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"Unexpected"
HHH
U.S. Dramatic
The universal act of having a baby plays out in interesting and humorous ways in "Unexpected," a well-performed comedy-drama about class differences and similarities. Samantha Abbott (Cobie Smulders), a science teacher in a soon-to-be-closed inner-city Chicago high school, finds out she's pregnant — which prompts her boyfriend John (Anders Holm) to propose, and suggest she become a stay-at-home mom. Samantha soon learns that her best student, college-bound Jasmine (Gail Bean), is also pregnant, and they're both due around the same time. What follows in a well-structured script, by director Kris Swanberg and her writing partner Megan Mercier, that points out the different worlds in which the 29-year-old white teacher and the 17-year-old black student are about to bring their children. The humor flows naturally, and both Bean and Smulders give strong performances as women anticipating major changes in their lives.
- Sean P. Means
"Unexpected" is screening in the U.S. Dramatic competition of the 2015 Sundance Film Festival. It screens again: Monday, 9 p.m., Broadway Centre Cinema 6, Salt Lake City; Tuesday, 9 a.m., Egyptian Theatre, Park City; Friday, 12:15 p.m., Eccles Theatre, Park City; Saturday, 3 p.m., Redstone Cinema 7, Park City.