[Tribeca Film Festival 2021 Review] It's no Rosemary's Baby, but False Positive is good fun

With its setup of a scared young woman fearing for her pregnancy, False Positive is an obvious gloss on Rosemary’s Baby, the grandmommy of all pregnancy horror movies. That it falls far short of that film is no surprise; few films could match the eerie, zeitgeist shifting spell of the 1968 classic. But False Positive, directed by John Lee from a script by him and star Ilana Glazer (Broad City) is good, pulpy fun. It has a good time with the tropes: the enigmatic, seemingly supportive husband (Justin Theroux, sexy scruffy as always); the jovial but clearly sinister gynecologist (Pierce Brosnan, who’s so perfect as a villain it’s a wonder he’s played anything else); the bizarre gaslighting (which remains all too relevant in 2021).

Lucy (Glazer) and her husband Adrian (Theroux, named after Rosemary’s baby) seek fertility counseling from Adrian’s colleague and mentor Dr. John Hindle (Brosnan), who’s renowned for his innovative technique. Hindle’s office is a gleaming clinic that all but screams “this is too good to be true”; Gretchen Mol plays Dawn, the perpetually perky Stepford nurse. Lucy and Adrian are overjoyed when they quickly become pregnant, but they hit a snare: Lucy’s pregnant with male twins and a girl, and she’s forced to decide which to abort in favor of the other’s survival. Before long, she’s convinced something is seriously wrong, while everyone around her, from Adrian to her mommy support group friend (Sophia Bush) to her bro boss (AHS: Coven’s Josh Hamilton) contradicts and doubts her. The trappings of contemporary pregnancy-- Instagram, Goop style holistics, the relentless use of the term “mommie brain”-- curdle into something oppressive and frightening.

False Positive does a nice job adapting its formula to the current moment, anchored by a strong dramatic performance from Glazer. It’s greatest strength is its ability to convey Lucy’s extreme discomfort and stress. There are some innovative touches, like a surreal moment of homoeroticism and a clever play on Lucy’s subconsciously racist veneration of a black midwife (Zainab Jah). But the movie stumbles in its climax, with an underwhelming reveal and an arch campiness that stretches the film’s tone. It gets back on track a bit with the resolution, which brings the story back to Lucy’s character and ends on a creepy and poetic note. False Positive is an offbeat effort that’s never less than engaging.

False Positive is now streaming on Hulu.