Labor Pains
Encyclopedia
Labor Pains is a 2009
romantic comedy
starring Lindsay Lohan
, Luke Kirby
, Cheryl Hines
, Chris Parnell
, Bridgit Mendler
, and Kevin Covais
. The film received a television
premiere on ABC Family
on July 19, 2009. It was originally scheduled to be released in theatres. The film was directed by Lara Shapiro and was released on DVD
and Blu-Ray on August 4 and 31 in the United States
and United Kingdom
, respectively.
The film drew 2.1 million viewers, a better-than-average prime-time audience for ABC Family, and per the network, was the week's top cable
film among coveted female demographic groups. The film received a theatrical release in countries such as Russia
, Romania
, Spain
, the U.A.E., Ecuador
, and Mexico
.
that it is discriminatory to fire a pregnant woman. The plan works, and she gets to keep her job.
With help from her friend, Lisa - and a "baby bump" stolen from a mannequin — Thea fakes her pregnancy while figuring out her next move. In the meantime, her boss gets called out of town and his cute brother Nick takes over. In an attempt to get an author Suzie Cavandish to publish a book with the company, he takes Thea to a meeting with the author. Thea convinces the author that they are the right "home" for her book. Nick then launches a new parenting division at the publishing company, and he wants Thea to be the editor. This results in a raise and promotion for Thea, as well as the beginning of a romantic relationship between her and Nick after breaking off her engagement with Miles. She begins to enjoy her life to the extent that her "pregnancy" becomes real to her. In an attempt to get Thea to admit her lie to her family, her little sister, Emma throws Thea a surprise baby shower. When Thea still doesn't admit the lie, Emma destroys her pregnancy pillow in a fit of rage. Quickly, Thea grabs a balloon and leaves. Later that day, the author of the book is going to have a book reading, but her boss comes back a week early, and gets into an argument with Nick (which ends with Nick jumping on him, then Thea pulling them apart). After insulting Thea, she tries to go at him. Nick holds her back by the stomach, and her balloon pops, blowing her cover. After a couple of nights, Nick still does not answer the hundreds of calls Thea left him. While she calls and leaves messages, she watches a show called The Vista. She gets to go on the show talking about the book Suzie wrote. After everyone leaves, Thea and Nick kiss until the lights go out. 2 years later, Thea goes into labor with Nick's baby. Nick and Lisa are left pushing Thea to the hospital in a desk chair.
in June 2007. Due to budget issues regarding another film, Nailed, Millennium Films Overnight Productions took over the film. The film is the directorial debut of Lara Shapiro. Filming began in Burbank
, California
on June 9, 2008 and concluded on July 18, 2008. On September 3, 2008, a teaser trailer was released, listing the film as "post-production."
was cast in the lead of Thea Clayhill in March 2008 after turning down the roles in All's Faire in Love
and Manson Girls. Reportedly, only one insurance agency would take her after her 2007 DUI. Rick Schwartz
, producer of the film, says, "I didn't know Lindsay before this, but we looked each other in the eye three months ago, and she has done everything I could have asked." Co-producer Celine Rattray says, "She has really impressed us with her work ethic. She is rehearsing every day with energy and focus. She is lovely to her co-stars and the crew."
Cheryl Hines says of Lohan: "Habitually, Lindsay achieves what to do in the first take."
on July 19, 2009.
, grossing a total of $4,810. It was released in the United Arab Emirates
on April 29, 2010, grossing a total of $65,432. Combined, the worldwide total gross is $1,755,233.
, receiving mostly mixed reviews. The Los Angeles Times
said that while Lohan's acting was not fantastic, the screenwriting "offers an Olympian task for any star, involving as it does large and clunky leaps of logic over a cliché
-riddled narrative landscape."
2009 in film
The year 2009 saw the release of many films. Seven made the top 50 list of highest-grossing films, and the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced that as of this year, their Best Picture category would consist of ten nominees, rather than five .- Highest-grossing films :Please note...
romantic comedy
Romantic Comedy
Romantic Comedy can refer to* Romantic Comedy , a 1979 play written by Bernard Slade* Romantic Comedy , a 1983 film adapted from the play and starring Dudley Moore and Mary Steenburgen...
starring Lindsay Lohan
Lindsay Lohan
Lindsay Lohan is an American actress, pop singer and model. She began her career as a child fashion model before making her motion picture debut in Disney's 1998 remake of The Parent Trap at the age of 11...
