Written by Ben Elton and based on his own experience Maybe Baby stars Hugh Laurie and Joely Richardson as Sam and Lucy, a couple trying to have a baby. After trying every feasible method (OK, OK they had a lot of sex!) they land on the doors of the IVF program. Sam's a screenwriter who's stuck for ideas until he comes up with the idea of writing a script about his baby making attempts. Hmmm...art imitating life, as Elton claims to have based this on his own experiences with IVF. I wonder if his wife hated the idea of it as much as Lucy does.

This film is a comedy drama but feels like you're watching two different films. The first half was the comedy and the second half became the drama. Some people like this style but not me. The film features cameos from the who's who of British television with Rowan Atkinson (quite possibly the highlight of the film), Joanna Lumley, Emma Thompson (OK, so she's not actually in TV), and Dawn French. This film is good entertainment so long as you keep in mind that the funniest parts were those scenes featured in the trailer (as is usual).

This quaint British film revolves around a middle-aged Cornwall widower Blethyn, who takes up hemp cultivation to rid herself of a nasty case of sexually transmitted debt. This is done with the help of her Scottish gardener, Matthew (Ferguson). Very Full Monty-esque, it combines the charm of a small town British battler with Cheech and Chong like pot-smoking jokes. It has many funny moments, but none truly hilarious. A thoroughly enjoyable mix of eccentric small town characters adds charm, the most notable of which is the pot-smoking local GP (Clunes), the cross-eyed publican, the dim witted policeman and the gossiping old ladies, who predictably end up tending their corner store high as kites. Quite beautifully filmed, it used widescreen to effectively show off the seaside beauty of this usually dull part of the world. It's predictable and uncreative, yes, but at the same time very likeable in a quaint funny kind of way. Like a lot of other British films these days, the bland mix of conservatism aims to capture the same success in the U.S. market that The Full Monty did back in 1997. A fine debut from British director Nigel Cole.