Daily News from New York, New York • 101

NEW YORK'S BEST ENTERTAINMENT SECTION WEDNESDAY OCTOBER 7,1987 WJ7, I i I r- "4 1 By KATHLEEN CARROLL Daily News Movie Critic BABY BOOM. Diane Keaton, Sam Shepard. Directed by Charles Shyer. At the 84th St Six, 34th St. Showplace and New York Twin.

Running time: 1 hour, 43 minutes. Rated PG. But even a state that one tourist describes as "cute" can wear on the nerves. "I'm sick of whiskers and plaids," fumes J.C. Eventually she decides to interface with a clean-shaven veterinarian, played by a sheepish-looking Sam Shepard.

"Baby Boom," as you can see, milks every cliche of the trend-conscious '80s. The situations have a sitcom predictability. But this glib yuppie fantasy is, frankly, a bundle of fun, mainly because of its radiantly adorable star Diane Keaton. Dressed in a wardrobe that anyone would drool over, Keaton transforms the self-consumed J.C. into a genuine cutie.

And her shrieking anxiety attack in snow-covered Vermont is a hilarious show-stopper. Keaton even defies all of W.C. Fields dire warnings about working with child actors by actually stealing scenes from twins Kristina and Michelle Kennedy, who take turns as the irresistible tot The script is too coy and calculating: But watching Keaton romp through "Baby Boom" is a special treat. She may still gurgle like Annie Hall, but she is more buoyantly appealing than ever. on his paperwork in bed.

This Wonder Woman in the gray flannel suit is on the verge of having it all a full partnership and a corner office when she learns that she has inherited a definite corpo- rate liability: a 13-month-old baby. At first, J.C. just wants to dump the rosy-cheeked Elizabeth. She angrily totes her to a power lunch where she checks her with the coat room attendant She needs a heavy-dose Valium just to cope with putting on a diaper. And her idea of baby food pasta and Perrier results in such a mess that her life's partner takes his Eames chair and moves out But J.C.

finds herself refusingto letElizabeth be adopted by a Bible Belt couple who could have posed for "American Gothic." J.C's newly devel- oped maternal concern for Elizabeth ultimately costs her her job and she tries a typical yuppie es- cape plan-1 she moves to a 65-aere, impeccably -1 i decorated country house in Vermont C. WI ATT, THE success-propelled heroine of "Baby Boom," has achieved every yup- -pie's dream a six-figure salary. What's more, her New York co-op comes completely equipped with a significant other, an investment banker who, like J.C., prews Iji fers to concentratemu 14.