Babes is the debut feature film from Pamela Adlon, who is most known for creating and starring in the series Better Things, but she’s been around in various capacities forever. And Babes suggests a promising future for this first time filmmaker.Or maybe she just had a great time making a movie with her friends. Ilana Glazer, of Broad City fame, co-wrote the screenplay and is first on the call sheet, alongside Michelle Buteau, who has blown up in popularity in recent years due to a number of successful Netflix projects.

Eden (Glazer) and Dawn (Buteau) are lifelong BFFs whose almost uncomfortably intimate, hold-nothing-back friendship starts to be threatened by various aspects of adulthood. A dentist and mother of two small children, Dawn’s life has moved on in ways Eden’s has not. Eden is perpetually single and stuck in a sort of prolonged adolescence. However, once Eden becomes pregnant after a one-night stand, their friendship and life plans begin to shift and ultimately unravel. 

Babes is a bit awkward tonally. A lot of the time, it has the big, broad, sitcommy kind of humor that is bound to be very mass-audience friendly, and then it has a jarring shift to something more emotional and quite sad. And it doesn’t always feel like the movie earns that. But as a joke machine, Babes hits more than it misses. It’s funny, weird, gross and a little shocking in its honesty about the aspects of pregnancy and motherhood people don’t talk about. This is more powerfully and effectively depicted in the Charlize Theron movie Tully, but I’ll let it slide. Pamela Adlon wants to make you laugh. And Babes is so packed with jokes that if one gag doesn’t gag you, don’t worry, there’s another twelve around the corner.

It’s so fun to see Ilana Glazer back in Broad City mode, effectively playing that exact character maybe a decade later. And Michelle Buteau, whose comedy I’ve always enjoyed, proves herself a proper movie star here. Her comic timing as well as her handling of the more dramatic material, is top notch, and she’s the star of the show. We also have a very nice round-up of supporting players including John Carroll Lynch, who has a great recurring gag, Hasan Minhaj, as Dawn’s exhausted husband, Oliver Platt in a very good single scene, and comedy legend Sandra Bernhard as Dawn’s boss. It’s clear all of these people are having a great time making this, and the writing is mostly strong enough to back them up.

Babes isn’t always a slam-dunk, but when it hits comedically, it hits hard. The shifting from the big raunchy comedy set pieces to the more intense conversations about female friendships and chosen family, and the longevity of a friendship, can feel a bit rushed and awkward. But overall, the honesty here seals the deal. Despite this movie being about people in New York City who never talk about money, and own real estate they couldn’t possibly afford, there’s a lot of truth in here. I think this will resonate with its intended audience and make a lot of people laugh.