When the Bough Breaks (2016 film)

Plot summary

A married couple in their 40s, John and Laura Taylor (Morris Chestnut and Regina Hall) desperately want to have a baby, but are unable to have a lasting pregnancy. Laura has already suffered three miscarriages. After attempting all other options, the couple hire a beautiful young woman named Anna (Jaz Sinclair) who agrees to become a gestational surrogate mother for the Taylors. Everything seems fine until Anna starts to develop a fixation on John as the pregnancy moves further along. Anna's growing obsession interferes with what was a plan by her and her boyfriend, Mike, to scam the couple by demanding money. When Mike pushes Anna to demand money, she kills him. Anna's psychotic and dangerous fixation with John becomes a deadly obsession. They attempt to fight against Anna's psychopathic game to regain control of their life. Anna kills the family cat and then hits Laura in the head with a lamp, giving birth at the same time. Anna flees to the family lake-house with the baby. John and Laura find her and Laura runs over Anna with her car, killing her.

Cast

Production

On October 29, 2014, Sony's Screen Gems hired Jon Cassar to direct When the Bough Breaks, which Robert Shaye and Michael Lynne were producing. On November 18, 2014, Morris Chestnut and Regina Hall were cast to play the lead roles. On December 16, 2014, Jaz Sinclair signed on to co-star. On January 8, 2015, Theo Rossi was added to the film.

Filming

Production was first set to begin in late January 2015 in New Orleans, Louisiana. Filming began on February 2, 2015 in New Orleans, and was confirmed by Screen Gems on February 11. Filming was taking place on St. Charles Avenue in early March, and was scheduled to end in mid-March 2015.

Release

On March 30, 2015, Screen Gems announced that the film was slated to be released on September 16, 2016. On April 13, 2016, Sony Pictures released the first trailer for the film. In May 2016, the release date was moved up to September 9, 2016.

Home media

When the Bough Breaks was released by Sony Pictures Home Entertainment on Blu-ray and DVD on December 27, 2016, with a digital release on December 13, 2016.

Box office

In the United States, When the Bough Breaks was released on September 9, 2016, alongside The Disappointments Room, Sully and The Wild Life, with the studio projecting it to gross $10–12 million from 2,246 theaters in its opening weekend. Some publications, however, had the film opening to $16–20 million, with some going as high as $25 million. The film grossed $5.3 million on its first day and $15 million in its opening weekend, finishing second at the box office.

Critical response

When the Bough Breaks was heavily panned by critics. On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 12%, based on 17 reviews, with an average rating of 3.7/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "Shallow, clichéd, and silly instead of suspenseful, When the Bough Breaks offers nothing domestic thriller fans haven't already seen before – and done far better." On Metacritic, the film has a score of 28 out of 100, based on 9 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B" on an A+ to F scale.

Many critics compared When the Bough Breaks to made-for-television films typically produced by Lifetime. Neil Genzlinger of The New York Times criticized Jon Cassar's direction, suggesting that "Hollywood needs to give the reductive, crazy, sex-obsessed female character a permanent rest."

In a review for Rogerebert.com, Nick Allen criticized the film's premise as "morally tasteless," writing, "Despite the story’s initially completely baffling but welcome focus on characters for a change, the movie is baffled by the requirement of motivation, instead wanting to honor ideas of obsession while finding a way to get some dead body insert shots into the mix."