What To Expect When You're Expecting

All Baby Bases Covered

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Rated: PG-13  Crude and sexual content, thematic elements and language
Release Date: May 18, 2012
Runtime:  1 hr 50 mins

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Director: Kirk Jones
Writers: Shauna Cross, Heather Hach, based on the books by Heidi Murkoff
Cast:  Cameron Diaz, Jennifer Lopez, Elizabeth Banks, Chace Crawford, Brooklyn Decker, Ben Falcone, Anna Kendrick, Matthew Morrison, Chris Rock, Dennis Quaid, Amir Talai

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SYNOPSIS: Five loosely interconnected couples struggle through the process of having a baby, each dealing with their own issues.

REVIEW: Kirk Jones, award winning director of Absolut Vodka TV ads and other advertising campaigns, also has made a name for himself with film projects including Everbody's Fine and Waking Ned Devine which he wrote and directed. Now he returned to the pilot's chair to direct a story from Shauna Cross (Whip It) and Heather Hach (Freaky Friday - 2003) based on the Heidi Murkoff books 'What to Expect When You're Expecting'. Do you know what to expect? Let's find out.

What to Expect When You're Expecting focuses on five couples in different situations of trying to have a child. Television fitness trainer Jules (Cameron Diaz, Bad Teacher) goes on a television dancing competition reality show and starts a relationship with dance partner Evan (Matthew Morrison, Glee), resulting in her pregnancy. Baby store owner Wendy (Elizabeth Banks, The Hunger Games) has been trying to conceive a child for two years with husband Gary (Ben Falcone, Bridesmaids), but have been having difficulties until an unexpected evening changes the course of their lives. Competing food truck chefs and former high school daters Marco (Chace Crawford, Peace, Love, and Misunderstanding) and Rosie (Anna Kendrick, 50/50) 'reconnect' one night at an outdoor film showing. Holly (Jennifer Lopez, The Back-up Plan) and husband Alex (Rodrigo Santoro, 300) look to adopt from abroad when Holly is unable to conceive, sparking financial and emotional fears. And finally, Gary's own retired NASCAR champion father Ramsey (Dennis Quaid, Beneath the Darkness) has news that his young beautiful new wife Skyler (Brooklyn Decker, Battleship) is also expecting - twins! As each couple tries to get a handle on the intricacies and obstacles of bringing a baby into the world or into their hearts, their paths cross loosely with the other couples in some fashion.

What to Expect When You're Expecting chronicles the 9-month journeys of five very different couples. Some are married, some are not. Some are in committed relationships, some are just trying to do the right thing by their partner. From Jules and Evan's hectic high-profile, in-the-public-eye reality show schedules, to barely making it financially food truck chefs Rosie and Marco, each couple portrays a partial cross-section of the reality of future parents. Holly and Alex try to do everything to impress the adoption agency, knowing full well that their financial situation will barely cover a new mortgage and a new baby if anything dire were to occur. On the other end of the spectrum, Ramsey and Skyler live a posh existence with a beautiful estate, a golf course in their back yard, and swimming pool complete with an official Jimmy Buffet 'Margaritaville' tiki bar. For them, money is no object and worries seem to shed off their backs like water off a duck. But secure finances do not make for easy times as Jules and Evan struggle to keep their Type-A personalities in check for the sake of the baby. Rich, poor, or middle class, the development and arrival of a child can only be planned so far in advance.

The film advertises as a dramatic comedy, but plays more to the light drama than to the comedy. In fact, the comedic elements come from the characters that fall outside of, but connected to, the five couples. Wendy's employee Janice (Rebel Wilson, Bridesmaids) is quirky and silly, hanging on her boss's every word and wisdom - dumb, naive and strangely lovable - like a automobile wreck. Holly's aquarium boss Kara (Wendi McLendon-Covey, Bridesmaids) is funny when she berates her husband Craig (Thomas Lennon, What's Your Number?) about the pronunciation of their son's name. And the aptly named 'The Dude's Group', which includes several veteran fathers including Vic (Chris Rock, Grown Ups), Gabe (Rob Huebel, The Descendants), Kara's husband Craig, and Patel (Amir Talai, The Pursuit of Happyness). They all meet in the park every Saturday to play with their kids, shoot the breeze, gossip, and observe the first rule of 'The Dude's Group' - no judgement! Kids playing in the dryer or swimming in the toilet bowl? No big deal! Kid eating a cigarette? Stuff happens! Kid falls off the changing table? Didn't happen on my watch! Dodged a bullet on that one! The rest of the cast of characters are too worried about their pregnancies and adoptions to spend too much time with all out humor.

