There's some laughs here and there, but don't expect too much from this comedy
Starring: Cameron Diaz, Matthew Morrison, Jennifer Lopez, Elizabeth Banks, Anna Kendrick, Chace Crawford, Brooklyn Decker, Dennis Quaid & Chris Rock
Dir: Kirk Jones
Writers: Shauna Cross, Heather Hach, Heidi Murkoff
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| Is the baby laughing too? Probably not. |
Based on the best selling self-help book, What to Expect explores the trials and tribulations of several couples who are expecting babies, who's lives are all tenuously connected à la Love Actually. The parenting scenarios range from adoption (Jennifer Lopez), unexpected results of a one-night stand (Chace Crawford & Anna Kendrick), celebrity dance show contestants who have to choose between fame and parenthood (Matthew Morrisson and Cameron Diaz) and the owner of a baby boutique who realises pregnancy isn't all it's cracked up to be (Elizabeth Banks). Much of the comedy is provided by a group of pram-pushing, dummy-weilding Dads, self-dubbed as 'The Dude Group', who try to be the perfect father's whilst still maintaining their street-cred and battling it out with each other to be the alpha male.
Worth a watch?
The Dude Group are genuinely funny, providing most of the laughs. All of the other comedy seems to have come from the rom/com recycling bin. There is a cheeky bit of casting that will make some laugh - Cheryl Cole as the judge of an American talent show (I'm sure that was to get back at Mr Cowell) and a few amusing cameos from reality star Whitney Port and Megan Mullaly (the squeaky woman from Will and Grace). A handful of the characters are genuinely quite heart-warming, like Lopez travelling to Africa to meet her child, and I felt some sympathy for angst-ridden Crawford and Kendrick, and then on the other end of the scale is OTT Banks trying to hold herself together in a 'comedic' fashion.
Let down?
The all-star cast looks impressive on the poster and it's interesting to see how the various stories all unfold, but on the whole, it's not overly impressive. Recent 'same day' ensemble comedies haven't fared well recently (New Years Eve bombed) and sadly this hasn't bucked the trend. I didn't have great expectations for this film, but I had hoped for a few more laugh-out-loud moments.
So overall...
A fair comedy with some laughs from the Dads, but the Mums let the side down. On the whole, a predictable comedy with less laughs than expected.
- Lives up to expectation 1/2
- Scenery/Effects 1/3
- Eye Candy 2/2
- Quality of Acting 2/3
- Plot 2/5
- Quality of film within it's genre: Comedy 2/5 , Romance 1/5
44%
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