Baby Boom is a 1987 American romantic comedy-drama film directed by Charles Shyer, written by Nancy Meyers and Shyer, and produced by Meyers and Bruce A. Block for United Artists. It stars Diane Keaton as a yuppie who discovers that a long-lost cousin has died, leaving her a fourteen-month-old baby girl as inheritance.
The film received generally favorable reviews and was a modest box-office success during its original run, eventually grossing $26 million. The film spawned a television series of the same name (1988–1989) and was nominated for two Golden Globe Awards.
Plot
J. C. Wiatt is a driven Manhattan management consultant (nicknamed the "Tiger Lady") committed to her demanding and high-profile job. She lives with her boyfriend Steven Buchner, an investment banker. They both are happily focused on their careers and have no interest in having children. Notified that a distant cousin has died and left her a bequest, J.C. is shocked to discover that her "inheritance" is the cousin's orphaned toddler, Elizabeth.
Unwilling to disrupt her hectic life and also clueless about childcare, J.C. arranges to give the child up for adoption, but she grows attached to Elizabeth, forcing J.C. to re-evaluate her priorities. She decides to become a working parent and to raise Elizabeth herself, something Steven has no desire to partake in. They amicably break up, and he moves out.
J.C.'s boss, Fritz Curtis, offers her a chance to become a partner at the firm. CEO Hughes Larrabee is interested in having her manage the account of his major company, The Food Chain. Adjusting to life with Elizabeth, J.C. lands the account, and her protégé Ken Arrenberg is assigned to her team.
Struggling to balance her work and home life, J.C. hires a series of nannies and enrolls Elizabeth in early development classes, as parenthood soon occupies much of her time. When she discovers Ken making decisions without her input, J.C. tells Fritz she wants him off her team. To her surprise, Fritz informs her for the good of the company, Ken will be in charge of the account and J.C. will be reassigned to a lower-profile client, allowing her to spend more time with Elizabeth. Postponing her promotion, Fritz explains that he too was forced to choose between his career and his family.
Humiliated, J.C. quits, and moves with Elizabeth to a farmhouse in Vermont. Purchasing the house without first having seen it in person or having it inspected, she finds it is riddled with problems (failing plumbing and heating, lack of water, bad roof). By winter, she is strapped with escalating repairs needed to her new home, running out of money and patience, and overwhelmed with loneliness.
On the brink of financial collapse, and suffering a nervous breakdown, J.C. meets local veterinarian Dr. Jeff Cooper. At first annoyed by him, she is opposed to Jeff's overtures and is focused now on returning to New York as fast as possible. Finding a buyer for the house proves almost impossible. She sees an opportunity to sell "gourmet" baby food applesauce she had concocted for Elizabeth from fresh ingredients. After a rough start, it grows into a full-fledged business called "Country Baby". As her business expands and orders start pouring in from all over the country, J.C. and Jeff strike up a romance.
Later, Fritz reaches out to J.C. with an offer from The Food Chain to acquire Country Baby, and she returns to her former firm to meet with Larrabee and her former colleagues. They lay out the multi-million-dollar deal to buy her company and distribute its products nationwide, and offering her a lucrative salary with a Manhattan apartment and other benefits.
Ready to accept and that she would be back into her original powerful and prestigious former life in corporate career of New York, J.C. has a change of heart and declines Fritz's offer. She is confident she can grow her company herself without having to sacrifice her relationship with Elizabeth and Jeff. J.C. returns home to Jeff and Elizabeth in Vermont, content with her new life as an active mother, girlfriend, and the CEO of her own burgeoning business.
Cast
Production
The film was shot on location in Los Angeles, New York City and Peru, Vermont. Filming took place between November 5, 1986, and February 3, 1987.
Reception
Box office
The film debuted at #3 at the domestic box office, behind Fatal Attraction and Hello Again. It earned a respectable USD$1,608,924 in its opening weekend in the U.S. and earned approximately $26,712,476 in its entire run.