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“Friends with Kids,” written and directed by, and starring, Jennifer Westfeldt, is not “Bridesmaids.” Sure, it shares four cast members with the hilarious 2011 comedy, along with some of the profane language, but none of the characters needs to utilize a sink for a purpose other than normal usage. It doesn’t exactly break new ground, but does a fine job of poignantly navigating the familiar.
Westfeldt plays Julie Keller, one of a sextet of New York thirty-somethings that live life on the town. Joining Julie are Ben and Missy (Jon Hamm and Kristen Wiig), Leslie and Alex (Maya Rudolph and quietly funny Chris O’Dowd), and Julie’s BFF Jason Fryman (Adam Scott). Julie has never been Jason’s type (most notably in the chest, which we are reminded of a little too often), and Jason is seemingly incapable of a long-term relationship with any woman he is dating.
Fast forward four years. Children have severely limited the social availability of the two couples, leaving Julie and Jason alone with themselves. The couples’ offspring have also placed a terrible strain on their marriages. But Julie and Jason are getting older, and they both love kids. They hatch an idea to have a child with each other, but without the perceived downside of getting married, leaving them free to date other people and beat the system. Or, as they put it, being “100 percent committed half of the time” to their child. Predictably, their friends and parents have mostly negative reactions to their decision.
At this point, the film (watch free with ip address lookup location) squanders a huge opportunity. Rather than explore non-traditional child-rearing in depth, Westfeldt pivots away toward a lighter and simpler dramedy that relies on crass comments from the men for humor and consolation and romantic longing from the women. Rom-coms don’t always have the opportunity to look deeper; the setup is there but the chance is abandoned for more traditional storytelling.
Westfeldt has commandeered the pace and flow of “When Harry Met Sally…” and replaced Billy Crystal’s mini stand-up routines with Judd Apatow jokes. The men all have some degree of insensitivity that might play in New York and Los Angeles but would be unthinkable in flyover country. Aside from white knight Edward Burns, a divorcee who helps complicate Jason and Julie’s relationship (along with Megan Fox’s body), the constant crudeness flowing from the men doesn’t make them terribly appealing. In Apatow movies, the foul language plays well because most of the characters are younger and clearly the fools; when it matter-of-factly comes from 37 year-old parents who are dealing with life’s difficulties, it’s not so funny.
In spite of some of the boorish behavior, “Friends with Kids” does get a lot of things right. The film addresses many points of view on the impact of having a child on the parents’ social standing, especially in the struggles to maintain the pre-offspring relationship and the adaptation to accepting that relationship is permanently altered.
Moments of inspired dialogue and the hook are enough to lift the film above the mounds of dull rom-com ejecta spewed from the studios every year (i.e., most Katherine Heigl movies). “Friends with Kids” is a solid, if unspectacular romantic comedy, perfect for a date night and little more.
