Movie Review: Friends with Kids

IMDB, Friends with Kids“Friends with Kids” on IMDB

Comedy, 107 Minutes, 2011

This is a spiritual sibling to “Bridesmaids” [IMDB] both in tone and in the simple fact that the two share a hell of a lot of their casts.  For the greater part, the movies are aimed at the same people, have similar levels of tastelessness and generally both work pretty well.

This is the story of two close friends who are becoming increasingly disillusioned with the idea of marriage as they watch their friends’ relationships suffer after having kids.  Wanting kids themselves they decide to “do it better” and have a kid with each other, just as friends.

The chemistry between the leads is decent but it’s the supporting cast that really shines.  I’ve said it before, but Chris O’Dowd [IMDB] makes everything better.  The supporting relationships are significantly more interesting and approachable.  You’ll actually get annoyed when the main plot comes trundling back in to distract you from the supporting cast.

The main characters are fine, but much less believable.  They tend to bounce rather randomly between emotional extremes.  They also radically change their opinions about sex (which leads directly to the entirely unsatisfying ending).  The relationship does work, it just takes a lot more work on your part to accept it.

Taken simply as a modern anti-rom-com there’s really not much wrong here.  It’s got the frank discussions, the cutesie raunchiness and even a couple of poop jokes.  It’s just disappointing that the main story lacked the soul it needed to push it past the competition.

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