The film is touching to a point, not as funny as it was made out to be in the trailers, and utterly busy. With five unique couple's experiences to contend with, we fill rushed through the delivery of the story. Couples pass by other couples like ships in the foggy night, rarely realizing that the other exists. There is so sadness and much more joy as the bundles of joy are brought home, and relationships strengthen or mend. But there is too much going on to be invested on all of it. Unlike the hit baby daddy comedy Knocked Up or the sweet and endearing Father of the Bride II, What to Expect When You're Expecting dilutes the quality of emotions in favor of quantity. Each actor or actress brings their A-game to their roles, either comedic or dramatic, but there is not enough time for anyone to shine too brightly. Maybe Kirk Jones was trying to make the audience feel disjointed or rushed so we could appreciate what the characters were experiencing in the story themselves. Each of the couples could have had a successful  film all to their own.

What to Expect When You're Expecting is a sometimes sweet, sometimes laborious film, spending too much of its time making sure every method of child birth or child adopting has a voice and is heard over the screaming of the other stories. Pushing all of these individual stories onto the screen at the same time, unfortunately, fails to deliver in the end.

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WORTH:  Matinee or Rental

Bad Teacher

Doing The Minimum Effort

Director: Jake Kasdan
Writers: Gene Stupnitsky, Lee Eisenberg
Stars: Cameron Diaz, Jason Segel, Justin Timberlake, Lucy Punch, Phyllis Smith, John Michael Higgins


SYNOPSIS: When a disinterested junior high teacher Elizabeth Halsey gets dumped by her rich fiancee, she sets her sights on a wealthy substitute teacher to make end meet, much to the chagrin of a well-loved teacher.

REVIEW: Director Jake Kasdan, best known for helming Orange County and Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story, takes a script from Year One and television's The Office scribe team Gene Stupnitsky and Lee Eisenberg to bring a raunchy, randy look at junior high school life - this time from the point of view of the overworked and underpaid staff.

What happens when you team Cameron Diaz, How I Met Your Mother's Jason Segel and the always watchable, in demand and busy Justin Timberlake? How about an adult sexy school comedy is part adult Mean Girls and School of Rock.

Where School of Rock takes a desperate broke musician and thrusts him into a private school substitute teacher role with an ulterior motive to try and win the Battle of the Bands competition using the kids in his class, Bad Teacher takes a desperate full-time public school junior high teacher Elizabeth Halsey (Cameron Diaz) found out by her fiancee to be a gold digger, forcing her to return to the school system she just left to make the rent. Along the way, she attempts to woo a wealthy substitute teacher Scott Delacorte (Justin Timberlake), clashes with the goody-goody, super chipper fellow teacher Amy Squirrel (Lucy Punch), and shields against the advances of the gym teacher Russell Gettis (Jason Segel) while trying to raise money for a boob job in an attempt to make herself feel better about herself.

Cameron Diaz is sultry cool as Halsey, her piercing blue eyes, wicked mouth and golden blonde curls eating up her scenes. She wears her character's distain, displeasure and disinterest like a tight, curvy well-loved T-shirt. Fellow educator Amy Squirrel played by Lucy Punch provides a perfect ticky, twitchy foil to Diaz, a teacher with goofy methods and a dedication to the children of her class and a threadbare sunny deposition ready to crack at any moment - like what happened back in 2008, according to dolphin-loving Principal Wally Snur, played by John Michael Higgins. The real scene-stealers, though, are Jason Segel's gym teacher Russell Gettis with his laid back,"ah shucks", water down a duck's back tireless pursuit of Halsey, Phyllis Smith's quirky, timid teacher Lynn Davies who always follows the rule, and sub teacher Scott Delacorte (Timberlake) who seems to have all the wrong moves with his singing and dancing but still draws all of the attention of the lady teachers.

Bad Teacher focuses little on the plight of the 7th graders, other than one kid who is head-over-heels with a popular girl who thinks she's too good for him. Instead, we are treated with various money-making schemes by Diaz to raise the up-front money for her chest enhancement appointment, a high noon feud that brews with fellow educator Amy Squirrel, and some weird passions by Timberlake, most notably an original ballad sung to sweetheart Amy or a strange passionate moment with Diaz in a hotel room during a class trip.

