by Ginger Voight

Created on: July 02, 2008   Last Updated: April 27, 2010

"Miss Conception" is the story of Georgina, a woman who wants one thing more than any other. A baby. Mother Nature, however, has other plans. Georgina only has one egg - and one chance of getting pregnant - left, and she just broke up with her six year boyfriend, Zak.

Her industrious best friend Clem has a pragmatic solution to Georgina's problem. They hatch a plan that will utilize the last four fertile days Georgina has left. This includes, among other things, picking up guys a funeral, internet sperm and a turkey baster and - as a last resort - her gay best friend.

Though the premise is definitely chaotic enough to be funny, the story writer Camilla Leslie weaves is actually more heartfelt than humorous. There are moments of comic discomfort as the very desirable Heather Graham, who plays Georgina, discovers picking up a guy for sex isn't quite as easy as it sounds on paper. However moments of laughter are few and far between and I think it falls more under the "dramedy" umbrella than true comedy.

Indeed in the hands of a lesser writer the material could have been too silly or hackneyed.
What sells this story is the genuine way the lead character is portrayed. She so earnestly wants to be a mother, and to get pregnant by the boyfriend she still loves (played by Tom Ellis), that we as the audience begin to want both those things for her.

And as the clock ticks down and each of her plans unravel, it is our sympathy for this quickly fading dream that keep us invested in her journey - especially when Zak finally realizes what he wants is Georgina and that which makes her happy. It becomes a race to the finish in who will fertilize that last precious egg... if anyone at all.

The canvas is filled in with colorful performances by Mia Kirshner as the best friend, Orlando Seale as the gay man who desperately doesn't want to have to step up to the plate, and Will Mellor as beefcake Brian.

Director Eric Styles handles the delicate nature of infertility with sensitivity, and delivers the story in a way that can make the goal of the lead character - though not conventional - something for which the audience can champion.

In the end, it's more a love story than a story about conception; a look at how far we will go to have the life of our dreams.

More for the girls than the guys, "Miss Conception", has enough humor and heart to earn a place in Chick Flick history.

Three stars.

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