Friends with Kids

This was my girlfriend's choice of film but, while not a film I would have chosen, I didn't mind seeing it due to the long list of likable names in the cast. The plot opens with an "anti-couple" couple who talk intimately and openly as a longterm couple would, but do so without any connection and while pursuing other relationships. When all their friends start having children, Julie decides she also wants one but without all the damage it does to the relationship – so she decided to have a kid with Jason, so that there is no relationship to go sour. The rest of the film pretty much goes where you know it will.

The best thing to say about the film is that it does have a real pace to its dialogue and I liked some of the snappy delivery and tone of it, some of it being funny but just generally it had a good rhythm to it. This, I liked. Problem is that the rest of the film really doesn't do much that works particularly well. For me it wasn't "bad" just weak, but this was because I didn't hate the characters quit as much as I can imagine that some will. They are hard to like and it doesn't help that the plot is built around a device that requires them to be narcissistic, selfish and spoilt for the vast majority of the running time. They have some changes in their characters late in the game (the changes you know the anti-couple will have from the moment the first scene finishes) but by the time these changes occur, you've probably given up caring about these spoilt unlikeable people.

The cast keep that at bay for a while – although I was a bit behind from the start because I found both Scott and Westfeldt to be the least of the cast – a problem considering they are the leads. Hamm, Wiig, Rudolph have the charisma to carry some of the busier scenes but I have no idea why they had O'Dowd doing an American accent that is terrible (when he keeps it up long enough to notice). Fox, Burns and a few others add starry names but not too much else.

Friend with Kids has some energy to it and at times the snap of the dialogue is entertaining but the film can never get away from its main problem which is that the core plot and characters are both predictable and hard to like. These two things combine to limit how interested the viewer is in the film and with fewer laughs than there should be, there isn't much beyond the famous faces and snappy delivery to hold the interest.

Pickings are slim for grown-up movies and that's what this is. So bought my ticket and was not disappointed. It's a movie for grown-ups, sharp and funny. The thing is, there's barely a whisper of romance or spark of chemistry in the whole set-up. Much focus is on women's bodies, their breasts, their pelvic muscles, their kegel exercises. This kind of frankness is extended to the marital experience of the shared bathroom, frustration of shared chores, mom's post-pregnancy body and baby poo. Funny? Actually, yes. Light or romantic, not for a moment.

The story didn't head in the direction I expected, given the title. It's not a sly comedy or satire of parenthood or how the experience changes a person or a couple. It's more like a story of Friends with Benefits. But the cast is great and it's not formulaic. On the whole, worthwhile. A number of scenes are quite good.

There isn't a plot really, the story is really predictable, even though it's different. But in fact, I did not really lose interest and rather felt my time passed by pretty well. The supporting stuff have given some wonderful performances, Edward Burns as the perfect man/potential-husband, and Megan Fox as the perfect girlfriend. But the lead pair could have done better.

One thing that is horrible about the movie is the ending. One of the most horrible endings there could have been, the director tries to be unconventional but fails miserably. MISERABLY. If only the scene went differently I would actually be recommending this movie to those tired of old stuff.

Friends with Kids is about choosing an alternative lifestyle while conforming with society. It doesn't work. The premise of the movie is a great idea, and the story has a funny drama-like feel to it which is entertaining.

However, the scenario takes a dive after the ski weekend, because we go right back to the pre-chewed romantic drivel that most Hollywood chick flick try to sell us. The very end particularly could have come from any brainwashed hack of a writer. Very disappointing.

If they could have come up with a good third act, it would have been an amazing movie because the cast is outrageous, the dialogs are good, and the film is well put together.

Greetings again from the darkness. Evidently this is a movie for thirty-somethings who need more ammunition to defend their decisions to avoid marriage and parenthood. At least that's the best case I can come up with ... otherwise it's just a bitter, caustic view of those two topics. It's pretty obvious from the opening scene where the relationship story is headed, but it's not an easy road for us viewers.

This movie belongs to Jennifer Westfeldt. She wrote the script, directed the movie and stars as the woman who decides to have a baby with her platonic friend (Adam Scott). These two are part of a group of six close knit friends in Manhattan who start out doing everything together and telling each other everything. One of the couples (Maya Rudolph and Chris O'Dowd) announce "We're pregnant" and promptly move to Brooklyn. The other married couple (Jon Hamm, Krisen Wiig) start out by attempting to break all Guiness records for sex, and end up evolving into something a bit less exciting.

The two platonic friends decide to "beat the system" by sharing parenting responsibilities while pursuing separate dating lives until they find "the right person". Westfeldt has a Lisa Kudrow quality about her that doesn't play well with me. She was the star and writer of Kissing Jessica Stein, and here she comes across as insecure and awkward, and not nearly as smart as she would like to believe. Adam Scott (brilliant on "Parks and Recreation") is quite the ladies man and also views himself as smarter than the masses. Westfeldt finds a "perfect" guy in Edward Burns, and Scott finds happiness with Megan Fox. Of course, you know where this is headed.

What struck me throughout the film was how every scene and every character was just a bit off. Nothing really worked. Jon Hamm has one really nice scene where he is intoxicated and really stirs the pot at a group dinner. Kristen Wiig has very few lines and spends the movie sulking. Maya Rudolph and Chris O'Dowd have a couple of decent scenes, but mostly the film has little insight to offer and no characters with whom you would like to connect.