Nine Months

Nine Months
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Chris Columbus
Screenplay by	Chris Columbus
Based on	Neuf mois by Patrick Braoudé
Produced by	Michael Barnathan Anne François Mark Radcliffe Chris Columbus
Starring	Hugh Grant Julianne Moore Tom Arnold Joan Cusack Jeff Goldblum Robin Williams
Cinematography	Donald McAlpine
Edited by	Raja Gosnell
Music by	Hans Zimmer
Production company	1492 Pictures
Distributed by	20th Century Fox
Release date	July 14, 1995 (1995-07-14)
Running time	103 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Box office	$138.5 million

Nine Months is a 1995 American romantic comedy film written and directed by Chris Columbus. The film stars Hugh Grant, Julianne Moore, Tom Arnold, Joan Cusack, Jeff Goldblum, and Robin Williams. It is a remake of the French film Neuf mois and served as Grant's first US starring role. It was filmed on location in the San Francisco Bay Area. The original music score was composed by Hans Zimmer. It was released on July 14, 1995, received mixed reviews from critics, and grossed $138 million worldwide.

Plot

Child psychologist Samuel Faulkner has an ideal romance with ballet teacher Rebecca Taylor. Rebecca is thinking about marriage and children. Samuel is against the idea of marriage as he is happy with how things are between them. This all changes when Rebecca declares she is pregnant, and when questioned by Samuel about her birth control she replies that birth control is only 97% effective.

Samuel's fears mount due to his encounters with overbearing couple Marty and Gail Dwyer and their three young unruly daughters, as well as the confusing advice he gets from Sean, his perpetually single artist friend and Gail's brother. Samuel is confused and unsure about what to do. Feeling neglected, Rebecca leaves him and moves in with Marty and Gail. Samuel tries to contact her but she does not respond.

When a girl makes a move on Samuel, he declines, saying he's not ready to move on yet. When he sees an ultrasound of his soon-to-be-born son, he decides that it is time to take responsibility before it is too late. He sells his Porsche 911, buys a family SUV, and gets back together with Rebecca. They then get married and have their baby boy together.

Cast

• Hugh Grant as Samuel Faulkner
• Julianne Moore as Rebecca Taylor-Faulkner
• Tom Arnold as Marty Dwyer
• Joan Cusack as Gail Dwyer
• Jeff Goldblum as Sean Fletcher
• Robin Williams as Dr. Kosevich
• Mia Cottet as Lili
• Joey Simmrin as Truman
• Ashley Johnson as Shannon Dwyer
• Alexa Vega as Molly Dwyer
• Aislin Roche as Patsy Dwyer
• Zelda Williams as Little Girl No. 3 in Ballet Class
• Charles Martinet as Arnie
• Kristin Davis as Tennis Attendant
• Priscilla Alden as Older Woman
• Betsy Aidem as Gail's Nurse

Production

Nine Months was filmed in the San Francisco area, including Marin County, Napa Valley, and Oakland, beginning in October 1994.

Music

• "The Time of Your Life"
  • Written by Steve Van Zandt
  • Performed by Little Steven
• "These Are the Days"
  • Written and Performed by Van Morrison
• "Let's Get It On"
  • Written by Marvin Gaye and Ed Townsend
  • Performed by Marvin Gaye
• "Baby, I Love You"
  • Written by Phil Spector, Ellie Greenwich and Jeff Barry
  • Performed by The Ronettes
• "Turn Back the Hands of Time"
  • Written by Bonnie F. Thompson and Jack Daniels
  • Performed by Tyrone Davis
• "19th Nervous Breakdown"
  • Written by Mick Jagger and Keith Richards
  • Performed by The Rolling Stones

Reception

Box office

The movie debuted at #3 at the box office behind Apollo 13 and Under Siege 2: Dark Territory with $12.5 million in its opening weekend. Nine Months went on to gross $138.5 million worldwide.

Critical response

On Rotten Tomatoes the film holds an approval rating of 26% based on 31 reviews, with an average rating of 4.6/10. The site's critics consensus states: "Nine Months finds writer-director Chris Columbus playing to his worst comedic instincts -- and relying far too heavily on the trademark tics of his miscast leading man." On Metacritic the film has a weighted average score of 47 out of 100, based on 23 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews". Audiences surveyed by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade "A-" on scale of A+ to F.

Roger Ebert gave the film two stars, saying, "Nine Months is one of those movies where the outcome is abundantly clear to everyone but the hero, who remains in the hapless position of playing dumb because, if he didn't, there wouldn't be a plot." Todd McCarthy of Variety called it "An exceedingly safe and conventional Chris Columbus comedy."

Hugh Grant's opinion

Grant has spoken disparagingly of his performance in Nine Months, stating in an interview with the SAG-AFTRA Foundation that: "I really ruined it. And it was entirely my fault. I panicked, it was such a big jump up from what I'd been paid before to what they were offering me. And the scale was inhuman to my standards, you know the scale of the production, 20th Century Fox, the whole thing. And I just tried much too hard, and you know I forgot to do basic acting things, like mean it. So I pulled faces and overacted, it was a shocker."

On another occasion, he referred to director Chris Columbus as a "genius" and his "brilliant" co-stars, but further commented: "You know, having been paid £20,000 or whatever it was, to do Four Weddings and a Funeral, if you're suddenly paid millions, you think well I better ramp up my performance by 200 times. But all that means is that you overact grotesquely, which is what I did. So I'm always very apologetic to those people."

Grant says his disappointment at his performance in Nine Months, following a preview of the film, led him to "a Ken Russell kind of lunch" and later, engaging in a sex act with Divine Brown in Los Angeles in 1995.

External links

• Nine Months at IMDb
• Nine Months at AllMovie
• Nine Months at the TCM Movie Database
• Nine Months at the AFI Catalog of Feature Films
• Nine Months at Box Office Mojo