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Friends With Kids (15)
© Unknown - all rights reserved |
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| Tookey's Rating |
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4
/10 |
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| Average Rating |
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4.81
/10 |
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| Starring |
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Jennifer Westfeldt (pictured right), Adam Scott (pictured left), Maya Rudolph
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| Full Cast > |
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Directed by:
Jennifer Westfeldt
Written by:
Jennifer Westfeldt
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| Released: |
2012 |
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| Genre: |
DRAMA
ROMANCE
COMEDY
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| Origin: |
US |
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| Colour: |
C |
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| Length: |
107 |
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Alienating sitcom. |
Reviewed by Chris Tookey
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Friends With Kids is a glib sitcom stretched out to feature length, a romantic comedy that its writer-director-star Jennifer Westfeldt (previously responsible for the tiny but delightful comedy Kissing Jessica Stein) means to be cutting-edge and cute. Unfortunately, it’s nowhere near as original or likeable as she thinks it is. It’s conventional, dull and unconsciously nasty.
Take the opening. Our late thirtysomething heroine (Westfeldt) rings her best male friend (Adam Scott) before 5 a.m. to share her latest moment of angst with him. He’s with a girlfriend but tells our heroine that their friendship means more to him than casual sex with the woman in his bed. I’m sure we’re meant to find this a sweet introduction to the leading characters, but it will leave most morally sentient people with question marks hovering above their heads. Isn’t our heroine being selfish ringing a man up about her problems when he’s bound to be asleep? Isn’t it grossly insensitive of him to insult the woman who’s sharing his bed and may even be listening to his phone conversation.
But no. We’re meant to find the two protagonists sparky and intelligent, like Woody Allen characters – except that they have fashionably foul mouths, as though they’re inhabiting a Judd Apatow production, not real life. The plot develops in a way that will be familiar to anyone who’s witnessed such ultra-formulaic Hollywood romcoms as Life As We Know It, No Strings Attached and Friends With Benefits.
The two friends decide to have a child together because her biological clock is ticking, and he’d like to be a dad. They don’t want to marry, because they’ve seen what marriage has done to their chums. These are the same actors who starred in Bridesmaids: Kristen Wiig and Jon Hamm, and Maya Rudolph and Chris O’Dowd.
But where Bridesmaids was filthy and (at times) laugh-out-loud funny, Friends With Kids is filthy and – despite some clever dialogue - not very funny at all. And if you can’t predict how this movie will turn out, you should get out more.
It’s particularly unamusing about children. They are portrayed as pooing machines and annoying impediments to sex. The one good thing about them is they’re cute when they smile. This film is all about friends but deeply uninterested in kids. The result is that the self-centred, horribly immature grown-ups here are infinitely more dislikeable than any of the damaged characters in Todd Solondz’s apparently much bleaker Dark Horse.
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