Home Entertainment: ‘Baby Done’ digital review

Comedian Rose Matafeo and Harry Potter alumnus Matthew Lewis star in this New Zealand-set comedy from executive producer Taika Waititi, focusing on a young couple having to deal with the reality of an unplanned pregnancy. That may not sound like the most original premise in the world, but it is one that Baby Done occasionally tackles with a surprising frankness, enabling this comedy to stand apart thanks in large part to the two charming leads carrying it along the way. 

Arborists and long-term partners Zoe (Matafeo) and Tim (Lewis) very much enjoy their independent lifestyle, particularly as more and more of their friends are settling down and having families. But fate has a different path in store for the wannabe adventurers when Zoe finds out she’s pregnant, and much further along than she originally anticipated. While Tim dives headfirst into preparing for fatherhood, Zoe finds the sudden change a little harder to deal with, heading out on a path of denial as the way of life she loves is threatened to be irrevocably changed. 

Baby Done sets up its central drama very quickly. Zoe and Tim are established as young business owners who enjoy the outdoors, who are part of a network of friends in their late 20’s/early 30’s who are all changing and settling down all within the first five minutes. There isn’t a great amount of time spent with Zoe and Tim before they are met with the bombshell of their unplanned pregnancy, meaning that much of what we learn about the pair as a couple comes from their reaction to this rather big news. In these moments, it can feel as though we have been a little robbed of getting to know the pair a bit deeper, along with the chance of being able to gauge what sort of life they lead before it gets thrown a curveball. 

It does mean that as an audience we are equally left in as much of a daze by the sudden news that Zoe is pregnant as the young couple are. The film also very much realises its strength in the pairing of Matafeo and Lewis. It helps that they have a very easy going, sweet-natured chemistry, as it ends up doing a lot of the heavy lifting when it comes to filling in the gaps of the history of this relationship. They are very convincing as a couple who has got a good few years of companionship under their feet, something which helps when more melodramatic turns in the storytelling start to take precedent over the moments of more engagingly genuine relationship comedy. 

Baby Done is often at its most successful when being quite unflinching about the complicated emotions that couples can have when suddenly faced with impending parenthood. Zoe perhaps puts it best when she says “I don’t not NOT want to have a baby’. Yes, she’s excited by the idea of becoming a parent, but it never factored into her plan and ambitions to have one right now, leading to very complicated emotions around the whole situation. It is what leads her on a spiral of denial, as she stubbornly holds on to the idea that she can still go and compete in a world tree climbing competition in Canada. Tim goes the other way and starts taking everything very seriously, becoming so obsessed with getting ready that he becomes blinded to the fact that Zoe is having a difficult time coming to terms with what is going to be their new reality. 

The second act of the film takes a somewhat wobbly turn, as arguments are had and things are said that ultimately feel too contrived and designed only to ensure there’s a wedge between Zoe and Tim that needs to be overcome by the final act. It also goes into some broader and weirder areas of comedy, namely with the presence of a character who is a self-proclaimed ‘Pregophile’. It is elements like this that means that much of the middle section of the film ends up playing a little out of tune with the more successful observational approach to humour that characterises much of the earlier, more engaging parts of the film. 

It is the performances across the board though that keep it engaging, with a supporting cast made up of very funny New Zealand comedians and actors both fresh faced and recognisable. The chemistry between Lewis and Matafeo is what is the real draw here though, with Matafeo’s performance in particular standing out. Anyone who is familiar with her comedy or her series of Taskmaster will already be familiar with how charismatic a presence she is. But here, she gets to demonstrate just how natural and convincing an actress she is as well, often shouldering many of the more difficult scenes with a sense of authenticity, making Zoe an engaging lead even if some of her more selfish behaviour becomes harder to stomach as the film gives in to its more melodramatic tendencies. 

While it is never shot in a particularly fresh manner (often looking a bit like a made for TV movie), the city of Auckland in and of itself feels like a fresh backdrop for this kind of story. That coupled with Matafeo and Lewis’ pairing help Baby Done to stand as an endearingly bittersweet account of a young couple going through the motions of an unplanned pregnancy, even if it can’t quite help leaning into more formulaic territory from time to time. 

Baby Done is out now on all major digital platforms and out on DVD from 8^th February.