Aahana Swrup
Tyler Spindel’s Netflix comedy film ‘Kinda Pregnant’ pitches an unconventional premise that leads its protagonist down unexpected roads. Ever since Lainy Newton was a kid, she has loved the idea of having a baby and becoming a mother. Therefore, as her years-long relationship comes to a startling end, she realizes her lifelong dream may have to wait a while more. However, things become even worse when, on the heels of the breakup, she gets the news that her best friend, Kate, is about to have a baby!
As such, a mix of jealousy and ill-advised decisions compel Lainy to fake a pregnancy of her own. If that doesn’t already complicate her life, things get out of hand even further when she ends up meeting the guy of her dreams, Josh—who believes he’s falling for a mom-to-be. Thus, Lainy’s life continues to get chaotically out of hand, inviting easy intrigue about where her off-beat deception will take her. SPOILERS AHEAD!
Kinda Pregnant Plot Synopsis
Lainy Newton had always known she wanted to be a mother—even when she and Kate were young kids playing pretend about undergoing childbirth during recess in elementary school. Therefore, fast-forward to her 40s, she assumes her boyfriend, Dave, is about to pop an important question when he plans a romantic dinner on their anniversary. For the same reason, she has a bit of a breakdown in the high-end restaurant when she realizes Dave does have a question for her—but it’s just about the possibility of threesomes in the near future. Expectedly, their relationship crashes and burns spectacularly.
Lainy doesn’t deal well with the aftermath and almost burns her workplace—a high school—down after an unfortunate tantrum. Nonetheless, somehow, things get even worse from there. As she goes out on lunch with her best friend, Kate, she quickly catches on to the fact that the latter woman is pregnant. Her knee-jerk reaction remains less than pleasant since she always expected to have a baby before her friend. Yet, she quickly backtracks and attempts to be supportive of Kate. To keep the streak of bad luck going, she also learns that her annoying Gen-Z co-worker, a fellow teacher, Shirley, is also expecting.
Unfortunately, Lainy runs into Shirley during a coffee run and resorts to approaching a stranger for help to get rid of the unpleasant company. The stranger—Josh—plays along and pretends to be an old friend to help her shake off the other woman. Thus, during their short but compatible encounter, the two click easily, even if it doesn’t lead anywhere in the moment. Later, Lainy takes Kate shopping for maternity clothes—as another demonstration of her support. While in the store, she decides to try on some of the maternity wear out of curiosity—with a fake pregnant belly under her shirt.
However, one of the store employees mistakes Lainy for a real pregnant woman and tries to pamper her accordingly. Even though she swiftly runs out of the store, the experience stays with her. For the same reason, when she starts to feel neglected by Kate—scared that she’ll swap her with Shirley—Lainy puts on the fake belly again and goes out to attend a prenatal yoga class to see how the other crowd lives. To her surprise, pregnancy brings many advantages, including compliments from strangers and offers for seats on the subway.
Although Lainy struggles a little with faking her pregnancy at the yoga class, she ends up making a friend, Megan—who is pregnant with her second child. Therefore, she somehow scores herself a dinner invite. When she shows up at Megan’s place for dinner, she realizes that Josh from the coffee shop is actually the latter’s brother, currently crashing in her garage. Even though Lainy’s secret almost comes out after a few accidents, she makes it through the night unscathed, with a budding new friendship and a potential date. As such, what started out as a harmless lie ends up turning Lainy’s life upside down, pushing her to build new relationships on a wild secret while trying to hold on to her old one with Kate.
Kinda Pregnant Ending: Does the Truth About Lainy’s Pregnancy Come Out?
Lainy’s fake pregnancy starts out as an innocuous disguise that she puts on out of curiosity in light of Kate’s unexpected pregnancy. However, after she attends the prenatal yoga class and develops a friendship with Megan, it only gets worse from there. As such, what initially starts as a momentary walk in someone else’s shoes becomes a long-winded lie about her past, her future, and the idea of a nonexistent looming motherhood. Furthermore, while she’s living out this fake life of a pregnant woman in front of Megan and Josh, she’s also hiding her ill-advised actions from Kate, who is bound to feel weirded out by Lainy’s false foray into pregnancy.
As a result, the high school teacher ends up going to outlandish lengths to juggle her lies. In one instance, she hides in a kids’ toy basket at a supermarket to avoid Megan’s family while she’s out shopping with Kate. Another day, she finds her stuffing a balloon under her dress after Megan shows up at her school for an impromptu day out. Meanwhile, on the more zany side of things, she convinces Josh to have sex with her while blindfolded and bound to the bed so as not to give away her lack of an actual pregnant belly. Naturally, these lies and deceptions take a toll on her, compelling her to reluctantly find some support from the school’s guidance counselor, the foul-mouthed Fallon.