, Luke Kirby
Luke Kirby (actor)
-Early life:Luke was born in Hamilton, Ontario, to two American expatriates. His mother is from Brooklyn, New York, and his father grew up "along the eastern seaboard". His parents moved from New York City, New York, to Canada in 1974...
, Cheryl Hines
Cheryl Hines
Cheryl Ruth Hines is an American actress and director, known for her role as Larry David's wife Cheryl on HBO's Curb Your Enthusiasm. She currently appears on the ABC sitcom Suburgatory...
, Chris Parnell
Chris Parnell
Thomas Christopher "Chris" Parnell is an American comic actor best known as a cast member on Saturday Night Live from 1998–2006 and currently for his recurring role as Dr. Leo Spaceman on NBC's Emmy Award-winning comedy series 30 Rock. Parnell also voices Cyril Figgis on the FX animated comedy...
, Bridgit Mendler
Bridgit Mendler
Bridgit Claire Mendler is an American actress, singer, musician and songwriter. She plays Teddy Duncan on the Disney Channel Original Series Good Luck Charlie and starred in the Disney Channel Original Movie Lemonade Mouth...
, and Kevin Covais
Kevin Covais
Kevin Patrick Covais is a fifth-season American Idol finalist from Levittown, New York. He was the second finalist eliminated from the competition on March 22, 2006, making him the eleventh-place finalist. He is also an actor in the movie College....
. The film received a television
Television
Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...
premiere on ABC Family
ABC Family
ABC Family, stylized as abc family, is an American television network, owned by ABC Family Worldwide Inc., a subsidiary of the Disney-ABC Television Group division of The Walt Disney Company...
on July 19, 2009. It was originally scheduled to be released in theatres. The film was directed by Lara Shapiro and was released on DVD
DVD
A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....
and Blu-Ray on August 4 and 31 in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
and United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
, respectively.
The film drew 2.1 million viewers, a better-than-average prime-time audience for ABC Family, and per the network, was the week's top cable
Cable television
Cable television is a system of providing television programs to consumers via radio frequency signals transmitted to televisions through coaxial cables or digital light pulses through fixed optical fibers located on the subscriber's property, much like the over-the-air method used in traditional...
film among coveted female demographic groups. The film received a theatrical release in countries such as Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
, Romania
Romania
Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeastern Europe, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea...
, Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
, the U.A.E., Ecuador
Ecuador
Ecuador , officially the Republic of Ecuador is a representative democratic republic in South America, bordered by Colombia on the north, Peru on the east and south, and by the Pacific Ocean to the west. It is one of only two countries in South America, along with Chile, that do not have a border...
, and Mexico
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
.
Plot
Thea Clayhill is about to lose her position as secretary to a very cranky publisher. So she lies about being pregnant to save her job, as she saw on an episode of Law & OrderLaw & Order
Law & Order is an American police procedural and legal drama television series, created by Dick Wolf and part of the Law & Order franchise. It aired on NBC, and in syndication on various cable networks. Law & Order premiered on September 13, 1990, and completed its 20th and final season on May 24,...
that it is discriminatory to fire a pregnant woman. The plan works, and she gets to keep her job.
With help from her friend, Lisa - and a "baby bump" stolen from a mannequin — Thea fakes her pregnancy while figuring out her next move. In the meantime, her boss gets called out of town and his cute brother Nick takes over. In an attempt to get an author Suzie Cavandish to publish a book with the company, he takes Thea to a meeting with the author. Thea convinces the author that they are the right "home" for her book. Nick then launches a new parenting division at the publishing company, and he wants Thea to be the editor. This results in a raise and promotion for Thea, as well as the beginning of a romantic relationship between her and Nick after breaking off her engagement with Miles. She begins to enjoy her life to the extent that her "pregnancy" becomes real to her. In an attempt to get Thea to admit her lie to her family, her little sister, Emma throws Thea a surprise baby shower. When Thea still doesn't admit the lie, Emma destroys her pregnancy pillow in a fit of rage. Quickly, Thea grabs a balloon and leaves. Later that day, the author of the book is going to have a book reading, but her boss comes back a week early, and gets into an argument with Nick (which ends with Nick jumping on him, then Thea pulling them apart). After insulting Thea, she tries to go at him. Nick holds her back by the stomach, and her balloon pops, blowing her cover. After a couple of nights, Nick still does not answer the hundreds of calls Thea left him. While she calls and leaves messages, she watches a show called The Vista. She gets to go on the show talking about the book Suzie wrote. After everyone leaves, Thea and Nick kiss until the lights go out. 2 years later, Thea goes into labor with Nick's baby. Nick and Lisa are left pushing Thea to the hospital in a desk chair.
