Miss Conception: Review By Brian Gallagher

Chick flicks. They've been the bane of my existance ever since... well, since I was born a guy, I suppose. Most of these chick flicks I'll refuse to see without female companionship, and even then it usually turns out bad because she'll love it and I'll hate it (See: The Notebook). Naturally, there are exceptions to rules, and even to banes of exsitances because Miss Conception is a lot more than just a "chick flick."

Since this isn't your regular chick flick, it's quite fitting that the movie revolves around a unique woman. The film revolves around Georgina Scott (Heather Graham), a beautiful London woman who owns, of all things, a construction company. However, after working with burly construction workers all day, when she gets home, she's just like any other woman. She wants to settle down with her boyfriend, Zak (Tom Ellis), a successful doc*mentarian, and have a child with him. She's actually fairly obsessed with having a child, quite akin to Jennifer Garner's character in Juno. It seems she's the only one with the enthusiasm, though, as she just can't get Zak to commit to baby-making. After a string of unusal and funny moments when Zak's sister has a child, Georgina decides to leave Zak just before he's about to leave and film another doc*mentary. Shortly thereafter, she discovers that she has a rare form of premature menopause and actually only has a few weeks left, with her one reamining egg, to bear a child. Even though she still loves Zak, she sets off on a unique quest to find an unwitting surrogate father, which turns out to be quite hilarious and fresh in ways you wouldn't think.

What I really dug about this movie was that the script, written by Camilla Leslie and additional dialogue by Katherine Chandler, also focused on Tom Ellis' Zak character more than I expected. While the crux of the movie remains Georgina's quest for a baby, we also see Zak's struggles with his pride, his feelings for Georgina and his doc*mentary, with a nagging, primadonna production assistant, Alexandra (Ruta Gedmintas), who's actually deliberately trying to sabotage any chance of Georgina and Zak getting back together. Aside from the duality of the movie, this "plan" that Georgina and her friends Clem (Mia Kirshner) and their gay best friend Justin (Orlando Seale), is rather unique and the script ratchets up the stakes with each phase of the plan. Of course, it does get fairly corny at times along the way, with some bad dialogue and there are a lot of bits in the movie that are just plain not funny. Those parts and a too-awkward performance from Orlando Seale as Justin and a slightly-uneralistic (and a tad corny) ending are about the only things I didn't care for in the movie.

While we do get splendid supporting work from Mia Kirshner, who has some great chemistry with Heather Graham and offers a nice sardonic contrast to Georgina, this is really a one-woman show with a wonderful performance from Heather Graham. The only thing I didn't like about her really had nothing to do with her, but they frumpy way they did her hair in some scenes, but aside from that, her performance brings out some of those inate womanly qualities in vibrant ways. We all know that woman who wants a baby soooooo bad and we all know that woman a who is the aggressive flirt and we all know that woman who's just vulnerable to her emotions, but rarely have I seen all of those pulled off in one dynamic performance like Heather Graham did. She truly lights up the screen.

While it sure may look like it on the poster, this isn't your conventional "chick flick" at all. That, and Heather Graham's dazzling performance, makes Miss Conception a truly watchable delight.