There are romantic comedies about romance and then
there are romantic comedies about relationships.
It might seem like a subtle difference – they both
end up at the exact same place with a big "Happily Ever After" sign
flashing away – but it's usually the ones about relationships that end
up having a bit more substance, if only because there’s slight more to
say about actual relationships.
Writer / director / star Jennifer Westfeldt’s
latest film falls firmly into the relationship camp with an opening
where three couples – the married Leslie (Maya Rudolph) and Alex (Chris
O'Dowd), the newly together and going at it like rabbits Ben (John
Hamm, Westfeldt’s real life partner) and Missy (Kristen Wiig), and the
best friends forever Jason (Adam Scott) and Julie (Westfeldt) – meet up
for dinner, heap scorn on a nearby family for bring kids to a classy
restaurant, then find out that Leslie and Alex have one on the way.
Jump forward four years and everyone but Jason and
Julie have kids.
The
impact on their relationships can best be described as “toxic”. Not
wanting to suffer the same fate, Jason and Julie come up with a plan :
they’ll have a kid together, they just won’t become a couple.
No
prizes whatsoever for guessing how it all turns out, but the charm of
this film lies in the details. Rudolph and O’Dowd have a lot of fun as
a bickering but clearly loving duo, while Hamm gets to say some
amazingly nasty stuff with real relish (Wiig, on the other hand, pretty
much fades into the background).
Even Ed Burns and a
surprisingly good Megan Fox as Julie and Jason’s partners later on –
just because they have a kid together doesn’t mean they’re not going to
date – do well as near-stereotypical examples of the kind of perfect
person you can’t help but be a little jealous of.
Scott and
Westfeldt have real chemistry together and in an unusual move for a
romantic comedy they seem to be playing actual people with (minor)
flaws rather than the usual idealised robots that usually take the
lead.
None of this really ever gets the story off the
iron
tracks to the predictable destination it’s always clearly heading
towards, but it does make the ride a lot of fun.
3.5 out
of 5
Friends
With Kids Australian release: 7th June,
2012 Official
Site:Friends With Kids Cast: Adam Scott, Jennifer Westfeldt,
Jon Hamm, Kristen Wiig, Maya Rudolph, Chris O’Dowd, Megan Fox, Edward
Burns Director: Jennifer Westfeldt
