Read Time:2 Minute, 5 Second
In Casa de los Babys, six very different women are thrown
together because of the one thing they share—the desire to adopt a baby. All of them
have traveled from the States to a hotel in South America known by locals as “Casa de los
Babys”—the place where rich Americans come to adopt (buy) South American children. Many
have been there for months, lounging by the pool, buying trinkets in the market, and
generally being waited on while they wade through the red tape.
Leslie
(Lili Taylor) is an editor in New York who’s given up on men, though she’s only in her
early thirties (and many of the other women think she’s gay). Nan (Marcia Gay Harden),
known as “The Lady in 214” to the staff, is bossy and demanding, and she constantly
preaches about the strict—even abusive—parenting techniques she’ll use on her child.
Skipper (Daryl Hannah) is a health nut who’s always either running or swimming. Jennifer
(Maggie Gyllenhaal) is a young, wealthy woman trying to work through marital problems.
Eileen (Susan Lynch) is on a strict budget, since her husband just lost his job. And
Gayle (Mary Steenburgen) is fighting an addiction.
Throughout the movie,
the women tell their stories, and the other women gossip about them behind their backs.
The movie also includes a few clips of Celia, a fifteen-year-old local girl from a
wealthy family, who finds out she’s pregnant, a bunch of homeless little boys, and a maid
who had to quit school to take care of her younger siblings when her parents
died.
Casa de los Babys feels more like a documentary than a
feature film. Very little actually happens. There’s mostly a lot of talk—by the pool,
over dinner, while walking through the market… I have a feeling (okay…I know)
that writer/director John Sayles was trying to make this movie a social commentary—which
I’ve noticed in his movies before—but it tends to make the movie rather dull. On top of
that, there are also quite a few subtitles, which bog the movie down even more. Call me
shallow and unintelligent if you’d like, but I prefer to watch movies that interest me.
Overall, Casa de los Babys is rather ho-hum. Unless you’re really in the mood for
a plotless film about a bunch of women who really aren’t all that interesting, it’s not
worth your time.
Kristin Dreyer Kramer has been writing in some form or another (usually when she was supposed to be doing something else) since the ripe old age of ten—when she, her cousin, and their two Cabbage Patch Dolls formed the Poo Authors’ Club. After a short career in advertising, Kristin got sick of always saying nice things about stuff that didn’t deserve it—so now she spends her days criticizing things, and she’s much happier for it.
Since creating NightsAndWeekends.com in February of 2002, Kristin has spent her life surrounded by piles and piles of books and movies—so many that her office has become a kind of entertainment obstacle course.
As if her writing and editing responsibilities for N&W.com weren’t enough to keep her out of trouble, Kristin also hosts a number of weekly radio shows: Reel Discovery, Shelf Discovery, and On the Marquee. She’s also a proud member of the Broadcast Film Critics Association (CriticsChoice.com), the Central Ohio Film Critics Association (COFCA.org), the Online Film Critics Society (OFCS.org), and the Women Film Critics Circle (WFCC.Wordpress.com).
Kristin lives in Columbus, Ohio, with her husband, Paul, and their daughter, Anna. She welcomes questions, comments, and fan mail at kdk@nightsandweekends.com.
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Kristin Dreyer Kramer has been writing in some form or another (usually when she was supposed to be doing something else) since the ripe old age of ten—when she, her cousin, and their two Cabbage Patch Dolls formed the Poo Authors’ Club. After a short career in advertising, Kristin got sick of always saying nice things about stuff that didn’t deserve it—so now she spends her days criticizing things, and she’s much happier for it.
Since creating NightsAndWeekends.com in February of 2002, Kristin has spent her life surrounded by piles and piles of books and movies—so many that her office has become a kind of entertainment obstacle course.
As if her writing and editing responsibilities for N&W.com weren’t enough to keep her out of trouble, Kristin also hosts a number of weekly radio shows: Reel Discovery, Shelf Discovery, and On the Marquee. She’s also a proud member of the Broadcast Film Critics Association (CriticsChoice.com), the Central Ohio Film Critics Association (COFCA.org), the Online Film Critics Society (OFCS.org), and the Women Film Critics Circle (WFCC.Wordpress.com).
Kristin lives in Columbus, Ohio, with her husband, Paul, and their daughter, Anna. She welcomes questions, comments, and fan mail at kdk@nightsandweekends.com.
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