L!fe Happens

Movie was good. But when you have an Aussie in the movie, actually use an Aussie. That guys accent is horrible!

The title says it all, when precautions aren't taken and risks weren't evaluated, allowing the body to rule over the mind, and nine months later, life happens. As the premise goes, Kim (Krysten Ritter) decided to go ahead with her one night stand anyway when housemate and friend Deena (Kate Bosworth) took the last piece of latex to fuel her own carnal desires, and that lapse costs Kim dearly when she becomes mom to Baby Max (played by Connor and Zachary Ross). This becomes the comedic tale of single motherhood, friendship, romance and the likes, a pure chick flick that walks the path of one's horror story during a moment of indiscretion.

Kim certainly isn't cut out to being a mother, clearly without a proper support structure in place save for housemates Deena and Laura (Rachel Bilson), who between them juggle time to take care of Max in what would be reminiscent of Three Men and a Baby. But of course this time juggle wrecks havoc on every one's lives especially when they're at the crossroads of their individual profession, and having baby at home means less time outside for nights out,

Directed by Kat Coiro who co-wrote the story with Krysten Ritter, which they claim had a lot of their individual characters and traits put into the characters of Kim and Deena, Life Happens plays out the typical insecurities of the female, with the baby in it more for the gimmick. As the central character in which the film revolves around, Kim shows she's not all that perfect, willing to "disown" her child Max so that she could have a shot at establishing a new relationship with Nicolas (Geoff Stults) whom she met at a party, and learnt fleetingly of his disdain for kids. And seriously her character is not all that likable given that innate crutch to push Max to just about anyone to babysit, while she schemes to get laid, to put it crudely.

While the film also tried to show the prejudices faced by single mothers and the many challenges they have to conquer, the story throws in Deena as the blonde who gets all the fun, with a career that is taking of, and almost always in control over the relationships with the opposite sex. And the scene during the double date was one of the best as it exposes just about how close and chummy both Kim and Deena are, and yet fully understanding each other's flaws and amplifying them just to spite the other. Cat fight, someone?

The casting is a little bit strange and needed getting used to because each of them don't really look too comfortable in their roles. Krysten Ritter for the most parts looked like a dead ringer for Anne Hathaway, while Kate Bosworth struggles as the alpha-female Deena. Perhaps the most wasted of all characters here belonged to Rachel Wilson, who plays the bimbo with questionable careers that don't seem to last, present only to lend her star power, and to play up on her character's naivety during her reality show participation as America's Last Virgin. And with this being a chick flick, the male characters were nothing more than one dimensional caricatures mostly portrayed as perfect studs, or cads for not fulling understanding the plight of the woman.

Don't look toward this film for that silver bullet instructional material on how to bring up a baby. It had some elements underlying its point that parenting is a full time job made all the more difficult when there is no support from a spouse, and literally sapping life out of oneself in the care and development of another human being. It's almost similar in treatment to another single mom film titled Motherhood starring Uma Thurman, but this one had a lot more characters involved in raising the baby, and having a bevy of good looking casts in a comedy always helps.

Krysten Ritter is a terrible actress. Her Acting is way over the the top. The 2 other girls are naturals.

Kim (Krysten Ritter) and Deena (Kate Bosworth) were party girls, but Kim is now a single mom. The surfer douche dad is leaving town, and she's spinning her wheels. She dreams of starting a doggy mall, and just wants to have a little bit fun. Their roommate is the over-sexualized religious virgin Laura (Rachel Bilson).

I like all three ladies in this movie. They just don't have enough funny written jokes. Kat Coiro has professional directing skills for a novice. It's the lack of joke writing skills from Kat Coiro and Krysten Ritter that is problematic. It's as if they expect the premise to be good enough to make the audience laugh. Rachel Bilson's character is kinda funny, but she's just one joke. Kim and Deena have some chemistry but never really takes off as a comedic duo. And then there's the unnatural ending all perfectly wrapped up.

It showed up on my Netflix watchlist after devouring Krysten Ritter's two seasons of highly entertaining Don't trust the B in apartment 23. I was looking for a light girly movie and L!fe happens delivered. I thought the story was surprisingly decent, and Krysten, Kate and even Rachel were pretty good in their limited roles. I recommend it, it was quite funny, girly, and for me at least a little thought-provoking about single mothers without being too drama and tears about it. And of course all the girls look gorgeous even with baby puke on them :) Nice little movie about friendship, plans not working out, motherhood and happy endings.