Review of Friends with Kids (2012) by Danielonfilm — 14 Mar 2012

The film loses its rhythm when it explores their romances. Jason (Adam Scott) and Julie (Jennifer Westfeldt) have quirky, earnest conversations about sex, life, and death--they talk about choosing between different ways of dying; getting eaten by an alligator vs.

a shark, for example. They play off one another like a comedy duo, and this is where the film's chemistry and laughs reside. But once the films shifts direction towards the budding romances of their rival love interests Mary Jane (Megan Fox) and Kurt (Edward Burns), the film fizzles.

MJ and Kurt are introduced late in the film, and are types rather than individuals, which generates little tension for us in dual love triangles. While Fox feels more natural in her scenes here than she does in her previous work, she doesn't have enough to do, especially compared with the subtext Westfeldt give herself in her own scenes, where she pretends she's happy that the Jason character has found someone.

Furthermore, Friends with Kids has more characters than it can handle (a maid character is introduced and then dropped from the narrative). There's a squabble between an extraneous couple at the film's climax, yet they had so little screen time heretofore that it comes out of the blue.