His wife, though, isn’t around to see a lot of it because, conveniently, she has to make a business trip. His decision-making when Anna starts coming on to him - this woman will bathe or shower at almost any time of day - is pretty terrible. John, a high-powered lawyer, is forced to be the type of inconsistent character you need to make this brand of story work: really smart, except when he needs to not be. Anna turns out to be not quite as stable as she appeared, not to mention having a creepy boyfriend (Theo Rossi of “Sons of Anarchy”). In short order, she is carrying their child.Īpparently, John and Laura don’t go to the movies much, because if they did, they would know that whenever you invite a third person into your happy domestic bubble, whether it’s a roommate or an exchange student or a nanny, only bad things can happen.
![when the bough breaks movie sexism when the bough breaks movie sexism](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BMjEzNDE3MjgxOV5BMl5BanBnXkFtZTgwNzAwMTc5OTE@._V1_.jpg)
They are down to their last viable embryo when a gorgeous 21-year-old named Anna (Jaz Sinclair) appears at the surrogate-mother recruiting agency and seems to be the answer to their prayers. Morris Chestnut, of “Rosewood,” and Regina Hall, of the “Scary Movie” franchise, are John and Laura Taylor, a well-off couple unable to have children. Of course, there are suggestions of untold stories that parallel and bisect the story. “When the Bough Breaks,” about a surrogate pregnancy gone horribly wrong, has a definitive answer: No, it isn’t. When the Bough Breaks sets an all-time record for unresolved loose ends: scars on the back, birth defects, numbers on the palms, role of the full-time ice cream clown, and on and on.
![when the bough breaks movie sexism when the bough breaks movie sexism](https://s.yimg.com/ny/api/res/1.2/Nh.zjD6ELhTFi618hxtjcw--/YXBwaWQ9aGlnaGxhbmRlcjt3PTk2MDtoPTU0MC45NTIzODA5NTIzODE-/https://s.yimg.com/os/en_US/Entertainment/Variety/when-the-bough-breaks-premiere.jpg)
Perhaps you were wondering if it were still possible to wring any suspense out of an unbalanced-third-wheel plot.