NO ORDINARY BABY (TV movie 2001)
2.5 out of 10 stars Time to Read: 2:45min
BASIC PLOT:
Dr. Amanda Gordon (
Mary Beth Hurt) is a fertility specialist, who, with the help of her partner, Dr. Ed Walden (
Philip Bosco) have just successfully cloned the first human being. The parents, Chris & Virginia Hytner (
Adam LeFevre Valerie Mahaffey) wanted a clone of their dead child, tragically killed in a accident.
Chris was driving the car when the accident occurred, and feels guilty, both about his child's death, and his wife's grief. It seems perfectly fine to both of them to just replace the child they lost, even though Dr. Gordon repeatedly tells them this will be a separate individual.
A nurse in Dr. Gordon's clinic, Ms. Donovan (
Claudia Ferri), disagrees with cloning, and gives the Hytner's medical files to an investigative journalist, Linda Sanclair (
Bridget Fonda).
Linda breaks the story to much fanfare, but is she doing the right thing? What will be the consequences to Dr. Gordon's and Dr. Walden's careers? And the most important question of all, will little Amy be born healthy and happy?
WHAT WORKS:
*IF YOU ARE PRO-CLONING, THIS MOVIE WILL WORK FOR YOU It is a pro-cloning, press bashing, piece of propaganda. However, if you aren't a fan of cloning, and if you think true investigative journalism has a place in our society, you'll find this movie offensive. They set Dr. Gordon up to be a renegade hero, and the parents of the cloned child are regarded as visionaries. I am not religious, so my objections are more personal. I understand grief, I've lived with it for a long time. But bringing someone who has died back by cloning, will not help you through your loss. The clone will have different experiences from conception, through adulthood. IT WILL NOT BE THE SAME PERSON! So, what exactly is the point then? To spend hundreds of thousands of dollars to have a child that looks like the one you lost? Wouldn't it be more advantageous to spend the huge amounts of money you'd shell out on cloning, to make a better world for your child? Isn't it the very definition of hubris to think your genes are "special"? To quote another movie, "Your are not a beautiful and unique snowflake!"
WHAT DOESN'T WORK:
*THE SCRIPT IS A SANCTIMONIOUS SERMON FROM START TO FINISH I don't know how
Richard Kletter adapted
Richard Kadrey's original short story, but the outcome is NOT GOOD. It's just a bunch of self-serving, moralistic clap-trap, that's not even entertaining.
*THE REPORTER IS CONSTANTLY MADE TO LOOK LIKE A VILLAIN FOR DOING HER JOB
Linda Sanclair (
Bridget Fonda), the investigative journalist, is again and again made to look like scum for following a story about the first human clone. Isn't that her function in our society?
*DR. GORDON & DR. WALDEN PURPORT THEMSELVES TO BE HEROES OF THE SCIENTIFIC WORLD But at the same time, they acknowledge they have no idea how a human clone will turn out. Doesn't that make them Dr. Frankensteins, instead of the Nobel Prize winners they claim to be?
*BOTH THE PARENTS & DOCTORS PERPETRATE A CRUEL HOAX ON THE JOURNALIST but we're supposed to be ok with their actions on that count too.
*REPORTERS AREN'T ALLOWED ON YOUR PROPERTY Dr. Gordon is mobbed outside her house, with reporters following her to her door. This wouldn't happen, they would be arrested for trespassing. They have to stay on the street, or the public sidewalk.
*THIS MOVIE HAS PACING PROBLEMS At about the 30min mark, this movie begins to have problems. It starts rehashing events, slows to a crawl, and there's no real movement of the story forward. I know this is more of a character study, and it's trying to explore the issues of cloning, but you have to make it interesting either way.
TO RECOMMEND, OR NOT TO RECOMMEND, THAT IS THE QUESTION:
*After watching the whole thing, I can't recommend this movie. Not only do I think it's propaganda (for cloning, and against journalism), but it's not even entertaining. There wasn't one character I cared about, or empathized with, except for Dr. Gordon's son, and he's only on the screen a total of 4 minutes. The script was terrible, and should never have been greenlighted. It's a waste of good actresses like
Bridget Fonda and
Mary Beth Hurt. However, I can't even recommend this film to their fans. It's a convoluted, smug, moralizing piece of detritus, that never should have made it off the page, and onto the small screen.
CLOSING NOTES:
*This is a made-for-tv movie, please keep that in mind before you watch/rate it. TV movies have a much lower budget, and so your expectations should be adjusted.
*I have no connection to the film, or production in ANY way. This review was NOT written in full, or in part, by a bot. I am just an honest viewer, who wishes for more straight forward reviews (less trolls and fanboys), and better entertainment. Hope I helped you out.
