Forgotten Film Friday: Unpregnant

A review by Azzam Abdur-Rahman

When I was a young bucks I used to obsess over the films made by the Asylum. If you don’t know who in gods green earth I am talking about I’ll say one word “Sharknado” before Sci-Fi snatched them up to make low budget originals they were gaming bad moms at Blockbuster making cheap versions of blockbusters they called mock busters. The movies were made on shoestring budgets and tried to deliver something in the vein of the films they “borrowed” from. This was a Rodger Corman factory if I had ever seen one. So it’s not shocking a great director who can deliver films on time and well under budget but make them good would come from that hellscape.

Unpregnant is the 10th film from director Rachel Lee Goldenburg and god damn does it show that she cut her teeth making shit cinematic with nothing. A buddy comedy about two friends driving to get one an abortion shouldn’t be fun. It shouldn’t have energy too it. It should feel like the stakes are always high but in a fun way. This is the woman who made Valley Girl a low-key amazing Musical as a Remake. This is the woman who made a deadly serious Lifetime movie staring Will Ferrel and Kristian Wiig. Her chops are insane and I feel like this movie like her others will go ignored.

Unpregnant is fun, it’s first act is fast and snappy. It’s 2nd act turns into an action film and it’s 3rd act a drama while still remaining a comedy all the way. The acting is incredible with Haley Lu Richardson and Barbie Ferreria just sharing chemistry in a way actors rarely get from partners. Amazing actors show up and just get up have fun because these girls are doing all the heavy lifting.

So, is this movie forgotten? Yes, unlike other films it’s is lost because of the streaming hellscape we have entered and will likely never get the love it needs and deserves. So if you have HBOMax and wants fun evening watching two girls fall back into a friendship they forgot about give Unpregnant a shot!

Comments

John Travolta month: Saturday Night Fever

A retrospective by Brooks Rich So this was not the big start of John Travolta's career. That would be the classic sitcom Welcome Back, Kotter. But this did elevate Travolta to another level. For any of you going oh come on. This silly movie with a disco soundtrack? Come on, Brooks. Just wait. Have you ever actually seen this? This isn't about disco. Disco just happens to be the music of choice. This about the kind of people who are kings at the dance clubs and then losers the rest of the time. There is a lot of darkness and truth in this film. So if you've never seen it please. Do yourself a flavor and check it out. Just watch it and then come back to read this. This is a movie about the different types of people we become between our real lives and our weekend lives. Tony Manero is a regular working class guy in a Brooklyn neighborhood, struggling to make ends meet and dealing with his loving but at times overbearing family. He lives in the shadow of his priest brother. ...

John Travolta month

Get your dancing shoes on! Order a Royale with Cheese! Blow millions in an overblown sci-fi disaster built around a weird Hollywood religion! Because for the month of June we are discussing the filmography of the one and only John Travolta. A man saved from being a laughing stock in the early '90s by a director making one of the greatest American masterpiece. A man who then had a stunning run of films before blowing all his goodwill not once but twice. But we of course do not disparage the great John Travolta. We want to celebrate him like we do with all of our monthly subjects.

Forgotten Film Friday: Melinda and Melinda

A retrospective by Brooks Rich I know Woody Allen is a complicated figure. He is a creep in a lot of ways and some people find his sexual weirdness to be too much. I get that. But on the blog I sometimes like to separate the art from artist. Not always to be sure. Jeepers Creepers will never be covered here because Victor Salva is a useless piece of human garbage. What he did I can't ignore. Allen I can push aside him being weird to cover him now and then. It's hard to write a film blog and not mention a Woody Allen film now and then. The man has some bangers. And I've always wanted to cover this film. The concept is so interesting and Allen post 2000 is fertile ground for Forgotten Film Friday. So let's look at the film and not Allen himself. Melinda and Melinda is a dual narrative about a woman named Melinda, an underrated and brilliant Radha Mitchell, who shows up unexpectedly at a dinner party in New York. The film questions if life is inherently tragic or comic a...

Cinema Basement

Search This Blog