Filming
Labor Pains began as a production under Capitol FilmsCapitol Films
Capitol Films is at the hub of David Bergstein's Pegasus Studios - a multinational Filmed Entertainment Group - with interests in production, post-production, library management and foreign sales....
in June 2007. Due to budget issues regarding another film, Nailed, Millennium Films Overnight Productions took over the film. The film is the directorial debut of Lara Shapiro. Filming began in Burbank
Burbank, California
Burbank is a city in Los Angeles County in Southern California, United States, north of downtown Los Angeles. The estimated population in 2010 was 103,340....
, California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
on June 9, 2008 and concluded on July 18, 2008. On September 3, 2008, a teaser trailer was released, listing the film as "post-production."
Casting
Lindsay LohanLindsay Lohan
Lindsay Lohan is an American actress, pop singer and model. She began her career as a child fashion model before making her motion picture debut in Disney's 1998 remake of The Parent Trap at the age of 11...
was cast in the lead of Thea Clayhill in March 2008 after turning down the roles in All's Faire in Love
All's Faire in Love
All Faire in Love is a 2009 romantic comedy film directed by Scott Marshall and written by R. A. White and Jeffrey Ray Wine. The film stars Owen Benjamin as Will, a college student who is assigned to work at a renaissance fair by his professor after missing several classes, and Christina...
and Manson Girls. Reportedly, only one insurance agency would take her after her 2007 DUI. Rick Schwartz
Rick Schwartz
Rick Schwartz is an independent producer and financier whose credits include The Departed, Black Swan, Gangs of New York, The Aviator and The Others....
, producer of the film, says, "I didn't know Lindsay before this, but we looked each other in the eye three months ago, and she has done everything I could have asked." Co-producer Celine Rattray says, "She has really impressed us with her work ethic. She is rehearsing every day with energy and focus. She is lovely to her co-stars and the crew."
Cheryl Hines says of Lohan: "Habitually, Lindsay achieves what to do in the first take."
Release
On March 26, 2009, it was announced that Labor Pains would not make a theatrical release in the United States. Instead, it was released to ABC FamilyABC Family
ABC Family, stylized as abc family, is an American television network, owned by ABC Family Worldwide Inc., a subsidiary of the Disney-ABC Television Group division of The Walt Disney Company...
on July 19, 2009.
Commercial reception
Labor Pains, titled Almost Pregnant, was released to theatres on July 9, 2009 in Russia, debuting at #4. It grossed $684,129. It was released on July 10, 2009 in Romania, grossing a total of $39,574. It was released on July 31, 2009 in Spain, grossing a total of $287,260. It was released in Mexico on January 8, 2010 bringing in $670,871. It was released on January 28, 2010 in LebanonLebanon
Lebanon , officially the Republic of LebanonRepublic of Lebanon is the most common term used by Lebanese government agencies. The term Lebanese Republic, a literal translation of the official Arabic and French names that is not used in today's world. Arabic is the most common language spoken among...
, grossing a total of $4,810. It was released in the United Arab Emirates
United Arab Emirates
The United Arab Emirates, abbreviated as the UAE, or shortened to "the Emirates", is a state situated in the southeast of the Arabian Peninsula in Western Asia on the Persian Gulf, bordering Oman, and Saudi Arabia, and sharing sea borders with Iraq, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, and Iran.The UAE is a...
on April 29, 2010, grossing a total of $65,432. Combined, the worldwide total gross is $1,755,233.
