Friends With Kids

So, I had very high expectations for this film since there were four actors from Bridesmaids, one from Parks and Recreation, and I have generally enjoyed Jennifer Westfeldt's writing in the past. The movie was released back in March and made it's way into about 640 theaters across the country and brought in about $7 million. It's written and directed by Jennifer Westfeldt, who also created Kissing Jessica Stein and Ira & Abby.

The plot is centered around a platonic couple who love each other just not in that way, played by Westfeld and Adam Scott, who decide to have a baby together and split the responsibilities in order to avoid the pitfalls of their friends' marriages, played by John Hamm, Kristen Wiig, Maya Rudolph, and Christopher O'Dowd (who were all in Bridesmaids together). Megan Fox and Edward Burns are also in the movie.

Well, I was under the impression this was going to be an ensemble comedy with social commentaries about the nuances of relationships with and without children. It actually turned out to be a romantic comedy with some ensemble scenes strewn along the plot. There was some humor and some social undertones but I would categorize the plot as more of a dramedy with the rest of the cast and a romantic comedy with the two leads. It wasn't what I was expecting, but it wasn't entirely disappointing. The characters were mostly believable and entertaining to watch. Westfeldt's dialogue, as always, was much better than the generic filler found in most romcoms. In the grand scheme of things, the plot was rather cliched however it didn't follow the same formula to get there as most do.

The pace of the movie was a little choppy, however this was probably due more to the time span of the plot instead of the editing choices. The soundtrack was pretty great and I'm actually going to look up the soundtrack and spotify it after this review. Set design and wardrobe was very pretty.

The movie made it past just being 'eh' because of the ridiculous amount of talent in these bunch of actors. Personally, I would have loved for it to focus more on all sets of the friends, but Adam Scott and Jennifer Westfeldt are so darn charismatic that I enjoyed their scenes together as well. I had read in an interview that Wiig doesn't consider herself a comedian (I think, I could be thinking of someone else) but she really showed her range in this role and was still awesome. Since most of the humor and social commentaries were from the interactions between the four friends, that was the most entertaining part in my opinion. The romantic comedy between Scott and Westfeldt was entertaining as well, but in a different way. Also these two pretty much make you feel inadequate as a parent.

Overall, I enjoyed the film. Not as much as I was planning to, but it was still way above the normal romcoms with billion dollar budgets. The critics seem to be pretty split on the movie as either a romcom with filler or smart and witty. I think it had elements of both and was entertaining. I think this would mostly appeal to chick-flick lovers and/or parents. "Would you rather die of a long slow disease or watch the love of your life die of a long slow disease?