Babymother (1998) Anjela Lauren Smith, Wil Johnson, Caroline Chikezie, Jocelyn Jee Esien, Don Warrington Movie Review

Babymother (1998)   3/53/53/53/53/5


Babymother (1998)

Scraping Through but Going Somewhere

Anita (Anjela Lauren Smith) is a young mum living in Harlesden, London where her ambition is to become a singer/ song writer. Trouble is that the father of her children, Byron (Wil Johnson), not only is a successful local singer but one who uses Anita whilst expecting her to look after their children. When Byron steals some of her lyrics it gets to Anita, leaving her more determined than ever to succeed despite having no money and children to support. But tragedy and family revelations provide more problems for Anita as she struggles to cope.

So "Babymother" sees someone from the poor side of a town deal with not only a cheating boyfriend who steals her ideas but making it as a singer herself, dealing with the various obstacles and dramas which come their way on that rocky road. Yes that storyline is as cliche as it sounds and over the years I have seen poor dancers, poor actors, poor athletes and of course poor musicians all facing their own set of obstacles to overcome to achieve their dream. But that is the storyline to "Babymother" and truth be told the storyline is not what this movie is about, plain and simple even though there are some twists thrown in to the mix when it comes to family relationships.

Nope instead "Babymother" is all about the culture of Harlesden with young Jamaican women dreaming off making it as pop stars, dealing with the negativity along the way, sitting on walls during the day and so on. All of which is played out to a reggae, Jamaican dance track to make it a musical of sorts. Look I have to be honest I am trying hard to be enthusiastic about the movie because it isn't terrible, in fact at times the mix of familiar with a touch of tongue in cheek when it comes to the musical scenes is entertaining. But for me this is a movie made with a very specific audience in mind and I didn't fit its intended demographic.

What this all boils down to is that "Babymother" is not a bad movie but it is one which not only reworks an already over worked storyline it does so with a very specific audience in mind.


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