A Major Disappointment

The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.

Actress is magnificent and exudes a hypnotic screen presence in this affecting drama.

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

The best propaganda is never recognized as propaganda. This is a splendid film, well acted, well produced. But it is a shill for the Pro Life movement. You don't realize that until you sit through the closing credits. For the record, I have no strong feelings about abortion one way or the other. But I do have strong feelings about disguising a political statement as entertainment. They've done it very well. It's a solid tear jerker. There is no preaching. The plot is logical and believable. Rachel Hendrix gives a magnificent performance as Hannah. It's a powerful movie that makes you laugh, cry, get angry and relate. But its raison d'etre is to deliver a loaded political message. As good as it is, the end is strung out far too long with needless new plot developments and too many mushy feel good scenes. I can't say more without creating a spoiler. But it could have ended much more neatly and still delivered the same message if "The End" had been about 15 minutes sooner. Watch it. Enjoy it. Discuss it. Just don't forget it was made not to entertain you but to influence you.

This is an after school special gone to prime time. Overemotional anti-abortion drivel with religious overtones. One hour and forty five minutes of my life gone forever. I almost threw up several time. The acting was overdone. The story was over-dramatic and barely soap opera quality. The plot was predictable all the way through. 10 Minutes into the movie, I could have stopped it and written the rest. The conflicts between character were obvious and cliché, and predictably every character had some sort of a magic epiphany that made everything make sense. The main character, whatshername, has a shopping list of vague nondescript ailments that roughly equate to "movie star disease", if you remember that from Carol Burnett. This was painful. But my wife liked it.

I was channel surfing a few days ago, and bumped into October Baby. "Oh no, not another teen angst movie", was my initial thought. But I lingered for awhile, and boy, am I glad I did! What a powerful story that impresses upon us the power of forgiveness - with none of the usual over the top scripts that come out of Hollywood. What a breath of fresh air, especially when we live in days of fascination with Hollywood induced "art" - more sex, violence, foul language, vampires/zombies to no end or what Brad & Angelina are up to next. What the movie gives us instead are honest performances, hardly any clichés. It endorses the importance of family - something that I think the western part of the globe is treading further & further away from. It stories like this that help us to have hope; it might be understated, but it gets you where it needs to - your convictions.

¨I have so many unanswered questions, questions I feel but can't even begin to speak because there are no words to express them.¨October Baby is a Christian faith based film about the power of forgiveness. Despite the fact that many consider this to be a pro-life film, the message is rather a different one. It's not judgmental in any way, and takes a much lighter approach. The film focuses on a teenage girl and her struggle to find answers as to why she feels rejected. October Baby has the classic sermonizing moment near the end of the film that all Christian based moves have, and that may lead people to criticize this film, but it does get a graceful message across without being judgmental. Despite being preachy and melodramatic it has an interesting story and a strong performance from first timer Rachel Hendrix. She is beautiful, talented, and has the looks of a star if she can get over the Kristen Stewart lip biting thing. I don't tend to criticize movies based on their values, I do it based on the artistic approach and I think this film succeeds as a decent teen romantic drama. Some people may criticize this simply because they don't agree with its overall message, and others perhaps might find this film a little too amateur for their taste. Despite the clichés there are several funny and touching scenes delivered strongly by this relatively unknown cast. October Baby was co-directed and written by Andrew and Jon Erwin with some beautiful scenes trying to convey their message about the beauty of life. Despite all the melodrama the film does ring true at times considering we all remember how dramatic our life was when we were teenagers and were searching for the meaning of life. There is turmoil and strong emotions going on that now that we are much older and mature know how to deal with it differently. The film focuses on Hannah (Rachel Hendrix), a nineteen year old girl suffering from seizures and asthma attacks. During a drama performance in school she passes out and awakens in the hospital where the doctors tell her that her illness has to do with her difficult birth. Here she discovers that her parents, Jacob (John Schneider) and Grace (Jennifer Price), aren't really her birth parents and that she was adopted by them after her young mother had a failed abortion attempt. Hannah is upset that her parents never told her the truth and decides to go on a road trip to see if she can contact her real mother. She enlists the help of her best friend Jason (Jason Burkey) and together with some other classmates they embark on a road trip. Hannah ends up making some revealing discoveries along the way that impact and change her life forever. Could her life have meaning despite all the terrible details about her birth? There is still beauty in the midst of brokenness and the only way to reach it is by letting go and forgiving.Despite the terrible reviews this film has received from critics it still has a better rottentomato score than most other films in theaters right now (Hansel and Gretel, Identity Theft, Safe Haven, and the new Die Hard film) and it was much cheaper to produce. Audiences seem to enjoy this film however and I can see why since the message is uplifting. The film does look like a music video at times with the soundtrack paraphrasing the story at times and the beautiful scenery in the background. Chris Sligh has a couple of songs in the film and he also has a supporting role as the driver in the friendly road trip. The film can feel like a Lifetime movie at times, but Rachel Hendrix 's performance stands out and lifts this movie to a higher ground. Her chemistry with Jason Burkey felt authentic and the romanticism never felt sappy. This is a feel good movie that despite being preachy never feels like if the directors are trying to force their faith on the viewers. They are simply sending out a message about the beauty of life and the power of forgiveness. I honestly enjoyed this movie and would watch it again. This is a family friendly film. http://estebueno10.blogspot.com/