October Baby 2011

Mark Feeney, Boston Globe: "October Baby" looks and feels like a Lifetime movie waiting not to happen. Read more

Jeannette Catsoulis, New York Times: Like the bloodied placards brandished by demonstrators outside women's health clinics, the film communicates in the language of guilt and fear. Read more

Alison Willmore, AV Club: This isn't a movie; this is propaganda for the already converted. Read more

Bill Goodykoontz, Arizona Republic: Directors Andrew and Jon Erwin, who also contributed to the story, rarely let their film get didactic, instead going for a more low-key approach. Read more

Tom Long, Detroit News: "October Baby" doesn't even meet the standards of decent propaganda. It is, in fact, indecent propaganda. Read more

Frank Scheck, Hollywood Reporter: [An] earnest, faith-based drama, which lacks sufficient entertainment value to make its message go down more palatably. Read more

Gary Goldstein, Los Angeles Times: A film whose poignancy is hard to deny whatever side of the abortion debate you fall on. Read more

Kyle Smith, New York Post: "October Baby" may be well-intentioned, but it's as obvious and inert as a spoonful of mashed potatoes. Read more

Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times: The film as a whole is amateurish and ungainly, can't find a consistent tone, is too long, is overladen with music that tries to paraphrase the story and is photographed with too many beauty shots that slow the progress. Read more

Andrew O'Hehir, Salon.com: The odds that this has happened in the real world approach those of being struck by lightning and eaten by a shark at the same time. With a winning lottery ticket tucked in your swimsuit. Read more

Colin Covert, Minneapolis Star Tribune: The closer Hannah gets to her goal, the more insistent the sermonizing becomes. By the time she confronts the woman who rejected her (a careerist lawyer), we are neck-deep in Lifetime TV bathos. Read more

Joe Williams, St. Louis Post-Dispatch: Trafficking in 2-D morality and unlikely to be seen by the unconverted, "October Baby" would have been better off as a bumper sticker. Read more

Joe Leydon, Variety: Newcomer Rachel Hendrix grabs attention and sustains sympathy as a lovely yet troubled 19-year-old student determined to unlock the secrets of her past. Read more

Michelle Orange, Village Voice: A slick piece of pro-life propaganda, it has relatively luxe production values, painfully earnest performances, and a drippy "inspirational" score. Read more

Stephanie Merry, Washington Post: Extended scenes are dominated by heavy dialogue, while the lighter moments are relegated to montages of prancing across a beach, for example, which simply aren't that effective at buoying the drama. Read more