I don't understand why there is such a big wave for multi-star movies. Apparently the movies New Years Eve and Valentines Day didn't fail enough to convince people that lots of stars equals fragmented plots and poor entertainment quality. So why in the world are we getting another compilation movie based on a pregnancy advice book? I can't answer that question, but I can give you my review of the latest Dramedy Romance movie What To Expect When You're Expecting.
As the numerous trailers have shown, this movie is about five couples that face different challenge of becoming parents. Jules (Cameron Diaz) and Evan (Matthew Morrison) are celebrities who have to balance their careers with pregnancy. Holly (Jennifer Lopez) and Alex (Rodrigo Santoro) is an adopting couple with Alex needing some advice from the Dudes Group. Wendy (Elizabeth Banks) a struggling children's book writer and her husband Gary (Ben Falcone) are experiencing their first pregnancy, while competing with Gary's dad (Dennis Quaid) and his wife Skyler (Brooklyn Decker) who seem to be having a wonderful time. Finally Rosie (Anna Kendrick) and her one night stand Marco (Chace Crawford) have to deal with issues of their own when their night of fun results in conception.
Already you can see the copious amount of drama and issues this movie is filled with and surely you must be wondering how they tied all of these stories together. The answer is that they essentially tied them together in a similar manner seen in Valentines Day, where each character would have snippets of screen time to quickly push along the story. Although this movie has made slight improvements from the holiday themed comedies, the movie is still essentially the same cut and paste presentation. Only a few of the main characters actually know each other, and their interaction with the other protagonists are sometimes creative, yet mostly weak. Instead they decided to sacrifice the story and replace it with lots of silly situations and cheesy one-liners that were shown repeatedly in the trailers. Some of the comedy was a little raunchy and awkward, while other comedic lines were overacted attempts to make you laugh. Thus, you can guess that the most of the "funny" dialog in this movie had already grown stale for me by the time I got to the movie. A few lines of the movie made me laugh, mainly from Vic (Chris Rock ) who led the Dudes group and spurred on the jokes. However, the cast member who had the most laughs from the audience was Rebel Wilson who played the idiot assistant that delivered the Baby Mama like lines. While I laughed at the first few lines, Wilson eventually got old and I looked for something else to focus on. Although the secondary characters entertained me the most, I have to say I was impressed with Diaz and Kendrick in this film. Both of them surprised me with how complex a role they played, being funny at one part and serious in the other. The actresses also had some character development roles in the film as well, and perhaps the most interesting and meaningful stories of the bunch.
This brings me to my next things to talk about. Although this movie does have a large amount of comedy, it also has some serious moments as well. Each character faces their own ups and downs of pregnancy, and I felt the movie did a decent job of introducing the problems and the appropriate response to the situation. However, since this movie was meant to be lighthearted and it was fragmented, they didn't really take the time to properly develop the situation. Most of the problems were sad for about two minutes, but quickly settled the problem a few seconds later. While this kept the movie going, I still felt a little cheated in the drama category. Despite the rushed pace though, this movie also does a good job pulling the heartstrings and portraying the emotions for starting a family. The countless oohs and aahs from the female audience members today indicated that this movie definitely appeals to the women, while the men will enjoy seeing the beautiful women in this movie. I do warn you though there is a very sad part in this movie that may leave some in tears.
Overall What To Expect When You're Expecting is a movie that is targeted for two audience types. The first is for anyone that has started a family, or wants to start a family will be attracted to this movie. The second are those looking for a date movie and some cheap laughs. If you are in any of these categories, you will probably enjoy the movie more than I did. However, if you are looking for more a comedy like Knocked Up or Bridesmaids, you're out of luck. Again the trailers really ruined this one for me, and not even the good looks of the women could save it from being still a predictable and fragmented mess. My scores for this movie are the following:
Comedy/Drama/Romance: 6.0-6.5 Movie Overall: 4.0-4.5
My opinion is to Netflix or pay per view it, as it will save you time and money. However, if you really want a Baby Mama like comedy movie, well this is the film for you. Tune in next week my friends for more reviews and as always keep enjoying the movies.
