Unexpected
Unexpected is a simple but powerful movie about the nature of female friendships, the dynamic of teacher and student relationships and how the same experience can be starkly different for women at two ends of the economic spectrum.
Sam (Cobie Smulders) is a high school science teacher at an inner city school in Chicago that is in it’s final semester before closing. As a result, Sam is looking to switch gears in her career but is thrown off course when she finds out she is pregnant. Soon after, one of her students, Jasmine (Gail Bean), also becomes pregnant, and the two develop an unlikely bond as they deal with this new stage of life together.
Sam decides that it is her personal mission to help Jasmine get into a good college, despite her pregnancy. It’s an easy chemistry between the two, but underneath you can feel the tension as Jasmine realizes she may not want to sacrifice time with her child to go to a four year school. Sam loses herself in trying to help and push Jasmine to be her best, and is so focused on that, that she is not getting her own life and mind ready for her personal foray into motherhood. This soon starts affecting her marriage, her relationship with her mother (Elizabeth McGovern), and her professional life.
Smulders is perfect as Sam. Being pregnant herself during the shooting of the film, all of her insecurities about being a mother and bringing a life into this world while also striving to keep one’s personal professional identity is portrayed wonderfully. Newcomer Gail Bean steals the show as the whip smart teen, Jasmine. Bean plays Jasmine with a beautiful strength and wisdom beyond her years, but she is also just a kid who is vulnerable and unsure of her next steps. Bean is a talent to watch, and here is hoping Hollywood will pay the proper attention.
Unexpected is the rocky start to a beautiful friendship. Through their different situations and through their friendship, these two women find themselves wanting very different but equally good things for their babies. A delicate balance of understanding must be made for two such different people to be able to support each other in the ways they need.
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