Mum, I’m Alien Pregnant follows Mary (Hannah Lynch), a thirtysomething underachiever who becomes unexpectedly pregnant after her shy neighbour Boo (Arlo Green) ejaculates on her in their communal laundry room using his tentacle-bearing alien penis. The film offers little explanation for Boo’s unusual anatomy, instead building comedy from the characters’ restrained responses to increasingly bizarre events.
That deadpan approach extends to Mary’s single mother, Cynthia (Yvette Parsons), and Boo’s mother, Ann (Jackie van Beek). After mucus, tissue and alien gristle emerge from Mary, Cynthia is more exasperated by her daughter’s farting, while Ann worries about the mess in her immaculate flat and apologises to visitors for the disorder. Even the paramedics, Sofia (Karen O’Leary) and Sophie (Ariadne Baltazar), remain composed.
The story can be read as touching on single motherhood and the changes pregnancy brings to the body, but its focus is on slow-building jokes and gross-out imagery. The cast’s calm delivery gives the New Zealand comedy horror its amusingly offbeat tone.
Sources: The Guardian Film.