With the sure hands of executive producer Taika Waititi supervising the delivery, Baby, Done offers an typically Kiwi spin on the we’re-having-a-baby genre, powered by the awkward-girl charms of standup star (and Edinburgh Comedy Award winner) Rose Matafeo. Matafeo’s Zoe is an outdoorsy tree-lopper by trade, a business she runs with her sensitive British boyfriend Tim (Matthew Lewis). Getting pregnant doesn’t factor into her plans, which include competing in the upcoming World Tree Climbing Championships in British Columbia. So when the test comes back positive, she’s in denial (“It’s a tapeworm,” she declares). Tim, meanwhile, flips into hyper-cautious dad mode and is appalled that Rose would want to spend their last few months of freedom partying, bungee jumping and playing hooky on antenatal classes.
One of the unexpected heroes of the Harry Potter series – who didn’t cheer when Neville Longbottom manned up at the climax of Deathly Hallows? – Lewis slots neatly into this Antipodean romcom that inverts the Judd Apatow cliché of the man-child who needs to take some responsibility (see Knocked Up et al). He’s the grown-up in this relationship, while Zoe is mired in a protracted adolescence, egged on by her child-averse social justice warrior bestie Molly (Emily Barclay). Curtis Vowell’s feature follow-up to Fantail (again scripted by Sophie Henderson) may ultimately drink the Kool-aid when it comes to the joys of motherhood, but it’s most alive when its lanky breakout star behaves badly: going on a revenge date with ‘pregaphile’ Brian (Nic Sampson), having simulated sex at a children’s party, and arguing with doctors over how pregnant is too pregnant to get on a longhaul flight. Expect to see Matafeo joining the Hollywood comedy repertory imminently.
Out in Australia now. Available on VOD in the UK Jan 22.