Nine Months

Directed by Chris Columbus, Nine Months follows Hugh Grant’s Samuel Faulkner as he attempts to adjust to the news that his longtime girlfriend (Julianne Moore’s Rebecca) is pregnant. Filmmaker Columbus, armed with his own screenplay, delivers a somewhat erratic yet mostly entertaining comedy that benefits from the top-notch efforts of its stars, as the compelling, charismatic presence of both Grant and Moore goes a long way towards smoothing over the narrative’s periodic bumps and lulls – with the actors’ stirring work, which is enhanced by their palpable chemistry together, certainly matched by such first-class periphery players as Joan Cusack, Jeff Goldblum, and Robin Williams. (The latter’s entertainingly larger-than-life turn as a Russian doctor provides the movie with many of its biggest laughs, to be sure.) And while Columbus sporadically emphasizes jokes and gags of an egregiously over-the-top variety, with this particularly true of Tom Arnold’s predictably broad (and occasionally grating) turn as an obnoxious father of three, Nine Months has been suffused with an undercurrent of surprising truthfulness that often lends it a surprisingly poignant and touching feel – which, when coupled with a thoroughly satisfying climax, ultimately cements the picture’s place as a better-than-average piece of work.

*** out of ****