Life As We Know It (C or 2/4 stars)
2 single adults become de facto parents to an orphaned baby when their mutual best friends die in 'Life As We Know It' (directed by Greg Berlanti). The film begins by introducing us to the 2 adults (well before the tragedy strikes). Holly Berenson (Katherine Heigl) runs a mildly successful catering business. Eric 'Messer' (Josh Duhamel) directs basketball game telecasts. For Holly & 'Messer', it's hate at 1st sight. Set up on a blind date, said date never gets beyond her front curb (that's how well it went). They had been set-up by mutual friends, Peter & Alison Novack (Hayes MacArthur, Christina Hendricks); and Holly had particular venom to spit at Alison for fixing her up with 'Messer'. Howwwever, even though the romance doesn't click, they interact frequently - mainly because of Alison, Peter, & their adorable 1 yr. old daughter, Sophie. Holly & Messer still don't like each other, but at least they both love their goddaughter.
Soon enough, Peter & Alison are killed in an automobile accident. And their will gives joint custody of Sophie to Holly and 'Musser'; forcing the 2 of them to put their differences aside, move into Peter & Alison's gorgeous mansion, work out their own schedules that will allow them to both care for Sophie, as well as maintain their personal lives (career, dating, etc.). Of course, conflicts arise (or else ther'd be no movie). But their desire to give Sophie with a stable home life keeps them together. Hate turns to love, they find common ground ... but then a hot male pediatrician (Josh Lucas) enters the picture & Holly goes gaga; and Messer gets a promotion which would relocate him to Arizona. Melodrama ensues; including a cliched race to the airport. Gag.
I quite enjoyed the 1st hour of 'Life As We Know It'. Sure, Holly has perfect skin, perfect hair, & a near-perfect career. Sure, Messer has the perfect body, awesome job, & an unbelievable (literally) social/sex life. Sure, their friends - who look perfect - have the perfect baby & live in a perfect mansion. This is the stuff of movies. BUT, the 1st hour got all of the details & emotions right - how awkward & difficult it is to raise a baby (crying, toys, pooping, peeing, laughing, vomit, crawling, walking, sleepless nights); especially under the circumstances they're placed in. The problem comes in the last 55 minutes (or so) of the film when the plot points become cliched, cloying, manipulative ... & the characters start saying & doing ridiculously stupid things that they wouldn't have done organically. I just found the animosity btwn. Holly & Messer to be so unbelievably cartoonish. I guess the filmmakers realized, 'hey, there has to be some artificial conflict, here!' Ugh.
Katherine Heigl. Oh, Katherine Heigl. I can never put my finger on why I don't like thee. But I don't. I try. I think you're a better actress than Jen Aniston; and countless other romantic-comedy queens. But it just doesn't matter. You're pretty, you're relatable - but no. And her role here is similar to nearly every other one she's played in recent years - in other words, I don't care much about Holly & her self-inflicted romantic turmoil (though, she gets to stretch her acting abilities a little bit, here). Josh Duhamel fares somewhat better. I liked him, here. It's just that his character is so poorly/shallowly written. And the filmmakers made a big mistake by having Holly & Messer pull through in the end (PLEASE, you knew it was gonna happen), when she had an obviously better match with the Josh Lucas character. You'd actually have to be pretty stupid to not see that he was the better guy to be with.
'Life ...' goes down lightly. Anyone who has had little kids will find parts of the movie cute (God knows we've seen enough of them in advertisements for this movie). There are a host of 'awww' moments (both sad & happy). And there is honest sentiment in the early-goings. Unfortunately, everything spirals downward with quite a lot of time left in the movie. I hated all of the neighbors in the story. I hated the recycled plot points. And the fact that the movie's 2nd half is so much weaker than its 1st makes you think that the filmmakers got caught not knowing what to do. That makes for an uneven, unsuccessful movie.
Soon enough, Peter & Alison are killed in an automobile accident. And their will gives joint custody of Sophie to Holly and 'Musser'; forcing the 2 of them to put their differences aside, move into Peter & Alison's gorgeous mansion, work out their own schedules that will allow them to both care for Sophie, as well as maintain their personal lives (career, dating, etc.). Of course, conflicts arise (or else ther'd be no movie). But their desire to give Sophie with a stable home life keeps them together. Hate turns to love, they find common ground ... but then a hot male pediatrician (Josh Lucas) enters the picture & Holly goes gaga; and Messer gets a promotion which would relocate him to Arizona. Melodrama ensues; including a cliched race to the airport. Gag.
I quite enjoyed the 1st hour of 'Life As We Know It'. Sure, Holly has perfect skin, perfect hair, & a near-perfect career. Sure, Messer has the perfect body, awesome job, & an unbelievable (literally) social/sex life. Sure, their friends - who look perfect - have the perfect baby & live in a perfect mansion. This is the stuff of movies. BUT, the 1st hour got all of the details & emotions right - how awkward & difficult it is to raise a baby (crying, toys, pooping, peeing, laughing, vomit, crawling, walking, sleepless nights); especially under the circumstances they're placed in. The problem comes in the last 55 minutes (or so) of the film when the plot points become cliched, cloying, manipulative ... & the characters start saying & doing ridiculously stupid things that they wouldn't have done organically. I just found the animosity btwn. Holly & Messer to be so unbelievably cartoonish. I guess the filmmakers realized, 'hey, there has to be some artificial conflict, here!' Ugh.
Katherine Heigl. Oh, Katherine Heigl. I can never put my finger on why I don't like thee. But I don't. I try. I think you're a better actress than Jen Aniston; and countless other romantic-comedy queens. But it just doesn't matter. You're pretty, you're relatable - but no. And her role here is similar to nearly every other one she's played in recent years - in other words, I don't care much about Holly & her self-inflicted romantic turmoil (though, she gets to stretch her acting abilities a little bit, here). Josh Duhamel fares somewhat better. I liked him, here. It's just that his character is so poorly/shallowly written. And the filmmakers made a big mistake by having Holly & Messer pull through in the end (PLEASE, you knew it was gonna happen), when she had an obviously better match with the Josh Lucas character. You'd actually have to be pretty stupid to not see that he was the better guy to be with.
'Life ...' goes down lightly. Anyone who has had little kids will find parts of the movie cute (God knows we've seen enough of them in advertisements for this movie). There are a host of 'awww' moments (both sad & happy). And there is honest sentiment in the early-goings. Unfortunately, everything spirals downward with quite a lot of time left in the movie. I hated all of the neighbors in the story. I hated the recycled plot points. And the fact that the movie's 2nd half is so much weaker than its 1st makes you think that the filmmakers got caught not knowing what to do. That makes for an uneven, unsuccessful movie.