Friends With Kids (2012)

Better than Friends With Benefits, but that ain’t saying much.

I was drawn to this movie like a firefly to a star-filled strip-light. Mad Men just doesn’t give me enough Jon Hamm, and so it’s always a treat to get to see him in a modern day movie (and with very anti-Don stubble). That it was created by his longterm girlfriend, was also a big draw. Throw in some Bridesmaids cast reuniting, what’s not to love?

Well. Quite a bit. It’s, eek, a little dull. It’s adorable, and both writer, director and lead Jennifer Westfeldt and her baby-father Adam Scott, are wonderfully cute rom-com characters, but it becomes rather predictable – two friends decide to have a baby together, despite not being remotely romantically involved… and then… guess what…?

All the comparisons to Bridesmaids in the promotion of Friends with Kids have damaged it, in my opinion, on account of it just not having the barrel full of humour that I was expecting – it’s basically a classier version of Friends with Benefits meets The Mix-Up… so classic rom-com territory, and whilst it tries to cling on to some indie vibe, it just doesn’t quite make it.

But then. Maybe I’m not the audience. Parents of young children, I reckon, will see so much familiar, they might well love it and hate it at the same time. It certainly celebrates parenthood, in spite of all its nappy-filled toughness, as really, what everyone wants (well, apart from the young perfectly-formed baby-hating Megan Fox – but as any female in the audience will reason – her figure won’t last and she’ll be baby-hungry by the time she’s in her thirties too).

I won’t diss on it too much. Especially after watching it back-to-back with Killer Joe; some people like light and fluffy. Don’t get me wrong, I do too, but I’m not sure this is the right kind of light and fluffy?

WHAT I’VE LEARNT

• You really should go easy on the product placement. Nespresso have their logo and products in shot for about five minutes straight, and then callbacks every twenty minutes or so. It got embarrassing every time it came back on screen – alright already, we get it: they’re doing well in life, they can afford Nespresso, and you want me to aspire to want one too. Icky. Stick to George Clooney being squashed by a piano, thanks.

WHEN TO WATCH

• When you’re baby planning. A stark warning of the hell you have to come.

WHEN NOT TO WATCH

• When you want Bridesmaids II. Just watch Bridesmaids again!

POSTER QUOTE
“Light on the funny, heavy on the predictable.”