This documentary is nearly twenty years old now, and it follows a gay couple as they navigate the stressful and exciting journey of their first pregnancy through surrogacy. You get to see it all— the hope, the nerves, and the dramatic hurdles they have to clear along the way. Back in the day, this was probably a massive deal, but since I’ve known a few gay couples who’ve gone through this exact process, some parts felt a bit dated to me. I liked bits and pieces of it, but I also felt like the film stays pretty surface-level. It doesn't really dive into the deep, complicated reality of life after the baby actually arrives. If only raising a kid were actually as simple as this movie makes it look! Erik and Mark have been together in New York for ten years, and since they feel solid in their relationship, they decide they’re ready to raise a child. They start the hunt for a surrogate and eventually connect with Wen, a wife and mom from Maine who agrees to carry the baby for a standard...
We meet Victor and Alina, who have decided they are better off as friends. To cheer her mood during Christmas celebrations, Victor hires a singing telegram to boost her spirits. We meet Roy, doing. This odd job. The trio hang for a while and When Roy leaves, he is attacked by a homeless guy. Victor notices him on the ground when he comes out to drop off Alina and brings him home. He later finds out that Roy is a British national, who came to Panama behind her girlfriend who dumped him and as of that night , he was both jobless and homeless. After some thinking Victor proposes a gay civil union between the two to keep him in the country legally. After an initial utter shock, Roy agrees and they get married. They even have sex on their wedding night but Roy is very clear this is not gay. The come to an agreement they will always be there for one another as a couple minus sex. Life starts to get better for the till Roy starts falling for Alina slowly and they soon become a couple. Roy confides in Victor that Alina has accepted his marriage proposal and he is sorry to break Victor's heart. The duo get married but next we find out that Roy has some medical problems and he cannot conceive a child. They ask Victor to be a surrogate but instead of donating sperm, they ask him for a threesome to conceive the baby naturally. Tragedy strikes at delivery time, when sadly Victor is left all alone with the baby.
The first initial bits of the film show us around Panama, which reminded me of my trip back there few years ago. Even though the story is very interesting and unique-ish, the concept had some merit; but sadly the execution is completely flat of the film. At any point you don't really connect with any character at all and you can feel they are acting. The film needs better screenplay, better dialogues and overall a better direction. There are way too many moments of nothingness and silence which are really not needed in a movie like this. Also, I don't know what was up with the voices, but the sound of the film was really bad and you had to focus really hard to hear what's going on. Some people can even think that the film's story does go all over the place. We never know was Victor always gay? Will Roy feel so indebted to anyone that he will be ok having sex with another man? The whole threesome and surrogacy angle seemed to be put in just to make it more complex, which for some people could feel absolute weirdness and you may just laugh off at the absurdity of it.
The film has a bot of honesty, or at least it feels like that was the intention, but dealing with things just at the surface level, without really investing in your characters makes this film a very forgettable and very slow and boring experience. (4/10)
Comments
This is so true. To be honest I barely remember much. My ratings are more for potential to be better :)