Review: Friends With Kids(2012)

By Scott Jeffrey

Friends With Kids is written and directed by Jennifer Westfeldt, Her partner John Hamm also agreed to kick in on this feature and star in a supporting role. The story is an interesting one, but for those expecting another comedy like Bridesmaids, as Friends With Kids have much of the same cast, prepare for a whole different experience.

Friends With Kids centers around the idea of growing up, and how two friends Jason and Julie, (Adam Scott and Jennifer Westfeldt) within a group of friends are left out when the rest of the group seems to be all getting married and having children. It seems as though the other couples Missy and Ben (Kristen Wiig, John Hamm) and Leslie and Alex (Maya Rudolph and Chris O’Dowd) in their tight knit group do not have any time for Jason and Julie, what with all of their responsibilities to their children.

Jason and Julie make a pact then and there, they both want children, but have not found their special someone. After being best friends for years Jason and Julie know everything about one another and decide that if mr or ms right isn’t coming along they might as well just have children with each other.

Laying down some ground rules, Jason and Julie can date other people, and plan to split the responsibility of the child 50/50. Some of the funniest moments in the film come when they announce that they are going to try and get pregnant, to their friends.

The two indeed end up getting pregnant and giving birth to the child. But shortly after the baby is born Jason is anxious to get back on the horse. Meeting a woman in the park Jason starts a new relationship with someone named Mary Jane (Megan Fox). It is with the start of the relationship that he begins to fall short in his parenting, with Mary Jane being a bit younger and not wanting kids. Julie begins to see romantic feelings that she has for Jason. But she too meets another man Kurt (Edward Burns) and starts to date, leaving them somewhat at odds for who will be taking their child on respective date nights.

All of these events come to a head, when all of the friends, all of the couples and all of the kids go on a skiing vacation. Here we see the cracks in relationships, the worst of which is between Missy and Ben, who are on the verge of divorce. There is a powerful dinner scene, where John Hamm goes into a fit of rage with intensity that I haven’t even seen him reach as Donald Draper on Mad Men. Screaming with scotch in hand at Kriten Wigg “I didn’t rape you to have this baby!”. The scene is one of the best in the film, but that said, goes to show this is not some light hearted comedy.

After the Ski trip many skeletons fall out of individual closets, but what will it mean for the rest of the couples and pseudocouples over the rest of the film?

This had some interesting moments to it, Jason’s nickname for Julie “Doll” seemed to really get under my skin, and somehow by calling her that it made his character seem like he was in a student film.

Chris O’Dowd also tries to put on an American accent for this piece, and it really doesn’t faire so hot. His voice just sounds weird.

This turns into more of a drama at times really. The laughs are few and far between, granted Friends With Kids does have its moments, the best of which comes when all of the friends are around. The movie does have somewhat of an interesting idea to it, but with all of the films about relationships with no strings attached, it’s quite hard to see this one as being anything different. It very nearly tries to be like a Woody Allen New York romance story, but falls terribly short.  Most of the time I spent watching this wishing It would just cut into more time with the friends, and less time with the couple and kids.

Score: 5/10

Acting: 7/10

Effects/Visuals: 5/10

Writing: 5/10

Directing: 6/10

Overall: 28/50

Take Away Thought: The film trailer that states, “You saw them in Bridesmaids, you’ll love them in Friends With Kids.” Complete crock of shit, these movies could not be more different. I don’t know where else they are going to be able to take this no strings attached romance movie, but my god they are milking it.