Purely Joyful Movie!

what a terribly boring film. I'm sorry but this is absolutely not deserving of best picture and will be forgotten quickly. Entertaining and engaging cinema? No. Nothing performances with flat faces and mistaking silence for subtlety.

All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

One of the most extraordinary films you will see this year. Take that as you want.

I was actually disappointed in Nancy Savoca's "24-Hour Woman" starring the ever wonderful Rosie Perez, though I didn't tell local movie reviewer/ex-Mayor Ed Koch that when he walked in for the next showing with a sour face as if he already expected it to be bad. I told him it was enjoyable, which it was. I avoided seeing "Parenthood" and "Baby Boom" so I don't know if this in fact raises different, more authentic issues. Certainly tossed off lines are quite accurate and very funny, and are reflective of the thank you at the end of the credits to the many people who shared their "war stories" with the writers. (I guess I'm not the only one who felt like a POW at home with a baby who wouldn't sleep.)But Savoca didn't reach far enough. While the secondary character does have school-age kids, hardly any attention is paid to the child care etc. problems of that age, as opposed to the baby woes of the lead, which in fact have been dealt with much more in popular entertainment, such as "Mad About You" (I always remind people that they are not just having a baby but having a person; babyhood is a very small percentage of the lifetime you're responsible for 24-7.) Perez unrealistically working in a glamorous job is used for funny effect in the climax and also is the opportunity for deft jabs at talk shows and the media, but she's also working surrounded by women, mostly mothers in fact, so other issues aren't dealt with as well. So it seems to be the intent to just deal with a few issues, amusingly enough, but with no new insights, but at least some clichés are avoided (I thought all such movies had to include infidelity, but I think they wanted to challenge the Latin lover macho cliché, and there's also a very positive black father).It just feels a few years old. And this is certainly the kind of movie where it's hopeless to expect a quiet audience as everyone talks back to what's happening on screen. This movie is less for parents to whom it will be like being back home than for those contemplating parenthood in the future. Ah but will there be a run on birth control pills after this?(originally written 2/15/1999)

Yes, this is a "woman's film." One of the other male reviewers condescendingly said that this is woman's film that women should watch. Excuse me, but I don't think women, especially working moms, or anyone raised by a working mom, would need to watch it, except for vindication. This IS their life. On the other hand, I think men would benefit from watching this film. It might generate some empathy for the demands put on working mothers that are never put on men, no matter how enlightened we may regard ourselves. Rosie Perez is perfectly cast, and she is marvelous.

Rosie Perez has been in great films: "Fearless" (Oscar nominations), "It Could Happen to You," and "The Twenty-Four Hour Woman." In this film, Perez is wonderful as a producer who juggles a man, a job, and pregnancy in her 30s. With a competent supporting cast including Marianne Jean-Baptiste, Karen Duffy, and Aida Turturro, this film, with a delightful screenplay and a highly-overlooked and exceptional leading lady, is one not to miss. (7/10)

It squanders an opportunity to be about the class differences between a working-class Black woman (Jean-Baptiste) and her boss (Rosie Perez, who despite the cast list above, is the focus of the entire film) and settles for all the cliches about juggling work and family duty. It's directed incompetently, worst than most television programs, with an inbalanced story structure and lazy, imprecise screenplay.