Maybe Baby ** (2000, Hugh Laurie, Joely Richardson, Rowan Atkinson, Emma Thompson, Adrian Lester, James Purefoy, Tom Hollander, Joanna Lumley, Matthew Macfadyen) – Classic Movie Review 4877

Writer-director Ben Elton’s strained 2000 BBC Films comedy is based on his own novel Inconceivable and marks the funny stand-up comedian’s directorial debut. It stars Hugh Laurie and Joely Richardson as Sam and Lucy Bell, an infertile married couple desperate to have a baby.

The world of IVF fertility treatment makes an uncomfortable subject for comedy and the TV background is exploited for the most obvious of a laughs that are unworthy of Elton.

The British all-star comedy cast tries as it might, but just cannot raise the heat on Elton’s chilly comedy script.

Also in the cast are Rowan Atkinson, Emma Thompson, Adrian Lester, James Purefoy, Tom Hollander, Joanna Lumley, Rachel Stirling, Matthew Macfadyen, Yasmin Bannerman, Dave Thompson and Stephen Simms.

© Derek Winnert 2017 Classic Movie Review 4877

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