Many of the best gags are in the trailers, but there are a few surprises along the way that get a few laughs. We are treated to plenty of breasts and some choice curses throughout the film, some perfectly placed and some simply sprinkled in to spice up the dialogue. The ending is typical romantic comedy fare, but I did feel a little cheated by the lack of "just deserts" - almost like how Halsey gets her hands on the State Aptitude Tests!

WORTH: Matinee or Netflix

Green Hornet

Feel The Sting

[Seth Rogen, Jay Chou, Cameron Diaz, Tom Wilkinson, Christoph Waltz]

image from filmofilia.com

RANT: Went to the theater with my housemate today. Big problem... the first two rows behind the rail were reserved! Apparently, they do not let you know that when you arrive at the box office. Problem was, the film was PG-13 and not truly suitable for the young party goers. Oh well, I guess the parents know what's best.

SYNOPSIS: After the death of his newspaper mogul father, playboy Britt Reid decides to change the direction of his life by helping people as a costumed, masked avenger.

Get ready to hear the trumpets. Michel Gondry directs a story from Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg based on The Green Hornet radio series and the 1966-1967 TV series by George W. Trendle. The Green Hornet and Kato, characters made famous on the small screen by Van Williams and the legendary Bruce Lee, get their big screen treatment at long last.

Many were unsure, me included, that Seth Rogen was the man for the job to fill Britt Reid's shoes - let alone fill the Green Hornet's mask. But what we get from Seth's is a Britt Reid who is a wannabe masked adventurer with all of the enthusiasm and none of the fighting skills. It is refreshing, like Kick Ass before it, that the hero be just the regular guy without any cosmic rays or radioactive spiders - just the desire to help people. Thank the gods Britt has a martial arts mechanical genius, Kato (Jay Chou) to watch his back and keep him outfitted with all sorts of vehicles and gadgets. And since neither Britt nor Kato have a clue how to be the heroes they need to be to take down the kingpins of Los Angeles crime, Britt, as the new owner and editor of his father's paper, has to enlist a criminologist secretary Lenore Case (Cameron Diaz) to give them some much needed advice - Lenore not suspecting that she is really helping the Green Hornet.

Of course, it is code that every great hero needs a great villain. And in this case, we are fortunate enough to have Inglourious Basterds own Christoph Waltz as Los Angeles crime boss, Chudnofsky. In a great opening scene with Mr. Clear (James Franco) as an up-and-comer crystal-meth dealer and night club owner, Chudnofsky shows great concern and worry from Mr. Clear's comments that Chudnofsky was not modern or scary enough to be the big boss. It is not a Col. Hans Landa caliber performance, but above par, nonetheless.

The movie has chemistry, action and laughs. Seth Rogen takes on Britt Reid with childlike vigor and eagerness to get out and fight crime. And Jay Chou would make Bruce Lee proud with his turn as Kato. The Black Beauty is a crazy, cool car with its missiles and hood machine guns and chases through downtown. Plus we get some funny moments with the introductions of the Green Hornet's gas gun. The trend to use 3D technology results in adequate effects, but the film would be fine without it. As with any Seth Rogen film, I make sure that I have an over sized bucket of popcorn and a kidney-busting soda, looking to escape the early afternoon reality. But I was pleasantly surprised with the flick - getting my fill of action and amusement.

Worth: Matinee or DVD

Butter Popcorn Meter

Knight and Day

More Like Tongue and Cheek

[Tom Cruise, Cameron Diaz, Peter Sarsgaard]

Today I ran into another great moment that can only happen at the movies. You may or may not have seats at your movie theatre that are designated specifically for the handicapped. At the theatre I go to, they have spaced seating in front of the crossway for this purpose. An older couple were sitting in the two seats centered in the theatre. Just then a man with a cane and his father with a walker came in. He proceeded to tell the man and his wife that they needed to move because these seats were for the handicapped. The older man shot back that he had the right to sit there. The man with the cane shot back '...that in legal terms, he was not considered handicapped... and needed to move.'. The man and his wife moved to the two handicapped seats that were situated to the left of the two seats they had vacated. I would typically applaud a person for sticking up for the reservation of seats for the elderly or handicapped, but I would never use it as a tool to evict a couple just because you wanted to see the movie front and center. That's just crazy!

