Nine Months (film)

Nine Months is a 1995 romantic comedy film directed by Chris Columbus. It stars Hugh Grant, Julianne Moore, Tom Arnold, Joan Cusack, Jeff Goldblum, and Robin Williams. The movie is a US remake of the French movie Neuf mois and served as Grant's first US starring role. It was filmed on location in the San Francisco Bay Area. The original music score was composed by Hans Zimmer.

Plot
Child psychologist Samuel Faulkner (Hugh Grant) has an ideal romance with ballet teacher Rebecca Taylor (Julianne Moore). Rebecca is thinking about marriage and children. Samuel is against the idea of marriage as he is happy with how things are between them. This all changes when Rebecca declares she is pregnant, and when questioned by Samuel about her birth control she replies birth control is only 97% effective.

Samuel's fears mount due to his encounters with overbearing couple Marty (Tom Arnold) and Gail Dwyer (Joan Cusack) and their unruly daughters, as well as the confusing advice he gets from Sean (Jeff Goldblum), his perpetually single artist friend and Gail's brother. Samuel is confused and unsure about what to do. Feeling neglected, Rebecca leaves him and moves in with Marty and Gail. Samuel tries to contact her but she does not respond.

When a girl makes a move on Samuel, he declines, saying he's not ready to move on yet. When he sees an ultrasound of his soon-to-be-born son, he decides that it is time to take responsibility before it is too late. He sells his Porsche 911, buys a family van, and gets back together with Rebecca. They then marry and have their baby together.[2]

Cast

 * Hugh Grant as Samuel Faulkner
 * Julianne Moore as Rebecca Taylor-Faulkner
 * Tom Arnold as Marty Dwyer
 * Joan Cusack as Gail Dwyer
 * Jeff Goldblum as Sean Fletcher
 * Robin Williams as Dr. Kosevich
 * Mia Cottet as Lili
 * Joey Simmrin as Truman
 * Ashley Johnson as Shannon Dwyer
 * Alexa Vega as Molly Dwyer
 * Aislin Roche as Patsy Dwyer
 * Zelda Williams as Little Girl No. 3 in Ballet Class
 * Charles Martinet as Arnie
 * Kristin Davis as Tennis Attendant
 * Priscilla Alden as Older Woman

Reception
The film was poorly received by critics. Rotten Tomatoes gives the film a score of 26% based on 27 reviews, with an average rating of 4.4/10.[3]

Roger Ebert gave the film two stars, saying, "Nine Months is one of those movies where the outcome is abundantly clear to everyone but the hero, who remains in the hapless position of playing dumb because, if he didn't, there wouldn't be a plot."[4]

Box office
The movie debuted at #3 at the box office behind Apollo 13 and Under Siege 2: Dark Territory with $12.5 million in its opening weekend.[5] Nine Months went on to gross $138.5 million worldwide.

Hugh Grant's Opinion
Hugh Grant has spoken disparagingly of his performance in Nine Months, stating in an interview with the SAG-AFTRA Foundation that:

"I really ruined it. And it was entirely my fault. I panicked, it was such a big jump up from what I'd been paid before to what they were offering me. And the scale was inhuman to my standards, you know the scale of the production, 20th Century Fox, the whole thing. And I just tried much too hard, and you know I forgot to do basic acting things, like mean it. So I pulled faces and overacted, it was a shocker."[6]

On another occasion, he referred to director Chris Columbus as a "genius" and his "brilliant" co-stars, but further commented:

"You know, having been paid ₤20,000 or whatever it was, to do Four Weddings and a Funeral, if you're suddenly paid millions, you think well I better ramp up my performance by 200 times. But all that means is that you overact grotesquely, which is what I did. So I'm always very apologetic to those people."[7]

Soundtrack

 * "The Time of Your Life"
 * Written by Steve Van Zandt
 * Performed by Little Steven
 * "These Are the Days"
 * Written and Performed by Van Morrison
 * "Let's Get It On"
 * Written by Marvin Gaye and Ed Townsend
 * Performed by Marvin Gaye
 * "Baby, I Love You"
 * Written by Phil Spector, Ellie Greenwich and Jeff Barry
 * Performed by The Ronettes
 * "Turn Back the Hands of Time"
 * Written by Bonnie F. Thompson and Jack Daniels
 * Performed by Tyrone Davis
 * "19th Nervous Breakdown"
 * Written by Mick Jagger and Keith Richards
 * Performed by The Rolling Stones