It's easy to be cynical about Baby Boom for all it's cuteness, cliches and high concept comedy about a 'yuppie' businesswoman juggling her career with looking after a baby after unexpectedly inheriting one from a distant relative. The soundtrack, power dressing, high energy and 'greed is good' attitude is all very 1980's and it's the perfect star vehicle for Diane Keaton.
She has of course demonstrated her sense of comic timing, on-screen presence and dramatic ability many times before whilst working with Woody Allen but it's nice to see Keaton come into her own here and carry the movie. With a good supporting cast and husband & wife team of Charles Shyer and Nancy Myers at the helm, who scored many hits with similar romantic comedies since, this is a sweet, lighthearted diversion in a similar vein to Three Men and a Baby released the same year.
The film is almost in two halves, the first half is set in the high rolling corporate world of New York, where Keaton's character is at the top of her game and making waves as a woman set to become a partner of a large corporation, whose lifestyle and career aspirations are thrown into turmoil when the baby comes into her life. The second half is where she retreats to the country after effectively being fired from her job in the City and sets up a cottage industry selling baby food that is so successful it brings her back to the corporate world on her own terms.
It is of course an unlikely scenario and more of an urban fairy tale but it is so likeable and good natured that you can overlook the cliches and spoonfuls of schmaltz it delivers and enjoy being swept along by Keaton's funny and charming performance.
