In ‘Kinda Pregnant,’ Amy Schumer Longs To Join the Mom Club

Sandra Miska

Amy Schumer experiences a strange kind of FOMO in her latest comedy, “Kinda Pregnant.” Schumer plays Lainy, a Brooklyn English teacher in her early 40s who wants to settle down and start a family. This yearning intensifies after she learns that her best friend and co-worker, Kate (Jillian Bell), is expecting. She also becomes a wee bit jealous of the respect and attention Kate and other moms-to-be receive, as well as the growing friendship between Kate and another pregnant colleague, attention-loving twentysomething Shirley (Lizze Broadway). After finding a fake belly at a maternity store, Lainy straps it on so she can fake her way into what she perceives as this exclusive sisterhood. Basically, to her, the hottest club in New York is Namaste Prenatal Yoga.

When we first meet Lainy, she has been dating manchild Dave (Damon Wayans Jr.) for four years. After he makes reservations at a fancy restaurant, she excitedly assumes that he plans to finally pop the question. Not shockingly, he is on a completely different wavelength. When Dave gives her a more indecent proposal, she goes off the rails. After Lainy gets all of this zany anger out of her system, this movie becomes a funny exploration of pregnancy and mom culture, the good, the bad, and the ugly. 

Director Tyler Spindel and Broadway sat down together to chat with Entertainment Voice about “Kinda Pregnant.” Spindel revealed that he was inspired to make this feature after being with his sister during her own labor. “Me and her husband were in the delivery room and my sister took both of our hands and bit down on them as she was giving birth. And as I was screaming, I was going, ‘I think I want to do a movie about this at some point.’ Inspiration comes in the craziest ways.”

Spindel may not personally know what it is like to be pregnant, but that did not stop him from undertaking extensive research in order to tell this story. “I wanted it to be authentic, so I went and I did a lot of the things that you do when you’re pregnant. I went to a pregnancy yoga class, I took a pregnancy test, which was wild, because it came out positive. Obviously, it was a false positive, but it still shook me up for a second. I took another one just to make sure.”

Schumer, who co-wrote the screenplay with Julie Paiva, is a natural choice to play Lainy, not only because of her comedic talents, but also due to pregnancy, birth and motherhood being recurring themes in her work, including in her stand-up, her docuseries “Expecting Amy,” and in the second season of her comedy-drama series “Life & Beth.” She has been vocal about the flipside of pregnancy, that while society can put pregnant women on a pedestal, the reality is that they are at their most vulnerable during this time. We see some of this through Megan (Brianne Howey), a new friend Lainy meets at prenatal yoga, a legitimately pregnant woman who thinks Lainy is in the same boat.

“Amy’s an amazing, amazing talent,” gushed Spindel. “She is a fearless performer. She’s authentic and a great writer. We worked together so closely on the script, on everything. She’s a really wonderful partner and has such a sharp, creative mind. I feel like we really got each other.”

Schumer does a good job of exploring life through a millennial lens. Broadway’s Shirley, meanwhile, is an exaggerated version of the quintessential gen zer, with her love of live-streaming and living a life that pops best on TikTok. While often well-meaning, she wildly misses the mark when it comes to her grand gestures towards Lainy, which lead to some amusing mishaps.

“She obviously has so many issues,” said Broadway. “She cares about people, but she’s pretty misguided when it comes to that. She’s that friend who just tries her best, thinks she’s doing the right thing, but just misses the mark so hard. But she was such a joy for me to play because I am sometimes kind of an anxious person, and to play someone who’s so out there, and takes up so much space… taught me how to take up space, that’s for sure.”

Early on, Lainy, dressed in baggy sweats, has a meet-cute in a coffee shop with Josh (Will Forte), a sweet and funny Zamboni driver. More than eight million people live in New York City, but in true rom-com fashion, Josh turns out to be the sister of Megan, meaning she has to keep up her charade of being pregnant around him. Despite this, they manage to have a soulful connection. In one memorable scene, Lainy recites her favorite poem to him. What makes this onscreen romance feel more genuine is probably the fact that Forte is not a traditional romantic lead. 

Casting an actor like Forte, who usually plays oddballs, as a love interest that ends up spouting poetry, may have been a gamble for Spindel, but he proves to be endearing. “Will is the best,” said the director. “Amy really liked the idea of Will. We both thought he was so talented.”

Josh is certainly an upgrade from Dave, who reappears a few times after the breakup, and Schumer as Lainy has fun playing with her ex in her “pregnant” state. While Lainy’s whole charade is something that can only happen in a comedy and does not come from the most mature place, it is rewarding to see her learn to love herself in the midst of all the chaos. Some of the best scenes are the ones that are more grounded in reality, such as when she has closure with Dave and gets her self-worth back.

“Kinda Pregnant” begins streaming Feb. 5 on Netflix.