Babies review: Child-free couples finally have a comedy that doesnt make them a punchline

"When are you going to put a baby in there ?!" This was the question an acquaintance asked me as she grabbed my belly with both of her hands and and shook it, while a gaggle of mothers and grandmothers smiled on approvingly.

That was just the first time this happened.

While aggressive pressure to become a parent didn't always involve a near-stranger rattling my vacant uterus, it was always uncomfortable.

Thankfully, Babies has come for those of us who have endured the bizarre barrage of personal questions that come from the heteronormative assumption that all married couples must procreate.

Written and directed by Lauren Miller Rogen, and co-starring her husband Seth Rogen opposite Anna Kendrick, this hilarious comedy explores what it means to be the only child-free couple left, when all your friends have gone the breeder route.

Babies has a can't-miss meta context.

In 2021, Miller Rogen co-wrote the sidesplitting buddy comedy For A Good Time, Call… in which she starred with Ari Graynor as two twenty-somethings running a phone sex line to make a living in New York City.

First off, if you missed that movie, seek it out.

It's one of the funniest buddy comedies ever made, and criminally underseen.

Secondly, Miller Rogen takes the wit and irreverence shown in that funny film, and channels it into an exploration of what it means to consider the kids question.

Kendrick stars as the writer/director's alter ego, Annie, while Seth Rogen plays the happy-go-lucky husband, Aaron.

Fans of the Rogens will recognize some similarities, as Babies ' central couple is child-free, loves making pottery, and smoking weed.

Plus, Annie, like Miller Rogen, has a mother who's suffering from debilitating dementia.

Knowing any or all of this will enrich Babies, as it gives Annie and Aaron's inner-monologue narrations an inherently more personal feel.