Deciding whether or not to have children is a very personal choice that individuals and couples should be allowed to make, but you wouldn’t know it given how much pressure there is from society to get a move on or to at least answer countless questions about it. Babies compartmentalizes the frustration that those who haven’t made up their mind – or maybe have – surely feel through the lens of two people who have always thought they didn’t want kids but are forced to confront the possibility given just how omnipresent their friends’ children are in their daily lives.
Annie (Anna Kendrick) and Aaron (Seth Rogen) have been together for seventeen years, and they’re quite happy. They smoke weed, have sex, and take a nap or go grab ice cream anytime they want. When their friend Eliza (Kate Berlant) leaves her husband Luke (Dan Stevens) and comes to stay with them, they suddenly have a child in the house. Without knowing what to expect, they figure this is the perfect trial run for them to finally decide whether they want to have a kid or not. The journey to get there is full of rollercoaster moments that make them constantly reconsider what their priorities should be.
Babies is written and directed by Lauren Miller Rogen, who happens to be married to Seth Rogen, who has been her partner for more than twenty years and – you guessed it – they don’t have children. This film is smart and accessible because it doesn’t cast judgment on the notion of having or not having kids, but instead presents a handful of scenarios, including the miserable relationship that Eliza and Luke have as a result of different parenting expectations, or the perspectives offered by Becky (Issa Rae), Annie’s business partner who barely has time for work because of her family, and her husband Ethan (Zach Cherry), who brings his daughters for an outing to the arcade because it’s a place he wants to go and it serves as a great opportunity to hang out with them and do something they might all enjoy.
Kendrick and Rogen are a fun duo to play these lead roles, and though they swear a lot, they’re relatively tame characters in a film that isn’t meant to be X-rated. Kendrick is at her funniest when Annie lets her guard down and gets incredibly drunk at a baby shower, and the other moments in which she isn’t simply letting the audience hear her thoughts but actually speaking them to other people who aren’t quite ready to hear them. This is a standard performance for Rogen, who fits the bill perfectly but doesn’t exactly have to work hard to make this character believable. As is often the case, Berlant steals every scene as a relatively dramatic person who’s also in a particularly vulnerable state at the start of this film which causes her to be even more on edge.
Parents and those without children alike should have fun with this film since it does present such a range of family dynamics and includes conversations among the key characters that dissect the pieces of their lives that they love and the things that truly drive them crazy which they might caution against for those considering a future almost exclusively invested in parenthood. While it has its moments of seriousness, it is indeed a comedy, and should appeal broadly except perhaps to those for whom wanting to be a parent isn’t within their control and who could be put off by some of the casual and flippant comments in the film. Just like parenthood itself, with the right expectations, this film is sure to be worth the price of the ticket.
Movie Rating: 7/10
Babies makes its world premiere in the Gala Presentations section at the 2026 Toronto International Film Festival.
