Friends
with Kids is not unlike any other romantic comedy you happen across. It has
all the regular what-have-you. The romance, the "I love this woman more than
anything" cliché dialogue, it's all there. But hidden within the typical are a few original qualities,
like genuine heart and good acting, both of which save it.
Headed by an
all-star cast that includes Adam Scott, Jon Hamm, and Kristen Wiig, Friends with Kids follows the life of
Julie and Jason as they juggle friendship, sex, and dating, all while remaining
best friends. They have several married friends who decide to have kids and
over the course of many years, we see how it changed the lives of those around
them, and not always for the better. The two make the difficult decision to
have a child out of wedlock, opting to skip all the rigmarole that goes into
having a child while married to the wrong person.
The
dialogue is hilarious, and it was wonderful to see both Scott and Wiig dabble
in drama"”they both cry in this film. The story was believable enough, if one
can easily relate to yet another
story surrounding rich Manhattanites with fantastic jobs, but the characters
didn't sit as well with me as I thought they would in the beginning. The cast is
made up of fantastic actors and delivery was never an issue, but the characters
themselves seemed more like cookie-cutter archetypes than actual personalities.
The overall
message was definitely not lost in translation, but occasionally the audience
was beat over the head with the obvious, and that can prove tedious, especially
in a romantic comedy that is almost two hours long.
