She's Having a Baby | |
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Directed by | John Hughes |
Written by | John Hughes |
Produced by | John Hughes Bill Brown Ronald Colby |
Starring | |
Cinematography | Donald Peterman |
Edited by | Alan Heim |
Music by | Stewart Copeland |
Production company | |
Distributed by | Paramount Pictures |
Release date |
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Running time | 106 minutes |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Budget | $20 million [1] |
Box office | $16 million (domestic) [2] |
She's Having a Baby is a 1988 American romantic comedy film directed and written by John Hughes and starring Kevin Bacon and Elizabeth McGovern. It tells the story of a young newlywed couple who try to cope with married life and their parents' expectations. The film was met with mixed reviews.
This film looks at the lives of Jefferson "Jake" and Kristy Briggs, from their wedding day until the birth of their first child, mostly through Jake's eyes, with his voiceover commentaries and several imaginary scenes. Before their wedding day, Jake asks his best friend Davis McDonald if he thinks Jake will be happy to which Davis says, "Yeah, you'll be happy. You just won't know it."
After their wedding, Jake and Kristy head for New Mexico, where Jake works toward gaining a master's degree, though he leaves before finishing. They return to Chicago, where Jake is hired as an advertising copywriter. Kristy is hired as a research analyst, and they buy a house in the suburbs.
Jake feels pressure from his parents, society, and his wife to grow up and have a child. Later, Kristy informs Jake that she stopped taking contraceptives without telling him. After several months, they discover that the reason she hasn't gotten pregnant is because Jake has a low sperm count.
After not seeing Jake and Kristy for two years, Davis visits unexpectedly with a girlfriend who Kristy disapproves of. Jake invites them to stay, much to Kristy's chagrin and Davis tells Jake that Kristy is holding him back. Meanwhile, Jake fantasizes about having an affair with a mysterious young French model though, when the opportunity looks to be presenting itself, he can't bring himself to do it.
Upon visiting after another long absence, Davis confesses that his father has died. Jake and Kristy are supportive, but things take a turn when Davis makes a pass at Kristy. She turns him down, telling him that she is in love with Jake.
The couple begins a fertility program, which succeeds. During a traumatic labor in which it is discovered the baby is in a breech position with its head caught in the birth canal, Jake must leave the delivery room. He worries about losing Kristy, realizing that his lack of satisfaction in life was due to his own selfishness and immaturity.
The last scene reveals that Jake's voiceover was the new father reading his novel entitled She's Having a Baby to his wife and son. During the credits, Jake and Kristy talk about what to name their son as a montage of family members, people they know, Roman Craig, Chet Ripley, and Buck Ripley from the following film The Great Outdoors , Ferris Bueller from Ferris Bueller's Day Off , and an assortment of different actors pitching their suggestions of boy names is shown before settling on the name Christopher.
Besides some of the characters mentioned above, the following appear in the end credits pitching their ideas of boy names for Jake and Kristy's son where they are all uncredited:
The film was shot in Winnetka, Illinois, and Evanston, Illinois, from September 1986 to December 1986. [3] However, several scenes were shot directly in the Field Museum in Chicago, Illinois. Most of John Hughes's films either take place in Chicago or the suburbs of Chicago, or are about people going to or coming from Chicago. Cathryn Damon died of ovarian cancer before the film's release and thus appeared posthumously.
She's Having a Baby | |
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Soundtrack album by Various Artists | |
Released | 1988 |
Genre | Rock, new wave |
Length | 37:10 |
Label | I.R.S. / MCA |
Review scores | |
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Source | Rating |
AllMusic | [4] |
The soundtrack album of She's Having a Baby was released in 1988 on I.R.S. Records label and produced by Dave Wakeling. The song during the birth sequence is "This Woman's Work" by Kate Bush and is featured on her 1989 album The Sensual World . John Hughes is thanked in the album's liner notes. The song playing during the trailer is "Music for a Found Harmonium" by the Penguin Cafe Orchestra. The song played during the street party is "How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved by You)" by Marvin Gaye.
In the video for Dave Wakeling's title song, he performs alongside a female backup singer; behind them, a huge screen displays various clips from the movie. All of this is alternated with footage of Wakeling as he shops at a music store for guitars.
