Baby Boom *** (1987, Diane Keaton, Sam Shepard, Harold Ramis) – Classic Movie Review 10,387

Director Charles Shyer’s 1987 comedy Baby Boom stars Diane Keaton as J C Wiatt, a successful New York yuppie ad executive dubbed ‘The Tiger Lady’, who is suddenly confronted with a different lifestyle when she is lumbered with a baby girl as an inheritance from her dead cousin.

The star’s polished performance sustains this comic fairy tale, one of the best of 1987’s sudden rash of baby pictures.

There are plenty of laughs as Keaton’s character tries to juggle her job and parental responsibilities to the disgust of her boyfriend and boss, and there is a touch of warmth as she flees to Vermont and meets a local vet (Sam Shepard).

Also in the cast are Harold Ramis, Sam Wanamaker, James Spader, Pat Hingle, Britt Leach, Mary Gross, and Victoria Jackson.

It is written by husband and wife team Charles Shyer and Nancy Meyers (Private Benjamin, Irreconcilable Differences, Father of the Bride). Charles Shyer and Nancy Meyers (married 1980 – 1999) (divorced, two children).

A brief TV series of 13 episodes followed in 1988–1989, with Kate Jackson.

Meyers recalled: ‘Our movie is about someone who never planned on motherhood. The comedy comes from J C’s ineptness to deal with this surprise. Ten years ago, Baby Boom would have probably starred a man, because not until recently, with the great female drive toward careerism and success, would it be believable that a woman could be so ill-prepared for motherhood.’

It premiered at the Toronto Film Festival on 17 September 1987, was released in the US on 7 October 1987 and the UK on 18 March 1988.

© Derek Winnert 2020 Classic Movie Review 10,387

Check out more reviews on http://derekwinnert.com