Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs

Battle of the bulges

Poster art of Cobie Smulders and Gail Bean in Unexpected, courtesy of Victor Frankenstein.
Poster art of Cobie Smulders and Gail Bean in Unexpected, courtesy of Victor Frankenstein.

You can’t judge a book by its cover, but does the same hold true for movies and their posters? One look at the accompanying image gives pause for reflection (and gales of unexpected chuckles). Was the goal to provide more entertainment in the lobby than onscreen? Were Cobie Smulders and Gail Bean on the same continent, let alone in the same room, when the promotional art for Unexpected, opening Friday at Reading’s Gaslamp 15, was snapped?

Video:

Unexpected trailer

Unfortunately, the rest of the film is as much a cut-and-paste job as its one sheet. The hook: dueling pregnancies. A Chicago inner-city high-school teacher (Smulders), faced with her school’s closing, and her star student (Bean) form a bond when both of their home pregnancy sticks test light pink. Teach’s reluctant boyfriend finally mans-up with an engagement ring, while the pupil finds fault in her baby daddy’s inattentiveness. Throw in a ready-made unsympathetic mother figure (Elizabeth McGovern), and chances are viewers will do a more original job of tying up loose strings than the screenwriters. Basically, cut out “un” from the title. Everything you expect to happen does. With a 90-minute running time, Unexpected would fit comfortably, with room for commercial breaks, in a two-hour network time slot. How did it ever find a theatrical release?

Sponsored
Sponsored
Movie

Unexpected

thumbnail

A Chicago inner city high teacher (Cobie Smulders), faced with her school closing, and her star student (Gail Bean) form a bond when both their home pregnancy sticks tests light pink. Cut out “un.” Everything you expect to happen does. With a 90-minute running time, <em>Unexpected</em> would fit comfortably, with room for commercial breaks, in a 2-hour network time slot. Due to a habitual string of close-ups and wasted pans, director Kris Swanberg’s feature-length public service announce plays it TV safe in every sense of the term. (She’s married to mumblecore trailblazer Joe Swanberg, so chalk up the pesky hand-held camerawork to guilt by association.) With a nod to Simon and Garfunkel, you can hear the viewer snore amid the dangling camerawork and the superficial sighs that add boredom to our lives. With Elizabeth McGovern.

Find showtimes

When a character asks, “How do these girls get in these situations?” surely they must also be referencing the filmmaker. With its habitual string of close-ups and wasted pans, director Kris Swanberg’s feature-length public service announcement plays it TV-safe in every sense of the term. She’s married to mumblecore trailblazer Joe Swanberg, so chalk up the pesky hand-held camerawork to guilt by association.

With a nod to Simon and Garfunkel, you can hear the viewer snore amid the dangling camerawork and the superficial sighs that add boredom to our lives. Goodbye to Language can’t land a 3D playdate in the States, yet this gets a week-long booking in America’s Finest City’s finest theater. There is no God(ard).

The latest copy of the Reader

Please enjoy this clickable Reader flipbook. Linked text and ads are flash-highlighted in blue for your convenience. To enhance your viewing, please open full screen mode by clicking the icon on the far right of the black flipbook toolbar.

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Why did Harrah's VP commit suicide last summer?

Did the fight the Rincon casino had with San Diego County over Covid play a part?
Poster art of Cobie Smulders and Gail Bean in Unexpected, courtesy of Victor Frankenstein.
Poster art of Cobie Smulders and Gail Bean in Unexpected, courtesy of Victor Frankenstein.

You can’t judge a book by its cover, but does the same hold true for movies and their posters? One look at the accompanying image gives pause for reflection (and gales of unexpected chuckles). Was the goal to provide more entertainment in the lobby than onscreen? Were Cobie Smulders and Gail Bean on the same continent, let alone in the same room, when the promotional art for Unexpected, opening Friday at Reading’s Gaslamp 15, was snapped?

Video:

Unexpected trailer

Unfortunately, the rest of the film is as much a cut-and-paste job as its one sheet. The hook: dueling pregnancies. A Chicago inner-city high-school teacher (Smulders), faced with her school’s closing, and her star student (Bean) form a bond when both of their home pregnancy sticks test light pink. Teach’s reluctant boyfriend finally mans-up with an engagement ring, while the pupil finds fault in her baby daddy’s inattentiveness. Throw in a ready-made unsympathetic mother figure (Elizabeth McGovern), and chances are viewers will do a more original job of tying up loose strings than the screenwriters. Basically, cut out “un” from the title. Everything you expect to happen does. With a 90-minute running time, Unexpected would fit comfortably, with room for commercial breaks, in a two-hour network time slot. How did it ever find a theatrical release?

Sponsored
Sponsored
Movie

Unexpected

thumbnail

A Chicago inner city high teacher (Cobie Smulders), faced with her school closing, and her star student (Gail Bean) form a bond when both their home pregnancy sticks tests light pink. Cut out “un.” Everything you expect to happen does. With a 90-minute running time, <em>Unexpected</em> would fit comfortably, with room for commercial breaks, in a 2-hour network time slot. Due to a habitual string of close-ups and wasted pans, director Kris Swanberg’s feature-length public service announce plays it TV safe in every sense of the term. (She’s married to mumblecore trailblazer Joe Swanberg, so chalk up the pesky hand-held camerawork to guilt by association.) With a nod to Simon and Garfunkel, you can hear the viewer snore amid the dangling camerawork and the superficial sighs that add boredom to our lives. With Elizabeth McGovern.

Find showtimes

When a character asks, “How do these girls get in these situations?” surely they must also be referencing the filmmaker. With its habitual string of close-ups and wasted pans, director Kris Swanberg’s feature-length public service announcement plays it TV-safe in every sense of the term. She’s married to mumblecore trailblazer Joe Swanberg, so chalk up the pesky hand-held camerawork to guilt by association.

With a nod to Simon and Garfunkel, you can hear the viewer snore amid the dangling camerawork and the superficial sighs that add boredom to our lives. Goodbye to Language can’t land a 3D playdate in the States, yet this gets a week-long booking in America’s Finest City’s finest theater. There is no God(ard).

Comments
Sponsored

The latest copy of the Reader

Please enjoy this clickable Reader flipbook. Linked text and ads are flash-highlighted in blue for your convenience. To enhance your viewing, please open full screen mode by clicking the icon on the far right of the black flipbook toolbar.

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

WAV College Church reminds kids that time is short

College is a formational time for decisions about belief
Next Article

Haunted Trail of Balboa Park, ZZ Top, Gem Diego Show

Events October 31-November 2, 2024
Comments
Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed Big Screen — Movie commentary Blurt — Music's inside track Booze News — San Diego spirits Classical Music — Immortal beauty Classifieds — Free and easy Cover Stories — Front-page features Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts Feast! — Food & drink reviews Feature Stories — Local news & stories Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore From the Archives — Spotlight on the past Golden Dreams — Talk of the town The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it Letters — Our inbox Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news News Ticker — News & politics Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated Poetry — The old and the new Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers Reading — The hunt for intellectuals Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds SD on the QT — Almost factual news Sheep and Goats — Places of worship Special Issues — The best of Street Style — San Diego streets have style Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves Theater — On stage in San Diego this week Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads Your Week — Daily event picks
4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs
Close

Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

This Week’s Reader This Week’s Reader