Bennington Austin Cotwell IV also known as "Baby Bink" (Adam Robert Worton and Jacob Joseph Worton) is the infant son wealthy Chicago couple Laraine and Beington Austin Cotwell III (Lara Flynn Boyle and Matthew Glave respectively). As the two arrange to have their son photographed for a picture in the newspaper, the photographers are hijacked by criminal trio Eddie (Joe Mantegna), Norby (Joe Pantoliano), and Veeko (Brian Haley) who pose as the photographers in order to get close to Bink and ransom him back to the Cotwells. After successfully kidnapping Bink the trio await the ransom drop scheduled for midnight, but when Norby falls asleep while putting Bink down for a nap, Bink sees a pair of birds which reminds him of his favorite picture book and wanders off from the three crooks to various places around the city as the three inept crooks unsuccessfully try to reacquire Bink only to be met with slapstick punishment.
Baby's Day Out is a 1994 slapstick comedy from prolific writer/producer John Hughes who with the success of 1990s Home Alone refocused himself more towards broad family comedies finding success with the likes of Beethoven, Dennis the Menace, and Home Alone 2 albeit not quite to the level of Home Alone. During the mid 90s Hughes had workshopped a number of ideas at Fox which were designed with increasingly little dialogue exchanges and more on action and slapstick with Baby's Day Out along with unmade pitch The Bee experiments by Hughes in producing comedy films with protagonists who didn't speak much (if at all). Director Patrick Read Johnson had experienced decent success with his debut film Spaced Invaders and on the basis of that film was contacted by Hughes who invited him to read the pitch for Baby's Day Out. As Johnson was an expectant father he gravitated towards the idea of working with babies and agreed to direct. Produced in Chicago the film budgeted $50 million (though brought in at $48 million) was a massive undertaking requiring the construction of several large sets (some reportedly give stories high) and a large amount of time needed to get the appropriate reactions from the twins playing Bink (according to director Johnson, there's supposedly footage of him several feet off the ground in a cherrypicker holding an Elmo doll and doing an impression that was but one of many instances of him trying to get the proper reaction). Despite the pedigree of John Hughes and its position as a major Summer release, Baby's Day Out opened at number 8 at the box office as Disney's The Lion King continued to dominate cinemas and no doubt diverted many of the film's potential audience. Critical reception was skewed negative with some exceptions such as Gene Siskel and Hal Hinson enjoying the film, with many critics lamenting the film as another retread of the Hughes formula. Following the failure of Baby's Day Out and another 1994 Hughes film the remake of Miracle on 34th Street, Hughes would set up shop at Disney which would churn out other Hughes' comedy product. Upon reflection, the movie does have a certain charm to it and it's better than its reputation would suggest.
While movies centered around Baby characters have a...mixed reputation for lack of a better word ranging from the inoffensive mediocrity of the first Look Who's Talking film to the aggressively annoying or borderline disturbing Look Who's Talking sequels or Baby Geniuses movies, what makes Baby's Day Out work is in its simplicity, While the movie follows Baby Bink around as the "main character", Bink doesn't speak aside from babbles and giggles and is more of a chaos agent in the script that a source of wisecracks or one liners which works much better with the slapstick focus of the film. The three crooks played by Joe Mantegna, Joe Pantoliano, and Brian Haley are basically the three stooges by way of Looney Tunes' Rocky and Mugsy and much like Home Alone this movie is another refresh of the O. Henry short story "The Ransom of Red Chief" wherein crooks' attempt at a kidnapping yields punishment by the one they kidnapped, but at least there is a decent amount of difference between the take in Home Alone vs. Baby's Day Out. As the movie is primarily a showcase for slapstick shenanigans, it largely succeeds thanks to Johnson's precision sense of timing and pacing that allows the gags to be funny as well as the commitment from the three crooks who have solid reactions and timing with one another. The movie does have issues such as being a tad too long at 100 minutes and it probably would've benefited from tighter pacing to 85 minutes. The movie also has something of a drag on the comedy in the film as much like Home Alone, Hughes tries to add moments of sentimentality with Lara Flynn Boyle and Matthew Glave's characters, but the scenes don't fit tonally with the rest of the film and only serve to be whiplash from the lighter more slapstick part of the film. This was a sentiment echoed by director Johnson who said test audiences were left uneasy with the kidnapping aspect slightly overshadowing the comedy and Johnson has said that if he were to re-write the film he would've had Bink leave on his own accord because his parents aren't paying attention and then rewrite the three crooks as good natured conmen who try to bring back Bink to get the reward money.