However, while Lainy and Fallon are in the middle of a conversation in which they’re trying to find a way for the former to shimmy her way out of the bind she has found herself in, Shirley overhears part of their conversation. Therefore, she comes to the conclusion that Lainy is newly pregnant and thinking of terminating the pregnancy—an assumption she shares with Kate. As a result, the latter can’t help but feel betrayed that her best friend would keep such a big news secret from her, especially after already avoiding her since her pregnancy. Eventually, things come to a disastrous conclusion at Kate and Shirley’s joint baby shower.
As it turns out, Shirley has also sent out an invite to Megan and her family, including Josh, whom Lainy last saw when she ditched him after their night together. Even so, she tries to keep up with her lies—which quickly ends once Shirley tries to announce Lainy’s pregnancy and apparent upcoming abortion to the crowd. Consequently, she has no choice but to come out with the truth about everything, revealing that she had never been pregnant to begin with. Once Megan and Josh realize they have been lied to this entire time, they leave the party at once, turning their backs on Lainy.
Why Did Lainy Fake Her Pregnancy? Do Megan and Kate Forgive Her?
Lainy has always had a complicated relationship with the idea of motherhood. Her own mother died when she was young, which pushed her to crave the same dynamic, even if only in the opposite configuration. Therefore, her expectations with her romantic relationships always include the end goal of marriage and kids. On some level, this is because she wants to feel unequivocally chosen by another person when she feels left behind by everyone else in her life. Thus, she loses her footing when her relationship with Dave ends because of a disagreement on the idea of monogamy of all things. From there, the addition of Kate’s unexpected pregnancy and her budding friendship with Shirley further distress Lainy, who finds herself at a precarious point in her life.
Lainy is worried she has wasted years in her relationship with Dave and now runs the risk of losing Kate because of her own issues. Even so, when she initially starts pretending to be a pregnant woman, it’s meant to be a simple one-time thing to satisfy an ever-present curiosity. However, it ends up bringing her the possibility of a strong friendship with Megan. Lainy can’t help but feel compelled to become the other woman’s friend—which leads her to keep faking her pregnancy. Her relationship with Josh serves much the same purpose—encouraging her to lie to keep him in her life.
Nonetheless, Lainy knows that her actions will inevitably hurt everyone she cares about, and the truth about her pregnancy—or lack thereof—emerges. Expectedly, the truth’s discovery ruins her friendship with Megan. Still, while Kate is surprised to learn about Lainy’s deception, she’s willing to hear her friend out. As such, she gets to explain her side of the story—how she felt jealous and isolated when Kate began hurtling toward the new chapter of her life with her boyfriend, Mark, and fellow mother-to-be, Shirley. Ultimately, Kate’s gripe with Lainy remains similar since she’s really only mad at her for leaving her alone during an important stage of her life.
Therefore, Lainy and Kaye are able to talk through the issue and retain their lifelong friendship. Similarly, once the former shows up at Megan’s door with an explanation and willingness to fight for their friendship, the other also remains understanding and agrees to give her another chance. Even though Megan hasn’t been friends with Lainy for long, she understands the complications of being a woman and the expectations that it brings to motherhood. As such, in the end, Lainy’s bond with the two women remains strong enough to survive the fallout from her bizarre lies.
Do Lainy and Josh End Up Together?
While Lainy’s friendships with Megan and Kate are mended with some time and honest conversations, her relationship with Josh requires a more complicated fix. Before meeting her, Josh had just come out of a relationship that ended on a bitter note. For the same reason, he had a hard time trusting people with his heart—something he decided to take a chance on with Lainy. As such, her betrayal is that much more hurtful for him. Consequently, when she tries to make things right with him—shortly after her reconciliation with Megan—he initially refuses to give her a chance.
Thus, many weeks pass without any communication between the two. During this time, Lainy refreshes her friendships with Megan and Kate, this time with honesty. She remains by her best friend’s side as she gives birth to her child, offering her company and support. Furthermore, she also works through her own issues and gets her life back on track after the past few days of chaos. She learns the significance of her relationship with her own self, realizing the importance of self-love above all. Eventually, enough time passes to soothe the shock and hurt of her actions. As such, Josh inevitably arrives outside of her school—in a Zamboni—as a grand romantic gesture to win her over. In the end, Lainy and Josh end up together, setting off on the start of their life together—even if it comes with a few minor accidents after their ill-advised Zamboni ride!
Read More: Kinda Pregnant: Is the Netflix Movie Based on a True Story?
You must be logged in to post a comment.