The Newlyweds Need Help (1928) - That baby is kind of terrifying

You should watch this if you have ten minutes to kill and want to see what passed for parenting humor a century ago. 👶 It is definitely for people who like silent slapstick and old comic strips.

If you find the sight of a small child in a wig slightly creepy, you might want to stay away. It’s a bit of a fever dream in that regard.

The whole thing is based on the Newlyweds and Their Baby comics by George McManus. You can tell because the sets look like they were drawn with a ruler and then built out of cardboard five minutes before filming started.

The star is really Sunny Jim McKeen, who plays the baby, Snookums. He has this weirdly intense face for a kid.

There is a moment where he just stares at the camera and it feels like he is judging the audience. It’s a bit much.

Jack Egan plays the dad and he spends the entire runtime looking like his soul is leaving his body. I think that was just the standard acting style for fathers in 1928.

He moves his arms around so much I thought he was trying to fly away from the plot. It reminded me a little of the frantic energy in Your Wife and Mine, but with less marital spite and more baby-related stress.

Derelys Perdue is the mom and she is fine, I guess. She has to do a lot of that silent movie "clutching the pearls" acting which gets old after the third time.

I noticed that the rug in their living room keeps moving between shots. It’s a small thing but once you see it, you can’t stop looking at the floor.

The pacing is actually pretty fast. It doesn't drag as much as Hard Cider does in its middle section.

There’s a scene where they try to get the kid to behave and it just devolves into total chaos. The editing gets real choppy right there.

It’s funny how they portray "help" in this movie. The help usually just makes everything ten times worse for the sake of a gag.

I wonder if people actually found this relatable back then or if it was just pure slapstick fantasy. Probably a bit of both.

One shot of a vase falling over lingers for like four seconds too long. You can almost hear the director off-camera waiting for it to stop rolling.

It has that same low-budget charm you find in A Rough Party. Everything feels a bit sticky and unorganized.

I liked the part where the dog shows up. The dog is honestly the best actor in the whole production.

There isn't much of a story here, just a series of things going wrong. It’s exhausting to watch if you’re already tired.

I did find myself laughing at the dad’s mustache though. It’s so perfectly groomed even when his life is falling apart.

Is it a classic? No, not really. But it’s a weird little window into what people thought was funny before sound changed everything.

The ending feels very abrupt. Like they just ran out of film and decided to stop right there.

If you're looking for something deep, go watch Les deux gamines instead. This is just pure fluff.

I think I liked it more than I should have just because it’s so short. You can't really get mad at a movie that ends before you can finish a sandwich. 🥪

Sunny Jim is definitely the reason to watch. He’s like a tiny, chaotic god ruling over two very confused adults.

Overall, it’s a mess, but a charming one. Just don't expect it to make much sense.