rated on a 4-star scale screening venue : odeon ( liverpool city centre ) released in the uk by redbus on june 2 , 2000 ; certificate 15 ; 104 minutes ; country of origin uk ; aspect ratio 1 . 85 : 1 directed by ben elton ; produced by phil mcintyre . written by ben elton ; based on his novel " inconceivable " . photographed by roger lanser ; edited by peter hollywood . to see ben elton's " maybe baby " is to suffer one of the most embarrassing of things -- a comedian straining to be funny . successful humour comes out naturally and clearly ; it doesn't need to be underlined , shouted or propped up by outlandish gags . there is a scene in this movie where a guy is being read the results of a sperm test , which tell him that a percentage of his little tadpoles are sluggish . " sluggish ? ! " he cries . " couldn't they have figured out a better way of putting it , like 'relaxed' ? relaxed sperm ! " when he's told that some are swimming in the wrong direction : " hello ? ! they're in a plastic cup ! ! " these same lines could be funny , if the guy was desperately muttering them to himself , as rambling thoughts . i can picture woody allen playing it like that . but hugh laurie , the actor onscreen , shouts and makes expressive gestures , as if playing to a sitcom laughter track . a lot of " maybe baby " is like that -- although on the surface the problem seems to be a cheesy screenplay , it's actually the delivery that's off . i kept imagining what the dialogue would sound like if spoken more calmly , and much of it would be witty , warm and funny . that is not a defence of writer-director elton , but simply an observation . comedy is a fifty-fifty balancing act of writing and performing , so to screw up even one of these is no small matter . the story involves a thirtysomething married couple -- happy , well-off , but desperately in want of a child . sam ( laurie ) and lucy ( joely richardson ) make love morning and night , in time slots carefully planned around lucy's menstrual cycle , but months go by without any sign of pregnancy . so they begin to try in vitro fertilisation treatment ; a long , frustrating process that alternately tests their wits and brings them closer together , what with its great need for patience and emotional commitment . it would be fascinating to see a real movie about the subject of ivf . " maybe baby " is not it . we don't get answers to our obvious curiosities , such as whether or not sam and lucy get a kid , or how they react to that success or failure . instead , the plot veers off into sam writing a screenplay about his marriage , producing it in secret , and then having to heal lucy's anger when she finds out . even when elton is concentrating on the ivf storyline , he seems more interested in the goofy side-characters it gives him a chance to introduce . among them are a loudmouth scottish film director ( tom hollander ) , a burlesque australian nurse ( dawn french ) , and an insane gynaecologist who sadistically dangles his instruments ( rowan atkinson ) . none of these people are believable , and since this isn't a slapstick comedy , that means they're not funny . as i've said , anything perceptive that might have existed in the dialogue is ruined by the over-the-top delivery , so ultimately we're left with nothing interesting but a couple of sexy shots of joely richardson . elton based " maybe baby " on his novel " inconceivable " , which he has said was inspired in concept but not content on his own ivf experiences . his reason for not making it more autobiographical was that he felt it would be more personally comfortable to invent contrived humour for the story than use the truth . that's exactly the opposite of how comedians are supposed to work . copyright ( c ) 2000 ian waldron-mantgani please visit , and encourage others to visit , the uk critic's website at <a href= " http : //members . aol . com/ukcritic " >http : //members . aol . com/ukcritic</a> 
