Who knew pretending to be pregnant could be so easy? Lindsey Lohan pulled it off effortlessly in her 2009 movie "Labor Pains" directed by Lara Shapiro. Thea (Lindsay Lohan) is left struggling to care for her little sister Emma (Bridget Mendler) after both their parents die in a car crash. Thea Clayhill is the reckless secretary of arrogant publisher Jerry Steinwald. When Jerry fires her for allowing his dog to eat soap it results in Thea lying and telling him she is four months pregnant. Regardless, Jerry believes her and allows her to stay. When Thea receives special attention for being pregnant she realizes she likes her life better that way, so with the help of her friend Lisa and a foam baby bump Thea keeps up the ruse for as long as she can. This movie's plot is all over the place and very unbelievable, for her stomach is extremely flat yet without any form of proof of her claim the entire office believes her without a second thought.
It'd be easy to comment on how Lindsay Lohan's and her career have gone from the A-list to struggling star. With the release of Labor Pains, she's officially on the direct-to-DVD list. That in itself isn't a bad thing as an increasing number of films are going this route but the movie really is that bad and no distribution method could have saved it. And that's too bad because there was some solid potential for the film's premise. It just truly felt like all those involved in the production of Labor Pains were there to pass time rather than make something great or just plain entertaining.
Labor Pains plays it so straight that it's truly hard to gauge what it's trying to say, even if it's not trying to say anything at all. There's too much going on in the story to make me think the original concept was to make a mindless comedy but the final film shows a frustrating follow through in almost every respect. As a result, Labor Pains is a painful bore.
By bringing up things and not going through with them, it leaves much in the air. For example, Thea starts the film with a boyfriend and all of a sudden she breaks it off even though he's supportive of her and doesn't make any colossal screw-ups. An on-the-fly script change perhaps to allow for more of a romantic comedy spin, perhaps? And there's Jerry, another important part of the early script who disappears for much of the second and third acts before dropping by at the end. So much time is spent early on establishing these two as important parts of Thea yet they're ultimately wasted in the final product. One, at least, serves as a plot point. But this could have been done in a much faster and streamlined fashion, which would have opened up a little room to look at at least one of the many unexplored parts that are raised.
Labor Pains feels like it suffers from a lack of passion. There's nothing that stands out in any way from the script to the directing to the acting. I can't speak for those involved with it but I got a very real sense of apathy from the final product just by watching it. And for me, it's really hard to get behind something when you don't think those on the front lines are behind it either.
Review of Labor Pains
