Choices

Melissa Gilbert is convincingly cast as a haughty rich kid in New York City, the daughter of a recently-retired judge who has married for the second time, who is busy failing her courses at college and fighting with her boyfriend over commitment issues when she discovers she's five weeks pregnant. Actually, we find out before she does: in the movie's first few minutes, Gilbert is alternately eating and throwing up at her father's fancy get-together (alert! Plot predicament ahead!). She doesn't want to tell Dad her secret--who doesn't buy into the whole abortion argument--though she does confide in her 38-year-old stepmother, a supporter of a woman's right to choose (and who soon finds she's expecting as well!). Tacky TV-movie from director David Lowell Rich is full of gaffes and poor editing decisions, not to mention talented actors George C. Scott and Jacqueline Bisset looking uncomfortable in their roles. As for our heroine, Gilbert takes a waitressing job at the "American Rock Cafe"--featuring Beatles dolls in the lobby--simply as an excuse to pad the movie with teenagers and blaring music (and, later, shots of Gilbert gettin' down on the dance floor). Later, we see her go back to a boy's apartment and fall seductively on his bed (alert! She's asking for more trouble!) before suddenly gaining a conscience and leaving. No one in the film seems very smart in their arguments, and the sidesteps writer Judith Parker takes in trying to explain how two modern women can get unexpectedly pregnant in this era of birth control is idiotic. "Choices" wants to explore all sides of a controversial topic; however, by using unappealing people as voice boxes, it never gets out of the gate. *1/2 from ****