Customer Reviews

Deadbeat Dads/Baby Mama Drama [VHS]

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DEADBEAT DADS / BABY MAMA DRAMA (1999)
directed by Ian Massive
approx. 1 hour 40 minutes

When I first saw the box for this movie, I expected it to be somewhere between 'Ricki Lake' and 'COPS'. Thank goodness I was wrong! The idea behind this documentary is to show how "dead beat" parents affect children growing up, especially in the black community.

The movie starts out with the director telling his own family story. His dad claimed he could not be the biological father because the director (Ian) had a darker complexion. His father was a dead beat and left his mother to raise the boys. The director says that his brother became involved with crime at a young age and later became a dead beat dad himself.

The first part of the tape ('DEADBEAT DADS') is about 45 minutes long. There are some sections that DO resemble 'COPS' in that there is footage of the "Deadbeat Dad Task Force" apprehending guys for not paying their child support. The mothers are right there to identify them, making the scenes very intense. These segements are sandwiched between interviews or monologues from men and women who are trying to raise kids on their own. Most of these people also grew up without a father. There are some brief interludes where statistics are shown on the screen and rap music is played in the background.

The second part ('BABY MAMA DRAMA') is only partly about women who leave out on their kids. The majority of it is a debate called "Men vs. Women: The Final Confrontation" (a little melodramatic). All of the people seen throughout the movie are basically in a room together and debate back and forth issues about parenting and relationships. You see some people who have raised several kids on their own and others who had their kids taken away from them. Some "hot button" subjects are discussed, from whether or not a man who doesn't pay child support deserves to see his children to the differences between dating black women and non-black women. The conclusion (if there is one) is that parents should do whats best for the children and be responsible for their actions.

The production value for this movie is not very high and sometimes the interviews are a little dry. The sound levels vary at times too, making it hard to hear some of the more emotional interview subjects. There is almost no music in the entire movie, except for the brief interludes and a "bonus song" the director sings at the end of the tape. Nevertheless, this tape would be great for counselling or discussion sessions. The director did a good job taking a sensitive subject and not turning it into exploitation (except for the cover art). Hopefully it will get a re-release so more people can see it.