* — Some won’t find this movie funny because they’ll be too caught up in what the Right Wing movement tells them to think.
I’ll go ahead and address the elephant in the room about Obvious, the main character (Donna) gets pregnant from a one-night stand and chooses to have an abortion. This is the more plausible scenario than the modestly funny Knocked Up (remove Katherine Heigl, it would improve) or Juno. Having a child is expensive and America doesn’t make the task feasible even for married couples unless they’re uber wealthy with a staff of domestics, aka, the political class and dot-com con artists of America.
The reality is that Donna’s abortion is only one piece of the bigger story, herself and how she copes with everything crashing down on her at once. She’s a struggling stand-up comedian who gets dumped by her boyfriend. The breakup stings, especially when the other woman was a friend. Then the bookstore she works at to get by is being kicked out in six weeks, unemployment is now on the horizon.
It culminates into drinking excessively and performing a nasty, unfunny set a week later.
Max enters the picture. He’s an alien in Williamsburg (unless you’ve been under a rock, it’s Ground Zero for Hipsters in New York) visiting the area due to his client wanting to see Brooklyn. Donna and Max hit it off with the expected culmination followed by Donna’s soul searching when she confirms her pregnancy; discusses it with best friend, her mother and skirts around it with her father.
Some may say the movie ends abruptly. I disagree. Unlike other American tent-pole/rom-com crap, Obvious picks the best time, let the audience decide what occurs afterwards.
Other elements I liked. David Cross’ cameo as a more experienced comedian. The little breaks with reality Donna has when waiting for results or reviewing past events. Donna’s wit is more realistic too. It’s the sudden zingers in conversation, not the staged wordplay Hollywood prefers. Lastly, the film was written and produced by women so it’s more truthful about the aftermath. Having been a secondary/tertiary participant in a similar ordeal in 1986, I completely agree, the person who had the procedure went to be a normal human being contrary to the religious horse crap touted.