“Kinda Pregnant” deserves a more accurate title – “When Amy Met Adam.”
The film fuses Amy Schumer’s rah-rah feminism with Adam Sandler’s Happy Madison shtick. The result? A fitfully amusing comedy that never delivers belly laughs but wins us over with it sweet underbelly.
Blame Schumer’s on-screen romance with Will Forte, a bond blossoming around one kinda huge fib.
Schumer stars as Lainy, a 40-something whose longtime beau (Damon Wayans, Jr.) wants a threesome, not wedded bliss.
Meanwhile, her very best friend Kate (Jillian Bell) is pregnant, and Lainy can’t help but feel envious. It’s everything she wants but life has other plans.
One wacky twist later, and suddenly Lainy is pretending to be pregnant. As Maxwell Smart might say, “And … loving it.”
Strangers give up their seats on the subway. People say she’s glowing. And she meets a new bestie (Brianne Howey) who is legitimately pregnant. Even better? She has a handsome brother whom Lainy previously met in a meet-cute coffee shop moment.
That’s Forte as Josh, a Zamboni driver who seems as emotionally adrift as Lainy. Could this be a Love Connection, or will Lainy’s huge secret get in the way?
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Schumer co-wrote “Kinda Pregnant,” and it couldn’t be more obvious. The film plays to her strengths – frequent bursts of rage between feminist bromides. The latter get painted on too thickly at times, but in some sequences show just how hard pregnancy can be.
It’s not all baby showers and crib assemblies. There’s vomit, endless urination and extreme self-doubt.
All of the above adds texture to a movie that often traffics in Sandler-esque broadsides. Schumer is game for just that kind of silliness, and her comic style makes some of the gags click.
Some, mind you.
It helps that Urzila Carlson brings a welcome edge as Lainy’s co-worker. She’s constantly sucking on a vape pen and pressuring her colleague to do the right thing. Or get out of the way.
It varies from scene to scene, but it’s often funny.
“Kinda Pregnant” stumbles over some rom-com cliches, and seeing Lainy repeatedly fall on her faux baby bump gets old fast. Director Tyler Spindel (“The Wrong Missy”) mines some genuinely warm moments to bring humanity to Lainy’s big, fat lie.
The main character’s sense of isolation is palpable and unforced. Schumer can be an effective dramatic actress when called upon.
Plus, watching Josh read to his nephew is a minor joy. Forte has never been more approachable on screen.
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That Lainy-Josh pairing makes “Kinda Pregnant” worthwhile. You’d think Lainy reading him an Anne Sexton poem would be stuffy, at best. Instead, it leads to one of the better first-screen kisses in recent memory.
The film’s sole sex scene could have gone for Sandler-sized laughs. Instead, it plays out in a more gentle fashion, echoing how women often feel insecure about their bodies. The sequence wraps with the film’s biggest laugh, one that’s absurd and oddly appropriate.
Happy Madison films require top-flight casts, a steady stream of yuks and a dollop of heart to win us over. Not all manage that feat, gliding on a sea of crude sight gags. “Kinda Pregnant” shows the production shingle may be growing up. A little.
HiT or Miss: “Kinda Pregnant” finds small charms in Amy Schumer’s quest for love and motherhood.
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