Look Who's Talking

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For other uses, see Look Who's Talking (disambiguation).
Look Who's Talking
Look whos talking.jpg
Theatrical release poster
Directed byAmy Heckerling
Written byAmy Heckerling
Produced byJonathan D. Krane
Starring
CinematographyThomas Del Ruth
Edited byDebra Chiate
Music byDavid Kitay
Production
companies
M.C.E.G. Productions, Inc.
Distributed byTri-Star Pictures
Release date
  • October 13, 1989 (1989-10-13)
Running time
96 minutes [1]
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$7.5 million[2]
Box office$297 million[3]

Look Who's Talking is a 1989 American romantic comedy film written and directed by Amy Heckerling, and starring John Travolta and Kirstie Alley.[4] Bruce Willis plays the voice of Mollie's son, Mikey.[5] The film features George Segal as Albert.

Plot[]

Mollie is an accountant living in New York City who has an affair with Albert, a womanizing executive who is married with two daughters, and she becomes pregnant. During her pregnancy, Mollie and Albert keep their indiscretion secret, under the idea she was artificially inseminated, and that Albert plans to leave his wife Beth and their two children named Astrid and Priscilla to be with her. The baby, while growing inside Mollie, begins to make voice over commentary and demands - like tugging on his umbilical cord and requesting apple juice, which she gulps down. In her ninth month, while out shopping, Mollie and her friend Rona catch Albert fooling around with his interior decorator Melissa, and he admits he is planning on living with her after his divorce is finalized, having previously deceived Mollie about their relationship.

Mollie leaves upset, the heartbreak and stress causing her to go into labor. She gets into a cab where the driver, James Ubriacco, recklessly speeds through downtown traffic in order to get her to the hospital in time, and he is inadvertently a witness to her son Mikey's birth. Mikey then begins to make commentary on his life and interacts with things through an inner voice which can also communicate with other babies.

Hoping to get her life back on track, Mollie becomes a dedicated single mother; refusing to be superficial about hopeful fathers, but rejecting several men over small quirks; like horribly mistreating waitstaff; that may reflect badly upon Mikey in the future. She meets James again at her apartment building and discovers he used her mailing address to set up residency in order to get his grandfather Vincent into a nice care facility. She allows the ruse to continue when he agrees to babysit Mikey (who really likes James since they first met). However, James nearly jeopardizes the arrangement when he takes the baby out to the airport, where he is a part-time commercial pilot, while she is taking a nap (leading her to believe he had kidnapped Mikey).

A year passes, and James realizes his feelings for Mollie, which causes him to start sabotaging one of her dates. She soon realizes the bond he and Mikey share and decides to give him a chance. After a visit to James' grandfather at his new home, James takes Mollie for flying lessons and she realizes she's falling for him, but when they become intimate, she imagines an unfulfilling life with him and resists. James tells Mollie that he loves her, but she says she only wants what is best for Mikey, that rushing into things is how she got into trouble, and kicks him out.

Back at work, Mollie is forced by her boss to continue working with Albert, who insists upon seeing Mikey. But when Albert visits, he gets into an argument with James, who finally discovers that Albert is Mikey's biological father. He asks Mollie if she loves Albert and she claims she does not know. When he suggests the idea of being the closest thing to a father Mikey has, Mollie likens him to a "big kid" who is not responsible enough to be a father. James calls her out for using Mikey to push men away including himself and he storms out. At the playground, Mikey is told by his friends what "daddies" are, and he realizes he wants James to be his father.

James comes to the apartment and tells Mikey that he will not be around any more, and Mollie listens over the baby monitor as he pours his heart out to Mikey, who admits he will miss James, too. Mollie takes Mikey to Albert's office to meet him, but when Albert admits he does not want the responsibility of being a father because he’s going through a "selfish phase", Mollie realizes he has not changed and she and Mikey ruin several pieces of his furniture before leaving Albert behind for good. Later, Mollie is called to Vincent's care facility to help resolve a dispute between him and the staff. James arrives and thanks Mollie for her help, and the two make up.

