‘Babies’ Review: Anna Kendrick Is a Comic Dynamo Alongside Seth Rogen in a Sparkling Portrait of a Couple Weighing the Pros and Cons of Parenthood

To be or not to be … parents. That is the thorny question raised in Lauren Miller Rogen’s Babies , an astute charmer about a happy, supportive Los Angeles couple ( Anna Kendrick and Seth Rogen ) who, after 17 years of togetherness, begin wondering if they might be missing a bouncing bundle of something in their lives.

Maybe it was all the times they heard friends with kids tell them, “You guys would be such great parents,” but Annie and Aaron suddenly find themselves addressing a topic they hadn’t really ever officially signed off on in the past. Related Stories Movies Toronto: Seth Rogen Shares Secret to Hollywood Success: "I Was Lucky Coming Up" Toronto Rising Star Kaelen Ohm Talks Bringing Inner Extreme Skier to Film Roles: "I Want to Find the Steeper Hill to Go Down" Babies The Bottom Line A genuine crowd-tickler. Venue: Toronto International Film Festival (Gala Presentations) Cast: Anna Kendrick, Seth Rogen, Issa Rae, Dan Stevens, Kate Berlant, Zach Cherry, Ed Helms, Ashley Park, Sharon Stone, David Strathairn Director-screenwriter: Lauren Miller Rogen 1 hour 37 minutes

Drawing from aspects of her own life, Miller, in her second directorial effort following 2018’s Like Father , taps into a reservoir of considerable relevance here, finding plenty of fertile comic ground in the subject matter but never at the expense of weightier questions surrounding life choices, human existence and the uncertain state of society.

With an especially terrific Kendrick serving as Miller’s onscreen surrogate, Babies should have no problem finding an adoring audience when it lands in theaters via Roadside Attractions and Vertical sometime next year.

The consideration first presents itself at a Fourth of July pool party where Annie (Kendrick) and Aaron (Rogen) feel outnumbered by all the family units surrounding them. That launches Annie into the first in a series of inner monologues, as she acerbically takes stock of the pros and cons of parenthood based on the disparate sample set on display.