We were given the opportunity to review this film, and I’ve been intrigued as to how you can make a (fairly serious) textbook into a comedy, as the two seem a million miles apart.
Starring Cameron Diaz and Matthew Morrison, we get straight into their story – they’re dance partners on a tv show, which is where Cheryl Cole makes her appearance as a judge. They win, and Cameron promptly pukes into the trophy, commencing their journey into parenthood.
You meet other couples, as well as the pair who meet over their burger vans – and it all seems quite nice and jolly, everyone goes for their scans and gets to find out the gender of their child (but as we know you never truly know if it’s 100% correct until you meet the child) – when I started to get a little bit cross.
See, while I wasn’t wishing it, I hoped one of the couples would have a miscarriage, as not everyone is successful – within ten seconds of thinking it, a couple had. It was dealt with pretty quickly, with very little explanation other than the girl didn’t want to see the boy afterwards – I kind of wish they’d gone into it in a bit more depth.
The other couples continue their journey – the Baby Guru’s husband meets other dads in the park, one of them being Chris Rock who delivers a monologue about fatherhood with the other dads nodding in agreement. There was a quite sweet moment where they all lined up between the buggies to pick up each side and take them down the stairs. Very practical.
The couples all have their babies, and of course if you’ve been there yourself you’ll know it’s almost always never as you plan it – which is quite well shown in this film – the mother who was adamant she wouldn’t have a c-section has one, and so on.
So really, the verdict? It’s an odd topic for a light and fluffy comedy, and I’m afraid to say I didn’t laugh once. It’s a tricky subject to cover in a limited amount of time – I wish it had been set around, say, an antenatal class – cut out the bits at the start so you get to know a group of friends thrown together for their own journeys into parenthood – that might have warmed me to the characters a little more. I felt like the majority of the characters weren’t that likeable, and that’s half the battle with enjoying a film.
Ultimately, making a comedy from a book which covers almost every aspect when you’re pregnant may have been an ambitious move, but actually, it fails. It tries to do too much and delivers too little.
What To Expect When You’re Expecting is released on Monday 22nd October on DVD and Blu-Ray, certificate 12.
I’d been humming and haaing about this and I’m glad I didn’t try to see it now. Thank you for the honest review.
Oh I saw this on a free preview when it came out and loved it! I really enjoyed it and found it really funny. I probably enjoyed the Dad’s bits more than the Mum’s.
If you like reading chick-lit then this is defintely a chick-flick for you.