Jason KingFRIENDS WITH KIDS: A Review
June 18th 2012 10:12
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Review by the Lovely Anna
Ah kids... I don't have em. Not entirely sure if I want em and frankly sometimes don't like most of em. So, that out there, the basic premise of this movie didn't really appeal to me because if I'm reproducing with anyone they'd better love me like crazy. So, why would you have a baby with your best mate?
It's all very thirty-something fun in the New York lives of a group friends: Jason (Adam Scott) a lad about town for whom no woman will ever be perfect; his neighbor and best friend Julie (Jennifer Westfeldt) who can't meet a man she really likes; Ben (Jon Hamm) and Missy (Kristen Wiig) a married couple who can't keep their hands and other parts off each other; and Alex (Chris O'Dowd) and Leslie (Maya Rudolph) a couple who have been married for a while and drop the pregnancy bombshell after Jason's tirade about kids in fancy restaurants.
Skip forward four years and while being single is still fabulous for Jason and Julie, they decide, after a hellish dinner party with their tense, cranky and exhausted parenty friends, to be co-parents to a baby. (The old "Wanna go halves in a baby?' line wasn't rolled out which, to me, seemed like a wasted opportunity). First obvious questions is WHY?? But, being the bestest of friends, they agree that, in matters of love, marriage and babies, it might be easier to get all the hell of newborn baby drama out of the way before meeting the loves of their lives, so they can then concentrate on all the good relationship stuff that new love brings.
And so, they embark on the planning, the telling their friends (funny moments), the awkward conception, and then with thankfully not so much as a pregnancy montage, Jason is rushing away from a date to where Julie is giving birth. Let the fun begin.
Sure, it's predictable, but so is the vomit, pooey nappies and lack of sleep you'd expect from a newborn. The difference with this is that these friends do newborns so much better than the married parents. It seems like a totally viable way to have kids. For the first year anyway. As baby Joe grows up in the nicest possible way, his parents embark on new relationships, then feelings are realized, and friends argue, and break up, and make up, and oh, it's all so difficult and dramatic and why doesn't anyone work?!
I have to say that the ensemble that has been gathered for what could be called Bridesmaids: The Next Chapter is pretty good really. Without a doubt, Maya Rudolph is the best character here, and if you don't love Chris O'Dowd more after this movie, you have a feeling gene missing. Jennifer's Julie just annoyed me as she seemed insipid and whiny the whole way through and Adam's Jason was a selfish , immature misogynist. Also, Kristen Wiig is incredibly underutilised. In fact, I think she has approximately 8 lines. Oh well, she's usually sharing the scene with Jon Hamm, bastard though he is here, so it ain't all bad!
Despite possibly the Worst. Last. Line. Ever. I did enjoy this. I give it 3.5 out of 5 stars.
It's all very thirty-something fun in the New York lives of a group friends: Jason (Adam Scott) a lad about town for whom no woman will ever be perfect; his neighbor and best friend Julie (Jennifer Westfeldt) who can't meet a man she really likes; Ben (Jon Hamm) and Missy (Kristen Wiig) a married couple who can't keep their hands and other parts off each other; and Alex (Chris O'Dowd) and Leslie (Maya Rudolph) a couple who have been married for a while and drop the pregnancy bombshell after Jason's tirade about kids in fancy restaurants.
Skip forward four years and while being single is still fabulous for Jason and Julie, they decide, after a hellish dinner party with their tense, cranky and exhausted parenty friends, to be co-parents to a baby. (The old "Wanna go halves in a baby?' line wasn't rolled out which, to me, seemed like a wasted opportunity). First obvious questions is WHY?? But, being the bestest of friends, they agree that, in matters of love, marriage and babies, it might be easier to get all the hell of newborn baby drama out of the way before meeting the loves of their lives, so they can then concentrate on all the good relationship stuff that new love brings.
And so, they embark on the planning, the telling their friends (funny moments), the awkward conception, and then with thankfully not so much as a pregnancy montage, Jason is rushing away from a date to where Julie is giving birth. Let the fun begin.
Sure, it's predictable, but so is the vomit, pooey nappies and lack of sleep you'd expect from a newborn. The difference with this is that these friends do newborns so much better than the married parents. It seems like a totally viable way to have kids. For the first year anyway. As baby Joe grows up in the nicest possible way, his parents embark on new relationships, then feelings are realized, and friends argue, and break up, and make up, and oh, it's all so difficult and dramatic and why doesn't anyone work?!
I have to say that the ensemble that has been gathered for what could be called Bridesmaids: The Next Chapter is pretty good really. Without a doubt, Maya Rudolph is the best character here, and if you don't love Chris O'Dowd more after this movie, you have a feeling gene missing. Jennifer's Julie just annoyed me as she seemed insipid and whiny the whole way through and Adam's Jason was a selfish , immature misogynist. Also, Kristen Wiig is incredibly underutilised. In fact, I think she has approximately 8 lines. Oh well, she's usually sharing the scene with Jon Hamm, bastard though he is here, so it ain't all bad!
Despite possibly the Worst. Last. Line. Ever. I did enjoy this. I give it 3.5 out of 5 stars.
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