Baby’s Day Out is a 1994 American adventure comedy film directed by Patrick Read Johnson and written by John Hughes, who also produced the film. Starring Joe Mantegna, Lara Flynn Boyle, Joe Pantoliano, and Brian Haley. The plot centers on a wealthy baby’s abduction by three criminals, his subsequent escape and adventure through Chicago while being pursued by the criminals.
The film was released on July 1, 1994, by 20th Century Fox in the United States to both critical and commercial failure, grossing only $30 million against a $48 million budget. Despite this, it has since become a cult film.
The film was panned by critics. On Rotten Tomatoes, it has a “Rotten” score of 19% based on 16 reviews with an average rating of Critic Roger Ebert wrote that “Baby’s Day Out contains gags that might have worked in a Baby Herman cartoon, but in live action, with real people, taxis, buses, streets, and a real baby, they’re just not funny. The Worton twins are adorable as Baby Bink, however; the audience produced an audible coo the first time they saw him on the screen.” He gave the film one-and-a-half stars out of four.
However, his partner on the Siskel & Ebert show, Gene Siskel, liked it and called it an “absolute perfect child’s-eye view of the fantasies that they might have.
Hal Hinson, writing for the Washington Post, wrote: “The pace is quick and efficient but never frantic…almost everything in the picture is just right, including the two-bit crooks who abduct the superhero toddler and end up bruised and begging hilariously for mercy. Best of all, though, is the Binkman himself, whose tiny face is so expressive that he brings new meaning to the phrase ‘conquering with a smile.’
Box office
The film opened with takings of $4,044,662 at the start of July 1994. It finally grossed $16,827,402 at the box office in the United States and Canada and $13.4 million internationally, for a worldwide total of $30.2 million, a disappointing return considering the $48 million production budget.