SYNOPSIS: June Havens, trying to get home to Boston from Wichita, bumps into a handsome man, Roy Miller, at the airport. As events spin into motion and out of control, June quickly is told by Roy that he is a hunted rogue government operative because of the perpetual energy source he is carrying, its inventor that he has moved to a safe house and the agents he was framed for killing. To make matters worse, a notorious arms dealer also wants the energy source, and June still needs to make it to her little sister's wedding on Saturday!

Marquee master Tom Cruise rolls back into the Summer theater, with Cameron Diaz in tow, to dazzle us with another high energy thrill ride. Is it a thrill ride or a kiddie ride? I can definitely attest that the action sequences are kickin'! The flight fight is well choreographed and executed, especially when the flight crew is executed! The car chases and gun battles are frantic and fun. The real question with any action film is whether the moments between the action is worth while.

Remember how great Bruce Willis was in the original "Die Hard"? The entire film, action and non-action, was great to watch. As for "Knight and Day", while Cruise and Diaz kept me entertained, they fail to enthrall me emotionally. Is it Cameron? Is it Cruise? I know it isn't Cruise because I will admit to tearing up during "Jerry Maguire". And I know Diaz has it in her as well. Maybe it was in the trying to add comedy to the action that the emotion effort was underdone.

The early dialogue is a little forced in order to propel the story. We all find out on the flight that June has never been anywhere or done anything of note. In the next breath, Roy is inferring that he just wants to be able to live life, not just travel through it. I would rather have the storytelling conveyed in action, not just words. Cruise does bring back his 'conquer the world' "Jerry Maguire" without the uncertainty, though. Never was it more evident than when he was explaining to June that her degree of survival was 'up here' with him, 'down here' without him, 'up here' with, 'down here' without.

Even though I was not emotionally invested, I was entertained. As I said, the action was quick and well-done, although the CGI 'running of the bulls' sequence left me gored. A good popcorn movie, but certainly not the best that the marketing machine proclaims. If you liked what you saw on the commercials, I am sure that it's good enough!

Worth: Matinee & DVD

Shrek Forever After

Shrek No More
[Mike Myers, Cameron Diaz, Eddie Murphy, Antonio Banderas]

The last rays of sunlight stream down as the close of the holiday weekend hits. Sun tan lotion, hot dogs and macaroni salad, family and more movies. I know, I know... why would I spend time in a movie theater when the sun is shining? The answer, I am saving my skin from burning!

SYNOPSIS: Shrek, suffering from the new parent blues, harkens back to a simpler time where he could do what he wanted and was feared instead of adored. Rumpelstiltskin tricks Shrek into signing a magical contract that allows Shrek to have a day without responsibility, but erases his true existence with his friends and family as a result.

A cross between "Its a Wonderful Life" and "Robin Hood", "Shrek Forever After" turns all of the Shrek conventions on their ear. The opening of the film reveals that Rumpelstilskin was moments away from having the King of Far Far Away sign over his kingdom in order to free Princess Fiona from the Dragon's Keep, but a messenger relays that the Princess was rescued and the contract is torn up. Fast forward to the end of "Shrek 3" with Shrek and Princess Fiona and their three babies. Now Shrek wakes to the monotony of been a parent, the inability for a moment to himself, and the constant reminder that he is a celebrity instead of a calamity. Rumpelstilskin uses a moment of Shrek's weakness to trick him into signing a magical contract that seems innocuous but changes everything that Shrek knows the world to be.

What's the best way to make an aging franchise fresh again? Enter the classic George Bailey plot. What happens if you never saved the princess from the Dragon's Keep? What happens if you never met a talking donkey with a taste for waffles? What happens if you were never born? What happens when it's all a result of a magic-clad contract?

Although this installment is not the best nor the most original, it does manage to shine through in spots. Rumbelstilskin is a whiny, whacked out weasel of a villain. New and existing characters are used in funny and interesting ways. And the focus of the film returns to Shrek, Fiona and Donkey, which is refreshing.

Love and life lost and sacrificed. The end of the film supplies a couple tearful moments, which is fitting since it is the series' last farewell. If you have enjoyed the first three films, it would be regretful to not finish the journey. As a stand alone movie, "Shrek Forever After" works well enough.

Worth: Matinee and a DVD