Miss Conception (2008)

People are voting emotionally.

Did you people see the same film I saw?

Excellent and certainly provocative... If nothing else, the film is a real conversation starter.

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

Georgina (Heather Graham) is a mid-thirties British woman with a big problem. Pining to be a mother, she learns that she is going into pre-mature menopause and that she may have only weeks to conceive a child. Since she has been in love with a nice man, Zak (Tom Ellis) for six years, she has a father-to-be in waiting. But, horrors! At a gathering of relatives to celebrate the birth of Zak's sister's daughter, Georgina is appalled that Zak is less than enthusiastic about his new niece and that he blames a broken bit of sculpture on his preschooler nephew instead of confessing his own guilt. Once back in the car, they fight and Zak moves in with a friend. The next day, Georgina relents, knowing her desperation for pregnancy, and tries to contact Zak. But, alas, he is on assignment at some remote island, without cellphone reception and WITH a pretty co-worker. Now, Georgina has to find a "new" man fast, so her friends help her plot out some ideas. From heading toward the funeral of a young skydiver, placing an ad to sublet her apartment to a young male, or looking twice at the burly man at work, Georgina is racing against her biological clock. Can she succeed in getting what she wants? This is a fine view for romcom fans everywhere, for the plot is funny and clever. Just watching Georgina "hook up" with her handsome co-worker, only to find out at a critical moment that he has had the mumps and is now shooting blanks, is truly comical. But, that's not the only good mo, as the plot is one zany encounter after another. The cast is really nice, with Graham, Ellis, Mia Kirchner, and others doing a great job. What a treat to see Nicholas Le Prevost, as the infertility doctor, years after his nice turn in The Jewel in the Crown. Sets, costumes, direction, and productions niceties are also fine. So, if you love those funny tales of love, be assured that you will find this one to be a "hit" and not a "miss". Enjoy.

It takes a sexy American actress posing as British to make this film watchable? No. The only possible audience for this film is the women who are close to menopause and want children. Men, stay away!If you thought that this is a romantic movie, think again. It is all about the babies. This girl learns that she really has only one chance left to have a child, lest she turns barren. Her boyfriend is not the baby loving type, so she quickly dumps him (with the whining reason that having a baby is the most important thing for her) and proceeds on planning to lure a man to make her pregnant.The only positive thing going for her is that she tries to get in touch with her former boyfriend only to be blocked by the new girlfriend wanna-be.What follows are pathetic attempts to make men sleep with her (I mean, how hard can it be?!) and then a silly happy ending, since the guy really loved her, even with all the deception and self-centricity.Bottom line: if a guy listens to what his body is telling him and shags lots of women, he is a bad bad boy. If a woman listens to her body and tries to fornicate with as many men as possible in order to have a child, she is a sensible victim of premature menopause. Gah!

Recently I have seen a slew of low budget independent films with Heather Graham staring. I'm not sure if she can just not find work in the Hollywood main stream or if maybe she is trying to hone her craft in the independent scene. Well, I'm going to have to go with Hollywood rejecting her, because her choices in films have not been great. In my opinion she is a beautiful woman who has done some pretty good work before but to me it's beginning to feel like just another Heather Graham movie, like this film here. OK, to be fair she does have an accent (no matter how bad it is) in this film so that is something to separate it. My point being she always delivers the same performance, exactly what the her character is and adding nothing new or unique, just a simple cookie cutter character for each film. Here is no exception, the premise could have been unique but is not, it could have brought about some very genuinely funny moments but does not in fact like Heather Graham this film does nothing more then it's simple story requires. In fact what is scary is that in most romantic comedies I feel it's the pointless supporting cast the can kill a film a take screen times away from your leads. Well in this case believe it or not the supporting cast is actually better an d more of them would have made for a better film instead we have same old Heather Graham and her on again off again boyfriend who is a jerk every time they are on screen together but then some how is the nice relatable guy when they are separate hmmm. Well, I have already drug this review on more then the film deserves, it's a waste of a good idea and just all to typical.

I thought it was pretty good. The plot centers around a 34-year old woman who is about to hit menopause early. I've always felt that Heather Graham is an undervalued actress who could go far with the right material, eg. "Broken" (2007) but I think that the plot would have been more credible with a slightly older looking actress, Graham still looks like 25. Perhaps the scenes with Zack's adventures in Ireland and his ditzy production assistant wasn't really essential to the plot. I never really understood why Georgina fancies Zack at all when the chemistry and emotional depth between Georgina and her friend Clem appears to be much deeper. The incident with the sperm sample and the birthday cake felt very contrived.I noticed the frequent use of "Darling" and "Sweetie" which at times made the movie sound like a P.G. Wodehouse novel or an episode of "Absolutely Fabulous". Kudos to first time screen writer Camilla Leslie for making a new twist on the romantic comedy formula.