Baby's Day Out (1994)
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A wealthy baby escapes the clutches of clumsy kidnappers to embark on a chaotic adventure across Chicago.
The story
In Chicago, nine-month-old Bennington Austin "Bink" Cotwell IV lives in a mansion with his socialite parents. Just as Bink is about to appear in the local newspaper's social pages, three criminals disguise themselves as photographers and kidnap him for a $5 million ransom. At their hideout, the kidnappers fall asleep, allowing Bink to escape by following a pigeon out the window. As the criminals pursue him across the city, Bink encounters various locations including a bus, a department store, and a zoo, while his parents and nanny search for him.
Full plot (contains spoilers)
In Chicago, nine-month-old Bennington Austin "Bink" Cotwell IV lives in a mansion with his socialite parents, Laraine and Bennington Austin "Bing" Cotwell III. Just as Bink is about to appear in the social pages of the local newspaper, a trio of criminals—Eddie Mancuso, Norby LeBlaw, and Veeko Riley—disguise themselves as baby photographers and kidnap him for a $5 million ransom. At their hideout, Norby falls asleep while reading Bink's favorite book, 'Baby's Day Out.' Seeing a pigeon, Bink follows it out the window, sparking a chaotic chase. The FBI, led by Dale Grissom, joins the parents and nanny Gilbertine in the search. Bink wanders the city, interpreting events as scenes from his book: he boards a bus, is mistaken for an escaped infant in a department store, and meets a protective gorilla at a zoo. Eventually, the criminals, battered by mishaps, give up and return home. Gilbertine correctly predicts Bink will head to an old soldiers' home, where the residents entertain him before his parents joyously reunite with him. On the way home, Bink calls out for his book toward the kidnappers' apartment; the recuperating criminals return the book before being arrested by the FBI. Back home, Bink is put to bed, but secretly wakes up to prepare for another storybook, 'Baby's Trip to China.'
- First release year
- 1994
- Runtime (minutes)
- 99
- Production countries
- United States
- Original languages
- English
- Directors
- Patrick Read Johnson
- Writers
- John Hughes · writer
- Cast and characters
- Joe Mantegna · Edgar "Eddie" Mauser; Lara Flynn Boyle · Laraine Cotwell; Joe Pantoliano · Norbert "Norby" LeBlaw; Brian Haley · Victor "Veeko" Riley; Adam Robert Worton · Bennington Austin "Bink" Cotwell IV; Jacob Joseph Worton · Bennington Austin "Bink" Cotwell IV; Matthew Glave · Bennington Austin "Bing" Cotwell III; Cynthia Nixon · Gilbertine
- Genres
- crime comedy; children's
- Themes
- childhood innocence; parental love; chaos
- Tone and mood
- slapstick; comedic
- Premise and plot tags
- kidnapping; chase; baby adventure
- Reception
- The film was a box-office bomb and was panned by critics, though it gained a cult following and was a commercial success in the Indian subcontinent.
- Reported review scores
- Rotten Tomatoes · score: 32% · review count: 19
- Production trivia
- The film featured one of the earliest fully computer-generated 3D cityscapes.; The film was remade in several languages including Telugu, Hindi, Malayalam, and Sinhalese.
Film metadata comes from the open sources listed in Credits & Contact. Catalogue details may be incomplete.
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