Baby's Day Out (1994)

After three kidnappers lose the baby they have kidnapped, both the cops and kidnappers go looking for the baby.

Director:

Patrick Read Johnson

Writer:

John Hughes

Stars:

Lara Flynn Boyle, Joe Mantegna, Joe Pantoliano

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Joe Mantegna	...	Eddie
Lara Flynn Boyle	...	Laraine Cotwell
Joe Pantoliano	...	Norby
Brian Haley	...	Veeko
Cynthia Nixon	...	Gilbertine
Fred Dalton Thompson	...	FBI Agent Dale Grissom
John Neville	...	Mr. Andrews
Matthew Glave	...	Bennington Cotwell
Adam Robert Worton	...	Baby Bink #1
Jacob Joseph Worton	...	Baby Bink #2
Brigid Duffy	...	Sally
Guy Hadley	...	FBI Agent
Eddie Bracken	...	Old Timer
Kenneth L. Jordahl	...	Old Soldier #1
Raymond Henders	...	Old Soldier #2

Storyline

Baby Bink couldn't ask for more; he has adoring (if somewhat sickly-sweet) parents, he lives in a huge mansion, and he's just about to appear in the social pages of the paper. Unfortunately, not everyone in the world is as nice as Baby Bink's parents; especially the three enterprising kidnappers who pretend to be photographers from the newspaper. Successfully kidnapping Baby Bink, they have a harder time keeping hold of the rascal, who not only keeps one step ahead of them, but seems to be more than a little bit smarter than the three bumbling criminals.

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Plot Keywords:

babies | mother | father | 1990s | 90s | 

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Taglines:

Adventure from a whole new perspective.

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Genres:

Adventure | Comedy | Crime | Drama | Family

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG for mild language and comic action

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

1 July 1994 (USA)

Also Known As:

Agarrem Esse Bebé

Filming Locations:

20th Century Fox Studios - 10201 Pico Blvd., Century City, Los Angeles, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$50,000,000 (estimated)

Gross USA:

$16,671,505

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$27,371,505

Company Credits

Production Co:

Twentieth Century Fox, Hughes Entertainment

Technical Specs

Runtime:

99 min

Sound Mix:

DTS Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

In a 2009 essay, published after the death of John Hughes, Roger Ebert included this tidbit about a trip to India: "Once when I was visiting the largest movie theater in Calcutta, I asked if Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope (1977) had been their most successful American film. No, I was told, it was Baby's Day Out, a Hughes comedy about a baby wandering through a big city, which played for more than a year." An Indian remake, Sisindri (1995) was released the following year.

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Goofs

Obvious stunt double when Eddie falls into the trash dumpster.

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Quotes

[Bennington Cotwell returns home after hearing that his son has been kidnapped to find his wife waiting for him]
Laraine Cotwell: All I wanted was to have my baby's picture on the paper.
[She shows him the newspaper, which its headlines shows a picture of Baby Bink, but the story is of Bink being kidnapped]
Laraine Cotwell: [sarcastically] I've got my wish.

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Connections

Features Twelve O'Clock High (1949)

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Soundtracks

This Is The Army, Mr. Jones
Written by Irving Berlin

User Reviews

Oh, "Baby"!

Dumb laughs are easy to come by. Dumb characters are even easier. But when you get a movie that is so endearingly, goofily dumb as "Baby's day Out", you can't help but love it!

The plot is straight out of Cartoon Land, with a low bow in the Three Stooges' direction compliments of scripter John Hughes (surprise!). Three of the dimmest kidnappers in history (Mantegna, Pantoliano and Haley) make the mistake of kidnapping a rich couple's little baby, who turns out to be far more resourceful than all three of them combined. And a lot more ruthless.

During the course of the day, baby Bink (Warton and Warton) leads the dumb bad guys throughout the width and breadth of Chicago and leaves them all bruised, beaten, burnt, plummeted from innumerable high drops and otherwise humiliated ("we've had the living hell torn out of us by a baby," screams Mantegna at one point). And all the while, we're laughing.

I saw this in the theatre when it first came out and, I must admit, the entire packed-in audience was laughing hysterically at every single pratfall, gag and slapstick business that occurred. I love this kind of movie and seeing the great Joe Mantegna take his lumps so valiantly brings a smile in itself.

It's nice to play dumb once in a while. And even nicer to witness it.

Eight stars for "Baby's Day Out". If you like such laughs, it'll make your "Day".