Common Sense Media Review
By Barbara Shulgasser-Parker
,
based on child development research. How do we rate?
Couple can't decide about having kids; some language.
Parents Need to Know
Why Age 13+?
Any Positive Content?
Where to Watch
Videos and Photos
Semi-Soeter
Parent and Kid Reviews
What's the Story?
In SEMI-SOETER, Jaci (Anel Alexander) and JP (Nico Panagio) are two married partners in a successful marketing firm. They've tried to get pregnant but the doctor is pessimistic for their chances. To live with that bad news, they convince themselves that their lifestyle would not work with kids anyway. When they have the chance to bid on a lucrative account for YBAB, a baby products company, the fact that they seem to have decided not to have children becomes an issue. YBAB invites them, their colleagues Hertjie (Louw Venter) and Karla (Sandra Vaughn), and competing marketers for a gala weekend retreat. Karla thrusts her infant into Jaci's arms in front of YBAB's CEO, pretending that Jaci and JP are the parents, in an effort to help secure the contract. Even though we know Jaci and JP have babysat for their friends' kids, the slapstick comedy focuses on Jaci and JP's inexperience with diapers, feedings, and babies generally, as well as on a scheming competitor who steals the baby to prove that Jaci and JP are frauds.
Is It Any Good?
Semi-Soeter feels like an overlong mediocre sitcom, with tired jokes, generic characters, and little to surprise or delight us. Jaci and JP have been told that "kids can destroy a marriage," so it seems almost like a relief when they learn they can't get pregnant. As a result, in poorly scripted moments, we see them strain to unconvincingly embrace their childless state. And when a friend's baby is forced into their arms as part of a scheme to win a client, their cluelessness and ineptitude lead to old jokes about diapering, poop, and crying. (They wonder where the crying baby's "volume control" is.)
The moments that guide the film's climax are logically shaky. It's unclear why signing a new client will "ruin" Jaci and JP's lives, as she claims. But that absurd premise triggers the characters into emergency mode and colors all the implausible action of the entire last segment of the film.
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about the comical way in which parenthood is discussed. Do you think Jaci and JP learn anything about what it's really like to care for a baby when they temporarily pretend to be parents? Why, or why not?
Why do you think Jaci is keeping a secret from her husband?
Do you think it feels believable that a couple would, without warning, hand their baby over to Jaci and JP to care for? Does that unlikely scenario make it hard to find the rest of the movie believable?
Movie Details
- On DVD or streaming : June 20, 2025
- Cast : Anel Alexander , Nico Panagio , Sandra Vaughn
- Director : Joshua Rous
- Inclusion Information : Female Movie Actor(s) , Female Movie Writer(s)
- Studio : Netflix
- Genre : Comedy
- Run time : 92 minutes
- MPAA rating :
- Last updated : June 26, 2025
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