The film received mixed reviews from critics and has 44% positive reviews on Rotten Tomatoes based on 45 reviews. The site's consensus states: "Kevin Bacon and Elizabeth McGovern struggle to sustain a spark in She's Having a Baby, a blasé adult romance that lacks the specificity and style of writer-director John Hughes' more successful forays into teenage angst." [5] Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times gave She's Having a Baby a mixed 2 stars out of 4. He wrote that the film "begins with the simplest and most moving of stories and interrupts it with an amazing assortment of gimmicks," being salvaged only by strong performances from Bacon and McGovern. [6] In An Evening with Kevin Smith 2: Evening Harder director Kevin Smith cites She's Having a Baby as his favorite Hughes film. He also cites it as a template for Jersey Girl , joking that both films were financially unsuccessful.
Kevin Norwood Bacon is an American actor. Known for his leading man and character roles, Bacon has received numerous accolades, including a Golden Globe Award, a Screen Actors Guild Award, and a nomination for a Primetime Emmy Award.
Ferris Bueller's Day Off is a 1986 American teen comedy film written, co-produced, and directed by John Hughes. The film stars Matthew Broderick, Mia Sara, and Alan Ruck, with supporting roles from Jennifer Grey, Jeffrey Jones, Cindy Pickett, Edie McClurg, Lyman Ward, and Charlie Sheen. It tells the story of a charismatic high school slacker, Ferris, who skips school with his best friend Cameron and his girlfriend Sloane for a day in Chicago, regularly breaking the fourth wall to explain his techniques and inner thoughts.
John Wilden Hughes Jr. was an American filmmaker, producer, and screenwriter. He began his career in 1970 as an author of humorous essays and stories for the National Lampoon magazine. He went on in Hollywood to write, produce, and direct some of the most successful live-action comedy films of the 1980s and 1990s. He directed, wrote or produced such films as Sixteen Candles, The Breakfast Club, Weird Science, Ferris Bueller's Day Off, Planes, Trains and Automobiles, She's Having a Baby, and Uncle Buck, and wrote the films National Lampoon's Vacation, Mr. Mom, National Lampoon's European Vacation, Pretty in Pink, The Great Outdoors, National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation, Home Alone, Dutch, and Beethoven.
Little Darlings is a 1980 American teen comedy-drama film starring Tatum O'Neal and Kristy McNichol and featuring Armand Assante and Matt Dillon. It was directed by Ronald F. Maxwell. The screenplay was written by Kimi Peck and Dalene Young and the original music score was composed by Charles Fox. The film was marketed with the tagline "Don't let the title fool you", a reference to a scene in which the character of Angel tells Randy, "Don't let the name fool you."
Lyman Ward is a Canadian actor best known for his roles in Creature (1984), Ferris Bueller's Day Off (1986), and Milk and Honey (1988).
Richard E. Roeper is an American columnist and film critic for the Chicago Sun-Times. He co-hosted the television series At the Movies with Roger Ebert from 2000 to 2008, serving as the late Gene Siskel's successor. From 2010 to 2014, he co-hosted The Roe and Roeper Show with Roe Conn on WLS-AM. From October 2015 to October 2017, Roeper served as the host of the FOX 32 morning show Good Day Chicago.
Alan Douglas Ruck is an American actor. He is best known for portraying Cameron Frye in John Hughes' film Ferris Bueller's Day Off (1986), as well as television roles as Stuart Bondek on the ABC sitcom Spin City (1996–2002) and Connor Roy on the HBO series Succession (2018–2023), the latter earning him Primetime Emmy and Golden Globe Award nominations. His other film credits include Bad Boys (1983), Three Fugitives (1989), Young Guns II (1990), Speed (1994), Star Trek Generations (1994), and Twister (1996).
Jennifer Grey is an American actress. She made her acting debut with the film Reckless (1984), and had her breakthrough with the teen comedy film Ferris Bueller's Day Off (1986). She subsequently earned worldwide fame for starring as Frances "Baby" Houseman in the romantic drama film Dirty Dancing (1987), which earned her a Golden Globe Award nomination. Her other feature films include Red Dawn (1984), The Cotton Club (1984), Bloodhounds of Broadway (1989), Bounce (2000), Redbelt (2008), The Wind Rises (2013), In Your Eyes (2014), Duck Duck Goose (2018), Bittersweet Symphony (2019), and A Real Pain (2024).
