8 /10

Let's Ruin it With Babies concerns the mid-thirties couple of Channing and Chaz (writer/director Kestrin Pantera and her real-life husband Jonathan Grubb, respectively), who still cling on to their dreams of making their career hauling a large party bus across the United States for passersby to join in on fun, random karaoke nights. This is the kind of ridiculous dream you have in college before growing up and hopefully accepting some cushy job, maybe attending to the idea once more when you're in the middle of a dire midlife crisis. Chaz, for one, recognizes this pipedream and decides not to join his loving wife on her cross-country trek to try and see if this karaoke bus is a feasible idea, much to her dismay. Chaz, in turn, proposes the idea of settling down and having children, ruining what contentment they have come to build for themselves.



Channing sets out on the road with a few other friends, aboard an enormous party-bus, decked out with food, decorations, and a karaoke machine. She realizes she's getting too old for this, and this dream should've stayed a disjointed barrage of notes on a cocktail napkin or as a text between her and her friend or husband. However, Channing doesn't want to recognize this; she's far too absorbed in herself, not like a narcissist, but more like someone's who most prominent concern is her current state of satisfaction. On the road, she encounters numerous locals, breaks down, melts down, and becomes faced with her greatest enemy, which I don't believe needs another mention.



Let's Ruin it With Babies is so laidback and sunny that's it's difficult to come up with valid points of criticism, or worse, be burdened by them as we watch nuanced conversation take place. There's a great deal of fun to be had, simply watching Channing interact with many different people on what would've been a more ordinary day if she simply decided to stay home and unwind rather than embark on a trip through the United States in an oversized RV bus. The film has the kind of quality that Jay Gammill's Free Samples did, where actress Jess Weixler took over for her friend, working an ice-cream truck in the middle of a parking lot where it seemed everyone else in the world was moving in the right direction accept her, figuratively and literally. Free Samples and Let's Ruin it With Babies both charm because they have attitudes as nonchalant and relaxed as their lead characters and operate by juxtaposing the attitudes, increasing in pace and in progression depending on the moods of their characters.



Some of the film's strongest scenes take place when the karaoke bus breaks down and a mechanic is called to evaluate and repair the bus. The mechanic, played by Patrick Daniel, ostensibly appears like the offbeat stranger who comes in at the nick of time before turning into a totally different character than we expect. Yes, the scene contradicts the relaxed mood of Let's Ruin it With Babies, but operates in a way that also contradicts Channing's view of life by showing her the more unexpected side of life that comes into play when one makes unexpected decisions with their own life. It's a hilarious, while simultaneously frightening, band of scenes, but thus is Let's Ruin it With Babies, and thus is life.



Starring: Kestrin Pantera and Jonathan Grubb. Directed by: Kestrin Pantera.