However, the only movie currently in theaters that we both had any desire at all to see was Friends With Kids. (Despite what those of you who know me might think, this was not, in fact, my first choice. The Artist was. And sadly those were the only two movies that looked even remotely worth seeing, at least until The Hunger Games comes out. The Artist was vetoed.)
The parts of this movie that were about having friends with kids were both funny because they are true and tragic because they are true, but that was only a small percentage of the film. Mostly it was about Jason (goofy-looking Adam Scott) and Julie's (Jennifer Westfeldt, who is lovely in a vaguely unconventional and high-cheekboned way) decision to have a child despite their total lack of romantic interest in one another. They are friends with a kid. Their story was great at the beginning, then frustrating, and the end was just...well, there's no other word for it. It was stupid. VAGUE SPOILER: If you've ever seen Speed and hated the last scene in that movie, you'll hate this one too.
But the movie seems to have it backwards - more time should be spent on the friends with kids, less time on the friends with a kid; the others' characters are better, their stories have more to them (or at least seem like they could). Jon Hamm and Kristen Wiig are great playing a once overly-lusty couple whose marriage is unraveling. Maya Rudolph and Irishman Chris O'Dowd hold their own as the (somewhat clownish) couple trying to keep theirs together. (The Hamm-Wiig-Rudolph-O'Dowd quadruplet was also featured in Bridesmaids.) As for Jason and Julie, there's really nothing surprising about their story, except that Jason for some time manages a relationship with Megan Fox's character.
There's actually one thing about that lack of surprise that works for me though. It's Ms. Fox herself, because in some ways she reminded me of me (looks excepted). She has a busy life and likes it that way. And now, I'm going to do something I rarely do (actually, have I ever done this?): I'm going to pilfer from someone else's review (the horror!). I think her review takes an interesting perspective (that this movie is actually designed for people with kids, not without - see also my point in the paragraph above, about where the focus should be), and this bit from her review underscores that. From Lisa Hymas at the Huffington Post:
"There's one resolutely childfree character in the film -- Mary Jane, Jason's girlfriend. 'Honestly, I've just never had the urge, and I love my freedom,' she explains. But in her last scene, she's supposed to come across as selfish and pouty -- because she isn't happy about being seated in high-end restaurant next to a family with three squirrelly kids. Overall it's not a terrible portrayal of a childfree person (Mary Jane is played by Megan Fox, so at least she makes the childfree look smokin' hot), but in a movie in which almost everyone is presented sympathetically, M.J. gets the shaft."
You can hear Megan Fox's take on Mary Jane here (skip to 0:46) and here (skip to 1:08).
In other news though, did I mention the film is set in New York? Many bonus points there! It relies on the old cliche of having kids and moving to Brooklyn, most fabulously featured in Sex and the City.
Bottom line: mostly cutesy and not bad, but the ending was terrible. Good for people with kids and/or people who <3 NY scenery!
Probably a good thing you didn't see the Artist though - as charmingly referential as it is, I almost fell asleep in the middle. The soundtrack doesn't help either.
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