Review of The Baby Dance

I just saw THE BABY DANCE for the first time a few months ago and can rarely recall a movie taking me through the emotional wringer that this one did. The trip was worth it though because the movie starred two of our best actresses, Stockard Channing (who I think can do no wrong) and Laura Dern. Channing and Peter Wiegert play a wealthy couple who are planning to adopt a baby from a poor Louisiana couple (Dern and Richard Lineback) who already have three kids and live in a trailer. As I watched the film, I found myself switching allegiances with each couple as the film progressed. At first it seemed like the trailer trash was taking advantage of the rich folks but then I was angered when the rich folks had second thoughts about adopting the baby when it is revealed that the baby might be brain-damaged. The film gives a pretty even depiction of what both couples are going through and throws a lot of difficult questions out there and doesn't provide easy answers. If you're paying a couple to have a baby for you, do they have the right to use that money anyway they want? Do you have the right to back out of an adoption agreement because there is something wrong with the baby. The film is not the easiest watch, but it is worth checking out for the superb performances of Stockard Channing and Laura Dern.