Baby's Day Out is a perfectly decent film that's slightly above the level of many Home Alone inspired films that tried to copy the formula and it's significantly better than the Look Who's Talking series. Most of the criticism that was levied against the film can't really be denied and it was deservedly beat out at the box office by The Lion King, but as an inoffensive piece of broad family entertainment you can certainly do worse.
Baby's Day Out is a 1994 slapstick comedy from prolific writer/producer John Hughes who with the success of 1990s Home Alone refocused himself more towards broad family comedies finding success with the likes of Beethoven, Dennis the Menace, and Home Alone 2 albeit not quite to the level of Home Alone. During the mid 90s Hughes had workshopped a number of ideas at Fox which were designed with increasingly little dialogue exchanges and more on action and slapstick with Baby's Day Out along with unmade pitch The Bee experiments by Hughes in producing comedy films with protagonists who didn't speak much (if at all). Director Patrick Read Johnson had experienced decent success with his debut film Spaced Invaders and on the basis of that film was contacted by Hughes who invited him to read the pitch for Baby's Day Out. As Johnson was an expectant father he gravitated towards the idea of working with babies and agreed to direct. Produced in Chicago the film budgeted $50 million (though brought in at $48 million) was a massive undertaking requiring the construction of several large sets (some reportedly give stories high) and a large amount of time needed to get the appropriate reactions from the twins playing Bink (according to director Johnson, there's supposedly footage of him several feet off the ground in a cherrypicker holding an Elmo doll and doing an impression that was but one of many instances of him trying to get the proper reaction). Despite the pedigree of John Hughes and its position as a major Summer release, Baby's Day Out opened at number 8 at the box office as Disney's The Lion King continued to dominate cinemas and no doubt diverted many of the film's potential audience. Critical reception was skewed negative with some exceptions such as Gene Siskel and Hal Hinson enjoying the film, with many critics lamenting the film as another retread of the Hughes formula. Following the failure of Baby's Day Out and another 1994 Hughes film the remake of Miracle on 34th Street, Hughes would set up shop at Disney which would churn out other Hughes' comedy product. Upon reflection, the movie does have a certain charm to it and it's better than its reputation would suggest.
While movies centered around Baby characters have a...mixed reputation for lack of a better word ranging from the inoffensive mediocrity of the first Look Who's Talking film to the aggressively annoying or borderline disturbing Look Who's Talking sequels or Baby Geniuses movies, what makes Baby's Day Out work is in its simplicity, While the movie follows Baby Bink around as the "main character", Bink doesn't speak aside from babbles and giggles and is more of a chaos agent in the script that a source of wisecracks or one liners which works much better with the slapstick focus of the film. The three crooks played by Joe Mantegna, Joe Pantoliano, and Brian Haley are basically the three stooges by way of Looney Tunes' Rocky and Mugsy and much like Home Alone this movie is another refresh of the O. Henry short story "The Ransom of Red Chief" wherein crooks' attempt at a kidnapping yields punishment by the one they kidnapped, but at least there is a decent amount of difference between the take in Home Alone vs. Baby's Day Out. As the movie is primarily a showcase for slapstick shenanigans, it largely succeeds thanks to Johnson's precision sense of timing and pacing that allows the gags to be funny as well as the commitment from the three crooks who have solid reactions and timing with one another. The movie does have issues such as being a tad too long at 100 minutes and it probably would've benefited from tighter pacing to 85 minutes. The movie also has something of a drag on the comedy in the film as much like Home Alone, Hughes tries to add moments of sentimentality with Lara Flynn Boyle and Matthew Glave's characters, but the scenes don't fit tonally with the rest of the film and only serve to be whiplash from the lighter more slapstick part of the film. This was a sentiment echoed by director Johnson who said test audiences were left uneasy with the kidnapping aspect slightly overshadowing the comedy and Johnson has said that if he were to re-write the film he would've had Bink leave on his own accord because his parents aren't paying attention and then rewrite the three crooks as good natured conmen who try to bring back Bink to get the reward money.
Baby's Day Out is a perfectly decent film that's slightly above the level of many Home Alone inspired films that tried to copy the formula and it's significantly better than the Look Who's Talking series. Most of the criticism that was levied against the film can't really be denied and it was deservedly beat out at the box office by The Lion King, but as an inoffensive piece of broad family entertainment you can certainly do worse.