Friends With Kids
Lions Gate 2012
107 minutes
Friends With Kids is a good contemporary romantic comedy that works until the last 10 minutes. The premise is original, the development is realistic even for Hollywood, and you more than willingly go along for the ride and the gentle humor in this movie. Only a Hollywood bean counter worried about how the movie tested will buy the ending.
Julie and Jason are best friends and friends with two couples. An evening out brings them to discuss the whole parenting thing and they decide to have a kid together but remain platonic friends. This works out. The two other couples have their ups and downs and these lead Julie and Jason to think they made the best decision.
Things get a little more complicated when both Julie and Jason both get serious about the person they are dating. The bubble they have about having the ideal arrangement is eventually broken.
So far, so good.
Then the movie chickens out and becomes just another wimpy romantic comedy, albeit with a modern twist relationship wise.
There is a lot to like in the first 97 minutes. Writer, director, star Jennifer Westfeldt has a subtle, sometimes wacky sense of humor that makes for a very entertaining movie and interesting and believable characters.
The last 10 minutes of Friends With Kids feature some of the most atrocious dialogue ever penned for a romcom. I am convinced it is the result of the studio forcing the ending based on test audience reactions.
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