platonically?! That's not proper? I guess I'm going to hell then. Not to mention that the girlfriend of the love interest/good Christian boy is one dimensional and pure freaking evil! Yet despite his holiness, he chose her,over the oh so holy, mild mannered heroine of this tale. But of COURSE they don't have sex! She has to share a room with the leading lady with epilepsy, and MOCKS her for it! How Christian!But what really, really, REALLY bothered me about this film were the fallacies imparted concerning abortion. So I'm supposed to believe that this "doctor" agreed to perform an abortion on someone 24 weeks pregnant (TWICE the legal limit of 12 weeks), didn't notice the mother was having twins despite the exams and ultrasounds required before the procedure, and when attempting to abort the one baby he thought there was, only got an ARM?! ONE arm?! And this "doctor" then said "Ho-hum, this abortion's done!" NEVER HAPPEN. Lies and Christian, pro-life propaganda. BS.Though to back this up, the nurse (Roxy from Dead Like Me, an AWESOME show :() says that kind of thing happened ALL THE TIME with this "doctor". Also lies. Despicable, misleading, horrible lies, from a sect of people who give a crap UNTIL a baby is born - and then say "why'd you have a baby you couldn't afford?" when a woman requests public assistance. But I digress...What I found most detestable was the casting of an actress who had actually undergone an abortion to play leading lady's bio mother. An actress turned born again Christian, should I say. This, to me, was the most horrible, victimizing, cherry-on-top-of the right wing sundae that was this movie. Because I could feel her emotion, her regret, her guilt. These film-makers used this woman in the worst way a woman can be used, and true, she allowed it. But I feel for her. I don't begrudge her whatever comfort this movie gave her. But to me, Christians live in a world of "do as I say, not as I do." I would have rather seen this woman sympathize with girls in the same position as she was than take part in a movie that vilifies them.All this being said, I feel that, minus the propaganda, this COULD have been an awesome movie. It's a great concept, that I could have gotten behind, had it been treated with some dignity and truth. But Christian movie makers tend to Disney-fy everything to the extent where it's no longer believable. Your kids make mistakes, just like the rest of the us. You don't need to set an example. We sure aren't looking to you for one.