Critical reception
Labor Pains has received a 55 out of 100 on MetacriticMetacritic
Metacritic.com is a website that collates reviews of music albums, games, movies, TV shows and DVDs. For each product, a numerical score from each review is obtained and the total is averaged. An excerpt of each review is provided along with a hyperlink to the source. Three colour codes of Green,...
, receiving mostly mixed reviews. The Los Angeles Times
Los Angeles Times
The Los Angeles Times is a daily newspaper published in Los Angeles, California, since 1881. It was the second-largest metropolitan newspaper in circulation in the United States in 2008 and the fourth most widely distributed newspaper in the country....
said that while Lohan's acting was not fantastic, the screenwriting "offers an Olympian task for any star, involving as it does large and clunky leaps of logic over a cliché
Cliché
A cliché or cliche is an expression, idea, or element of an artistic work which has been overused to the point of losing its original meaning or effect, especially when at some earlier time it was considered meaningful or novel. In phraseology, the term has taken on a more technical meaning,...
-riddled narrative landscape."
Cast
- Lindsay LohanLindsay LohanLindsay Lohan is an American actress, pop singer and model. She began her career as a child fashion model before making her motion picture debut in Disney's 1998 remake of The Parent Trap at the age of 11...
as Thea Clayhill - Bridgit MendlerBridgit MendlerBridgit Claire Mendler is an American actress, singer, musician and songwriter. She plays Teddy Duncan on the Disney Channel Original Series Good Luck Charlie and starred in the Disney Channel Original Movie Lemonade Mouth...
as Emma Clayhill - Cheryl HinesCheryl HinesCheryl Ruth Hines is an American actress and director, known for her role as Larry David's wife Cheryl on HBO's Curb Your Enthusiasm. She currently appears on the ABC sitcom Suburgatory...
as Lisa DePardo - Tracee Ellis RossTracee Ellis RossTracee Ellis Ross is an American actress. She is best known for her lead role as Joan Clayton on the UPN/CW series, Girlfriends. She is currently starring as Dr...
as Kristin - Chris ParnellChris ParnellThomas Christopher "Chris" Parnell is an American comic actor best known as a cast member on Saturday Night Live from 1998–2006 and currently for his recurring role as Dr. Leo Spaceman on NBC's Emmy Award-winning comedy series 30 Rock. Parnell also voices Cyril Figgis on the FX animated comedy...
as Jerry Steinwald - Luke KirbyLuke Kirby (actor)-Early life:Luke was born in Hamilton, Ontario, to two American expatriates. His mother is from Brooklyn, New York, and his father grew up "along the eastern seaboard". His parents moved from New York City, New York, to Canada in 1974...
as Nick Steinwald - Kevin CovaisKevin CovaisKevin Patrick Covais is a fifth-season American Idol finalist from Levittown, New York. He was the second finalist eliminated from the competition on March 22, 2006, making him the eleventh-place finalist. He is also an actor in the movie College....
as Greg - Willie GarsonWillie GarsonWillie Garson is an American character actor. He has appeared in over 50 movies, usually playing minor roles...
as Carl - Bonnie SomervilleBonnie SomervilleBonnie Somerville is an American actress and singer. As an actress, she has had roles in a number of movies and television series, most notably NYPD Blue, Grosse Pointe, Friends, The O.C. and Cashmere Mafia....
as Suzie Cavandish - Ana OrtizAna OrtizAna Ortíz is an American actress and singer. She is a native of Manhattan, but was raised in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. She was a regular cast-member on the ABC comedy-drama series Ugly Betty, in which she plays the title character's older sister, Hilda Suarez...
as Donna - Aaron YooAaron Yoo-Personal life:Aaron Yoo was born in East Brunswick Township, New Jersey to Korean parents. He has an older sister. He played the cello for the East Brunswick High School orchestra and ran track...
as Miles - Janeane GarofaloJaneane GarofaloJaneane Garofalo is an American stand-up comedian, actress, political activist and writer. She is the former co-host on the now defunct Air America Radio's The Majority Report. Garofalo continues to circulate regularly within New York City's local comedy and performance art scene.-Early...
as The Vista Host - Creed BrattonCreed BrattonCreed Bratton is an American actor and musician, a former member of The Grass Roots...
as John Abbotts