Summary
In an era where the arrival of new life is paradoxically streamlined into a bustling, almost corporate, enterprise, "The Stork Exchange" plunges viewers into the chaotic heart of the titular institution. Here, infants are no longer delivered by whimsical birds, but rather processed and dispatched with bureaucratic precision. Our story centers on Arthur Piffle, a fastidious but perpetually overwhelmed clerk (portrayed with earnest futility by Manny Gould), whose daily existence is a tightrope walk between meticulous record-keeping and impending disaster. The central conflict ignites when a desperate, expectant father, Bartholomew 'Barty' Bumble (a wonderfully frantic Ben Harrison), arrives, only to discover his pre-ordered bundle of joy has been swapped with another, due to a clerical error or perhaps the mischievous machinations of a rogue delivery agent. The film then unravels as Barty, against the immovable wall of Stork Exchange protocol, embarks on a frantic, often farcical quest to reclaim his rightful heir, navigating a labyrinth of paperwork, eccentric colleagues, and the ever-present threat of further infant mix-ups. It's a whimsical, if slightly cynical, look at the commodification of something as profoundly personal as parenthood.
