‘Chuck Chuck Baby’ Review – Offbeat British Comedy Makes Sure You Count Your Chickens

You may be wondering what a film called “Chuck Chuck Baby” could possibly be about. I’m gonna stop you right there, it’s not that. This is a film fully prepared to rattle your senses and make you reconsider what a romance, a musical, or a British comedy can be. Set in present-day North Wales, Helen (Louise Brealey) is living a rather miserable life. She still lives with her oafish brute of a husband who now has a dippy young wife and a newborn baby, while Helen’s been relegated to an adjacent room. She stays there to take care of her dying mother-in-law, Gwen (Sorcha Cusack) whom she has always been close to, while her husband takes half her salary.

It isn’t until Helen is driving to work her overnight shift at a chicken packing factory that we get our first glimpse of the kind of world we’re in. It is one of magical realism, where everyone can hear the music in your head, and they all sing along to it, karaoke-style. And the chicken packing factory is an all-female workplace called – get this – Chuck Chuck Baby. Helen works alongside comforting companion Lynn (Emily Aston), hypersexual but motherly Clare (Cat Simmons), foul-mouthed and straightforward Paula (Beverly Rudd), and secret hairstylist Katrina (Edyta Budnik) as the women pack chickens to be sent to groceries all over the world and chat about their lives.

The real story of the film comes to light when Helen’s secret childhood crush Joanne (Annabel Scholey) comes back to town following the death of her father. The feelings are reignited between the two and they begin a romance that’s threatened by all the forces around them. There’s a sweetness to the film as well as a raw humanity that looks at love, loss, grief, womanhood, and autonomy through a neorealist lens and to the music of Janis Ian, Neil Diamond, and Minnie Riperton. 

The music is a standout, filled with amazing songs that are easy to sing along to. But it’s the style in which many of them are utilized in the film that could come across as challenging for viewers. For instance, the songs aren’t really integrated into the film as a traditional musical would be. They are heard by us as the audience, and then characters will half-mouth the lyrics, occasionally singing outwardly. At times, the songs will be played on the radio, but more often than not, they’re just in the mind of the person singing it. It’s a very jarring technique that could be a sticking point for some audiences. This choice reflects Helen’s reality at the moment. Feeling as if she can’t sing out loud or really say what she wants to say or even gain what it is she hopes to gain. The dream feels too out of her reach, too unnatural, and too late.

Along with that, Joanne is facing her own challenges as she’s staying in her father’s old house, and the memories of her time there come back to haunt her. Sadly, the film only hints at what these moments are, and we never get a full understanding of what happened to Joanne as a child. While it’s open to interpretation, the ambiguity of it makes Joanne’s actions seem irrational and with so much emphasis placed on this issue, you’re waiting for the reveal of what shaped Joanne’s life from her youth going forward, but that revelation never comes. The second-chance-at-love and the starting-a-new-life-unafraid themes that are presented in the film are handled well enough and Brealey and Scholey do exceptional work as our leads, but there’s a big space in the narrative that needed to be filled, and a lot of fluff surrounding those two themes that could have been shaved down. Chuck Chuck Baby is a pretty life-affirming film for anyone wondering if there’s the possibility of romance and freedom available to them later in life, it’s just a bit of a rickety road to get there.

Chuck Chuck Baby is currently playing in select theaters courtesy of Dark Star Pictures. The film will be available on Digital and On Demand platforms on August 27, 2024.