I love parodies. Even the real bad parodies that have been churned out lately hold a bit of appeal for me, but I do hate walking away disappointed. Baby Jane? does a very good job of parodying and skewering (and skewing) the infamous What Ever Happened To Baby Jane?, but it misses the mark in several important places that needed to be hit directly. The biggest miss, in my opinion, was the dreadfully awful timing in the delivery of the most famous line -- "Butcha arrr, Blanche. Ya arrrr in that wheelchair". I got the impression they were trying to do a Rocky Horror-esque type of audience participation routine, but the overly long pauses accompanied by grotesque facial expressions simply ruined what could have been a comedic gold moment, instead of reducing it to a fabled let down. That is not to say that other moments didn't have perfect timing. Jane swinging the hammer for the first time at Elvira (and missing) caught me by total surprise and gave me a true laugh out loud moment. I would have liked to have seen that scene added to a bit, perhaps another swing and a miss, and then Elvira not staying down for the count, but it actually was fine just the way it was.
Another thing that bothered me throughout was the actor portraying Jane was very inconsistent in keeping the Bette Davis voice in place. At times it was non-existent, at other times it was weakly there, and at other times it was an excellent and eerie rendering of the original character.
The actor portraying Blanche played her pretty much straight up. There was an edge lacking in the character, but all in all he pretty much got her right, although just a bit too tepidly. I did love the entire scene with the typewritten notes and the playing with the original scene when everyone wondered why Blanche simply didn't yell out that open window to her neighbor. It was done maddeningly well this time around, and deserves kudos.
The movie had many good points too, and the sudden appearances of off the wall comedic elements (such as the two detectives in the car) were hilarious and a welcome addition to the movie. There seemed to have been a little uneven editing here and there, particularly with Edwin's second appearance, but anyone who knows the original movie can forgive that.
Baby Jane? is a fun way to spend some time, and probably lots of fun if you're in a group of queens smoking weed and drinking mimosas or JD. I watched it alone and had a great time, but I love camp. Don't expect perfection, but do expect some laughs, and even some poignant moments.