Meanwhile, Mikey wanders off on his own, searching for James when he sees a taxi cab outside. After making his way out to the alley, he gets into a car which then gets towed away with Mikey inside it, while Mollie and James search frantically for him. After spotting him, James and Mollie give chase in his cab and eventually cut off the tow truck, but discover Mikey had gotten out of the car and is now standing in the middle of heavy traffic. James and Mollie run to reach him and take him to safety, where Mikey unofficially asks James to be his father by saying his first word "Da-da". James and Mollie realize that Mikey already sees James as his father, and they decide to give it a chance, kissing passionately while Mikey considers telling them he needs a new diaper.

Nine months later, Mollie gives birth to her and James' daughter Julie. When Mikey greets his half sister she "tells" him, in the voice of Joan Rivers, she's "had a day he would not believe".

Cast[]

Voices

  • Bruce Willis as the voice of Mikey
  • Joan Rivers as the voice of Julie (under the pseudonym of "Baby Guess") (uncredited)

Reception[]

The film received mixed reviews. On Rotten Tomatoes, it has a score of 57% based on 37 reviews, with an average rating of 5.2/10. The critical consensus reads: "Look Who's Talking holds some appeal thanks to its affable stars and Amy Heckerling's energetic direction, but a silly script doesn't allow wit to get a word in edgewise".[6] Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A" on an A+ to F scale.[7]

Look Who's Talking was a surprise hit, opening at number one in the United States with $12,107,784 in its opening weekend and staying at number one for five weekends with grosses over $10 million each weekend. It eventually grossed $140,088,813 domestically and a worldwide total of $296,999,813,[3] making it Travolta's most successful film in eleven years since Grease, and the fourth highest-grossing movie of 1989.[3]

The film was released in the United Kingdom on April 6, 1990, and topped the country's box office that weekend.[8]

Sequels and reboot[]

The film was successful enough to spawn two sequels: Look Who's Talking Too (1990) and Look Who's Talking Now (1993). The success of the first two films also inspired an ABC sitcom called Baby Talk, which aired from 1991 to 1992, and featured Tony Danza as the voice of "Baby Mickey". John Travolta, Kirstie Alley, and Olympia Dukakis are the only actors to appear in all three films in the series.

In 2010, Fast & Furious' producer Neal H. Moritz was planning to reboot the series, with the Mikey character now grown up and the father of the baby in the film.[9] Screen Gems announced in July 2019 that director Jeremy Garelick was writing the script for the reboot.[10]

References[]

  1. ^ "Look Who's Talking (12)". British Board of Film Classification. 1990-01-04. Retrieved 2012-03-21.
  2. ^ "Look Who's Talking (1989) - Box office / business". Internet Movie Database. Amazon.com. Retrieved 2012-03-21.
  3. ^ a b c Look Who's Talking at Box Office Mojo
  4. ^ Cerone, Daniel (October 26, 1989). "Look Who's Smiling . . . : Movies: The hit "Look Who's Talking" has made writer-director Amy Heckerling hot again--thanks to her daughter". The Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2010-11-06.
  5. ^ Willman, Chris (October 13, 1989). "Witty Fun for Grown-Ups in 'Look Who's Talking'". The Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2010-08-24.
  6. ^ Look Who's Talking at Rotten Tomatoes
  7. ^ "CinemaScore". cinemascore.com.
  8. ^ "UK Weekend Box Office 6th April 1990 - 8th April 1990". www.25thframe.co.uk. Retrieved 20 February 2019.
  9. ^ Reynolds, Simon (April 6, 2010). "'Looks Who's Talking' reboot in the works". Digital Spy. Hachette Filipacchi Médias. Retrieved April 7, 2010.
  10. ^ Fleming, Mike Jr. (2019-07-08). "Screen Gems Taking Baby Steps On 'Look Who's Talking' Reboot With Jeremy Garelick & Adam Fields". Deadline. Retrieved 2019-07-09.

External links[]

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