As the numerous trailers have shown, this movie is about five couples that face different challenge of becoming parents. Jules (Cameron Diaz) and Evan (Matthew Morrison) are celebrities who have to balance their careers with pregnancy. Holly (Jennifer Lopez) and Alex (Rodrigo Santoro) is an adopting couple with Alex needing some advice from the Dudes Group. Wendy (Elizabeth Banks) a struggling children's book writer and her husband Gary (Ben Falcone) are experiencing their first pregnancy, while competing with Gary's dad (Dennis Quaid) and his wife Skyler (Brooklyn Decker) who seem to be having a wonderful time. Finally Rosie (Anna Kendrick) and her one night stand Marco (Chace Crawford) have to deal with issues of their own when their night of fun results in conception.
Already you can see the copious amount of drama and issues this movie is filled with and surely you must be wondering how they tied all of these stories together. The answer is that they essentially tied them together in a similar manner seen in Valentines Day, where each character would have snippets of screen time to quickly push along the story. Although this movie has made slight improvements from the holiday themed comedies, the movie is still essentially the same cut and paste presentation. Only a few of the main characters actually know each other, and their interaction with the other protagonists are sometimes creative, yet mostly weak. Instead they decided to sacrifice the story and replace it with lots of silly situations and cheesy one-liners that were shown repeatedly in the trailers. Some of the comedy was a little raunchy and awkward, while other comedic lines were overacted attempts to make you laugh. Thus, you can guess that the most of the "funny" dialog in this movie had already grown stale for me by the time I got to the movie. A few lines of the movie made me laugh, mainly from Vic (Chris Rock ) who led the Dudes group and spurred on the jokes. However, the cast member who had the most laughs from the audience was Rebel Wilson who played the idiot assistant that delivered the Baby Mama like lines. While I laughed at the first few lines, Wilson eventually got old and I looked for something else to focus on. Although the secondary characters entertained me the most, I have to say I was impressed with Diaz and Kendrick in this film. Both of them surprised me with how complex a role they played, being funny at one part and serious in the other. The actresses also had some character development roles in the film as well, and perhaps the most interesting and meaningful stories of the bunch.
This brings me to my next things to talk about. Although this movie does have a large amount of comedy, it also has some serious moments as well. Each character faces their own ups and downs of pregnancy, and I felt the movie did a decent job of introducing the problems and the appropriate response to the situation. However, since this movie was meant to be lighthearted and it was fragmented, they didn't really take the time to properly develop the situation. Most of the problems were sad for about two minutes, but quickly settled the problem a few seconds later. While this kept the movie going, I still felt a little cheated in the drama category. Despite the rushed pace though, this movie also does a good job pulling the heartstrings and portraying the emotions for starting a family. The countless oohs and aahs from the female audience members today indicated that this movie definitely appeals to the women, while the men will enjoy seeing the beautiful women in this movie. I do warn you though there is a very sad part in this movie that may leave some in tears.
Overall What To Expect When You're Expecting is a movie that is targeted for two audience types. The first is for anyone that has started a family, or wants to start a family will be attracted to this movie. The second are those looking for a date movie and some cheap laughs. If you are in any of these categories, you will probably enjoy the movie more than I did. However, if you are looking for more a comedy like Knocked Up or Bridesmaids, you're out of luck. Again the trailers really ruined this one for me, and not even the good looks of the women could save it from being still a predictable and fragmented mess. My scores for this movie are the following:
Comedy/Drama/Romance: 6.0-6.5 Movie Overall: 4.0-4.5
My opinion is to Netflix or pay per view it, as it will save you time and money. However, if you really want a Baby Mama like comedy movie, well this is the film for you. Tune in next week my friends for more reviews and as always keep enjoying the movies.