Jackson Booth-Millard
I had heard the title of this movie a few times, I knew it was about talking baby, I knew one or two of the stars, and I knew it followed with two not as good sequels, so I finally got to trying it when I got the opportunity, directed by Amy Heckerling (Fast Times at Ridgemont High, Clueless). Basically in New York, career-minded accountant Mollie Jensen (Kirstie Alley) has an affair with her client, executive Albert (George Segal), a womaniser who is a married with two children. When Mollie becomes pregnant, she and Albert keep their indiscretion secret, under the idea that she was artificially inseminated, Albert says he will leave his wife and two children for her. But then he is caught fooling around with his interior designer Melissa (Joy Boushel), Mollie leaves upset, and immediately goes into labour. She gets into a taxi, driver James Ubriacco (John Travolta) speeds through the city to get to the hospital in time, and inadvertently becomes witness to the birth of Mollie's son. The baby is named Michael, or "Mikey", and ever since his conception, he has been making commentary on his life, he interacts with everything through an inner wisecracking voice (Bruce Willis), which he also uses to communicate with other babies. Hoping to get her life back on track, Mollie becomes a dedicated single mother, rejecting several men in a search to find a new father figure, dismissing them for quirks that may reflect badly on Mikey. Mollie meets James again, he has moved into the apartment building in order to find his grandfather Vincent (Abe Vigoda) a nice care home, she occasionally asks him to babysit. There is an instance where she takes the baby to the airport, where James is a part-time pilot, she takes a nap, Mikey is taken by James, she into a panic thinking he has been kidnapped. A year passes, Mikey has grown a little, James realises his feelings for Mollie, he deliberately sabotages one of her dates, she also realises the bond between him and Mikey, she decides to give him a chance. James has found his grandfather a care home, he takes Mollie to flying lessons, she realises she is falling for him, but when they become intimate, she imagines their life together and resists, then James tells her he loves her, but she says she wants what is best for Mikey and kicks him out. Back at work, Mollie's boss insists she and Albert work together, Albert wants to see Mikey, she agrees, but when he visits, he meets James and they get into an argument. James asks Mollie if she loves Albert, she claims she does not know, James suggests he is closest thing to a father Mikey has. But Mollie tells him that he is like a big kid and is not responsible enough to be a father, James calls her out for using Mikey to push men away including himself and he storms out. At the playground, Mikey talks to other children, they tell him what "daddies" are, he realises he wants James as his daddy, James later comes to the apartment to tell Mikey he will not be around anymore, Mollie overhears him pouring his heart out on the baby monitor, Mikey says he will miss James too. Mollie takes Mikey to the office for Albert to meet him, but he claims he does not want the responsibility of being a father, Mollie realises he has not changed, she and Mikey ruin several pieces of furniture before storming out, putting Albert out of their lives for good. Mollie receives a call from Vincent's care home, telling her that's James's grandfather is disruptive and abusive to staff, she helps to clear up the error with involving a stash of chocolate given to him. James arrives, and he and Mollie make up, meanwhile Mikey wanders off on his own, searching for James, he is taken away in a car while Mollie and James frantically search for him. Mollie and James eventually spot him and give chase, until Mikey is standing in the middle of heavy traffic, James and Mollie take him to safety, where Mikey unofficially asks James to be his father by saying his first word "dada". James and Mollie realise that Mikey already sees James as his father, they decide to give it a chance, kissing passionately, while Mikey decides to wait to tell them he needs a diaper change, and nine months later, Mollie gives birth to a baby daughter Julie (voiced by Joan Rivers), who makes her first wisecracking comment. Also starring Olympia Dukakis as Rosie, Christopher Aydon as Mikey (age 2 years), Jacob Haines as Mikey (age 1 year), Jaryd Waterhouse as Mikey (age 6 months), Jason Schaller as Mikey (fetus-newborn) and Twink Caplan as Rona. Travolta had only one or two passable films before this one, most others being flops, this brought him back into the limelight (five years before Pulp Fiction made him massive), Alley is likeable, she and Travolta are a pleasant couple, despite her not realising he is the right guy all along, it is Willis that gets the best lines throughout the movie, making baby-based gags. It is a fairly clever concept, a wiesecracking baby only heard by the audience, it is predictable in terms of the story itself, but I can see I suppose why it became a hit movie, hence spawning the daft sequels, all in all an amusing and fun enough comedy. Worth watching!
