In the bonus segment of the DVD of "Inconceivable," director Jonathan Baker discusses how he sought to combine the film thriller with a realistic portrayal of human pregnancy, including such delicate topics as in vitro, surrogate mothers, nannies, the trauma of miscarriage, the psychological impact on egg donors (apparently, sperm donors do not experience any "seller's remorse"),and a myriad of other issues related to pregnancies. The film is surprisingly successful in juggling the odd tandem of a suspenseful crime story while maintaining an equal focus on the pregnancy theme.

Early in the film, Brian (Nicholas Cage) and Angela (Gena Gershon) are portrayed as a desperate couple striving to breed a large family and have "a kid in every room" of their enormous house. The implication of the title "Inconceivable" is that Angela has been unable to produce the babies they (especially Brian) desperately want. The stage is set for a newcomer to the area, an apparently sweet and gentle young woman named Katie (Nicky Whelan) who simply adores children. She then turns into the nanny from hell.

In the bonus segment of the DVD, Nicholas Cage described the film as a combination of documentary and thriller genres. After the opening scene of what appears to be the gruesome murder of an abusive husband by his wife through stabbing, much of the early action of the film is like a tutorial in producing and rearing babies. But with the appearance of Katie, the film switches gears into the realm of horror.

There is good suspense built as Katie is promised $40,000 to carry to term the baby for Brian and Angela. But it slowly becomes apparent to Angela that Katie wants the child for herself. Much of the film is driven by the stupidity of Brian who fails to recognize the machinations of Katie, along with Angela's desperate search to learn the secrets of the mousy little nanny's past. As Nicholas Cage observes in the behind-the-scenes segment of the DVD, Angela is "gaslit" by Katie. In other words, the innocent-looking Katie is a schemer!

SPOILER FOLLOWS: In a crucial moment of the film, an emergency room doctor enters the hospital lobby and shakes his head at a distraught Brian, who is in the throes of anguish over the possible death of his wife. As conceived by the filmmakers, this moment was both disingenuous and dishonest with regard to the integrity of the film's narrative. In the shake of the head, the audience was led to believe that poor Angela had succumbed to her stab wound. This level of scripting is what one might expect from a television movie on the Lifetime channel, not a feature film produced by world-class motion picture artists.

While "Inconceivable" has been widely panned by the critics, the film nonetheless has provocative scenes and raises essential questions about the sensitive topic of procreation in the modern age. The camera work by Brandon Cox was exemplary with some stunning visual choices, especially with the uses of reflections on glass and mirrors.

For the viewer who is capable of wearing two hats (one for an entertaining thriller and one for a socially relevant topic) and is forgiving of one major blunder in screen writing, "Inconceivable" may result in an engaging film experience. Don't trust the critics! Sometimes what they write is inconceivable.

The film opens up with Katie (Nicky Whelan) with dark hair, stabbing a man who is attempted to choke her. Is she the victim or the crime? Later blonde Katie meets Brian (Nicolas Cage) and Angela (Gina Gershon) who are both successful doctors. The film gives you flashbacks and information so that you quickly know where the script is going. The mystery aspect for the audience is nil.

There was no decent character development for the couple and Nicolas Cage was one of them. I thought Rebecca De Mornay would have made a better grandmother than Faye Dunaway considering her previous role rocking the cradle, which I was thinking about 10 minutes into the film. Then there was the weird kitchen scene near the end and the murder which would seem to warrant a police investigation that we never saw.

Guide: Brief F-word, quick FF sex scene, nudity (Nicky Whelan, Corrie Danieley)

This movie was pretty decent and enjoyable for most of it. interesting story. (1 viewing)

SPOILERS

the whole idea of this girl who donated eggs and messed up her uterus and can no longer have babies so she goes and steals the babies of her egg donations and uses the last of her egg donations to fertilize herself is pretty awesome. her psycho-y-ness was pretty awesome although could have been done better and more severe.

i liked it until the end, when it just got terrible. the direction they chose to go was lame, the acting got really bad, and the way the revealed stuff was terrible. first they show a scene implying the wife died and nick cage crying, makes no sense since she's not really dead. then they tell the girl that she died, which does not serve any purpose. then they show the wife is alive and cops come. terrible execution. first of all, the wife could have easily ended all of it if she told the lady at the donation place the description of the girl and that she had a baby named maddie, mystery solved, she's in jail. secondly, missed opportunity to make it seem like cage was debating if he should stay with the blonde girl before showing the wife is alive.

personally, i think a dark ending would have been way better. show some more scenes of marital problems, lack of sex, him being attracted to the girl, being convinced she's relapsed and unreliable, and even after finding out the wife was right and was killed by the girl, he still stays with the girl cause he's fallen for her and can have the mother of his children raise them