What to Expect When You're Expecting is the latest comedy to be based on a self-help best-seller. Adapted from Heidi Murkoff's, 1984 pregnancy book:- "What to Expect", takes six lightly sketched couples and weaves them into the impending-motherhood equivalent of a synthetic ensemble romantic comedy. As sociology, it's skin-deep, but if you're a parent or preparing to be one, you might see yourself in a few of these folks and have a good time doing so.
Elizabeth Banks is terrific as a baby-book author having her first child: a woman in the full dramatic throes of the bodily-function awkwardness of pregnancy. Ben Falcone (Bridesmaids) is equally good as her doting milquetoast husband, though Dennis Quaid is stuck playing an alpha-male cartoon as Falcone's ex-racing-star father (who is having twins with his trophy wife). Cameron Diaz (as a fitness-guru reality-show host) and Matthew Morrison spar painfully well as a couple who can't agree on whether their future son should be circumcised, and Jennifer Lopez and Rodrigo Santoro are touching as a couple out to adopt.
There's also a very funny pack of defeated dads who carry themselves like the living dead. Last and least, Anna Kendrick and Chace Crawford act out an unconvincing, bite-size Knocked Up. What to Expect is sort of thrown together, but that's okay: The movie hits authentic notes of anxiety and joy.
This movie captured hearts and audiences with its huge cast and sweet intersecting story lines, there's been an overflow of ensemble comedies, and fatigue has officially set in. There are usually too many characters and subplots, and while What to Expect When You're Expecting does have a star-studded cast and a lot going on, it's funnier and more engrossing than most of the movies in the genre.
 |
| Joe Manganiello on the scene |
Am surely gonna watch it over and over again. Join me, yes?
