Everybody Needs a Bosom for a Pillow

The Cross Your Heart and WonderBra of newsletters is taking a break from Bennifer breakup-watch to sticker over our zits and marshal our Hot Mom Energy.

What would make the perfect women’s magazine? Juicy yarns, hot goss, big ideas, deeply personal examinations of women’s lives—and none of the advertiser obligations. Welcome to the Spread, where every week two editors read, listen, and watch it all, and deliver only the best to your inbox.

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Dear Spreadoulas, 

Do you have a longtime favorite film about pregnancy? If you answered Junior—Ivan Reitman’s 1994 feminist masterpiece starring Ahnold Schwarzenegger as a pregnant man and Emma Thompson as his ovum donor—well, you’re awesome. If, like Maggie, you were permanently scarred by the hemorrhoid sub-plot in Molly Ringwald’s 1988 gem, For Keeps, we’ll make you an honorary Spreaditor (look out for the Tucks pads in your welcome package). If you answered Rosemary’s Baby or Baby Mama or even Knocked Up—fine, though that last one’s not aging particularly well. If you answered Father of the Bride Part II, honestly, are you sure you’ve come to the right place? (But we’ll give you points for referencing a Diane Keaton movie because, Baby Boom.¹) If you answered Tully, call us and we’ll patch you in to our therapist right away, no questions asked. 

Friends, do you see where we’re headed here? While there are quite a few rich small-screen explorations of the delivery of babies (Dead Ringers, This Is Going to Hurt, Call the Midwife), surprisingly few movies are actually about pregnancy and childbirth. Which brings us to our next question: Is Ilana Glazer on her way to becoming the Billy Wilder of pregnancy cinema? 

Hear us out: In 2021, Glazer wrote and starred in False Positive (streamable on Hulu), translating the real-life body horror of the IVF experience into a sci-fi nightmare featuring Pierce Brosnan as a fertility doctor with a God complex. Was this movie uneven and juvenile in its execution? Sure. Would it have been better as a collab with the Dead Ringers miniseries brain Alice Birch? Of course. But is this nevertheless female territory that urgently needs to be mined, making us grateful to Glazer for getting out there and doing the thing? Abso-fucking-lutely. Now, she’s out with Babes, a raunch-com directed by Spread Idol Pamela Adlon (Better Things), and costarring the always-effervescent Michelle Buteau. In this one, Glazer plays a single mom-to-be navigating all the ambivalence and indignities of the 40-week purgatory we all know and love. The movie hit select theaters last Friday and will be streaming on Hulu pretty soon (we’re nothing if not data-driven around here!) You can also read smart takes about it here, there, and yonder. 

Push now, 

Rachel & Maggie 

P.S. Speaking of! Would you be willing to locate that heart button and give it a good push? You know, birth us some good will? 

P.P.S. This Friday at 9 a.m. EST we’ll be droppin’ a hot slice of Spread like it’s a baby late in its third trimester. Look out!

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