Kristy Swanson is an American actress. She is best recognized for having played Buffy Summers in the 1992 film Buffy the Vampire Slayer and appeared in the 1996 film The Phantom.
If I Forget Thee, Jerusalem is a novel by the American author William Faulkner published in 1939. The novel was originally published under the title The Wild Palms, which is the title of one of the two interwoven stories. This title was chosen by the publishers, Random House, over the objections of Faulkner's choice of a title. Subsequent editions have since been printed under the title If I Forget Thee Jerusalem, and since 2003 it is now usually referred to by both names, with the newer title following the historically first published title and in brackets, to avoid confusion: The Wild Palms [If I Forget Thee, Jerusalem].
Not Another Teen Movie is a 2001 American teen parody film directed by Joel Gallen and written by Mike Bender, Adam Jay Epstein, Andrew Jacobson, Phil Beauman, and Buddy Johnson. It features Chyler Leigh, Chris Evans, Jaime Pressly, Eric Christian Olsen, Eric Jungmann, Mia Kirshner, Deon Richmond, Cody McMains, Sam Huntington, Samm Levine, Cerina Vincent, Ron Lester, Randy Quaid, Lacey Chabert, Riley Smith and Samaire Armstrong.
Stir of Echoes is a 1999 American supernatural horror film written and directed by David Koepp and based on the 1958 novel by Richard Matheson. The film stars Kevin Bacon, Kathryn Erbe, Illeana Douglas and Kevin Dunn.
Edie McClurg is an American retired actress and comedian. She has played supporting roles in the films Carrie (1976), Ferris Bueller's Day Off (1986), and Elvira: Mistress of the Dark (1988), and bit parts in Cheech and Chong's Next Movie (1980), Mr. Mom (1983) Back to School (1986), Planes, Trains and Automobiles (1987), A River Runs Through It (1992), Natural Born Killers (1994), Flubber (1997), and Air Bud: Spikes Back (2003).
Ferris Bueller is an American sitcom television series based on the 1986 John Hughes film Ferris Bueller's Day Off. The show stars Charlie Schlatter in the title role. The series debuted on August 23, 1990, on NBC and was canceled within its first season, a few months after its debut with only 13 episodes aired, due to its poor reception. The show was produced by Maysh, Ltd. Productions in association with Paramount Television. Hughes was not involved in the show's production.
The Great Outdoors is a 1988 American comedy film directed by Howard Deutch, written and produced by John Hughes, and starring Dan Aykroyd and John Candy with supporting roles by Stephanie Faracy, Annette Bening, Chris Young, Lucy Deakins, and Robert Prosky. The film is about two families spending a vacation at a fictional resort town in northern Wisconsin. Before The Great Outdoors appeared in theaters, Aykroyd, Candy, and Young portrayed their roles during the end credits of She's Having a Baby where they are among the people that pitch the idea names for the baby son of Jake and Kristy.
Charlie Schlatter is an American actor who has appeared in several films and television series. He is best known for his role as Dr. Jesse Travis, the resident student of Dr. Mark Sloan on the CBS series Diagnosis: Murder. Since the 1990s, he has continued to work mainly as a voice actor, with roles such as the Flash in various media, the titular character on Kick Buttowski: Suburban Daredevil and Wonder-Red in The Wonderful 101.
"Oh Yeah" is a single released in 1985 by the band Yello and featured on their album Stella. The song features a mix of electronic music and manipulated vocals. The song gained popularity after being featured in the films Ferris Bueller's Day Off and The Secret of My Success, among other films. It is a popular staple in pop culture.
"This Woman's Work" is a song written and performed by the English singer-songwriter Kate Bush. It was initially featured on the soundtrack of the American film She's Having a Baby (1988). The song was released as the second single from her album The Sensual World in 1989 and peaked at 25 in the UK Singles Chart.
The Ben Rose House is a private residence designed by modernist architect A. James Speyer, a student of Ludwig Mies van der Rohe and built in the Chicago suburb of Highland Park, Illinois in 1953.
The following is a list of unproduced John Hughes projects in roughly chronological order. Over the course of his career, American film director and writer John Hughes had worked on a number of projects which never progressed beyond the pre-production stage. Some of these productions fell into development hell or were officially cancelled, while others he decidedly dropped himself.