Rated PG-13. 110 minutes. At area theaters.
If only “What to Expect When You’re Expecting” had focused on the group of dads, and didn’t just drop in on them a handful of times, we might have been onto something here.
Chris Rock, Thomas Lennon and Rob Huebel are among the dudes who meet regularly to push their kids in tricked-out strollers, tote them in high-end carriers and talk guy stuff in a confidential setting away from the wives. Their no-nonsense banter and their unabashed worship of the buff, shirtless jogger who frequents their Atlanta park liven up what is a rather predictable and clichéd depiction of pregnancy.
A good-looking cast of popular actors can only do so much with material that’s superficial and sitcommy. Director Kirk Jones’ film is “inspired by” the Heidi Murkoff advice book of the same name, one that every single pregnant woman on the planet surely has read since its initial publication in 1985. But similar to 2009’s “He’s Just Not That Into You,” the script from Shauna Cross and Heather Hach merely uses a familiar nonfiction title as a leaping-off point to explore various intertwined relationships, ostensibly for hilarious comic effect.
There are some laughs and a few recognizable moments of honesty. Elizabeth Banks’ character begins to touch on something relatable; an author and owner of a breast-feeding boutique, she finds her militant stances hard to maintain once she becomes pregnant.
More often, we get the kind of contrived, shrieky wackiness that breaks out when all the pregnant women whose stories we’ve been following just happen to give birth at the same hospital on the same night. Being crowd-pleasing was obviously more important than being truthful.
We begin with Cameron Diaz as Jules, a fitness expert and the host of a “Biggest Loser”-style reality show. She didn’t expect to be expecting with Evan (Matthew Morrison), her partner on a “Dancing With the Stars”-style reality show, but now these two must find a way to juggle a baby along with their new relationship and high-profile careers.
Jennifer Lopez plays Holly, a photographer who has been trying for years to conceive with her husband, Alex (Rodrigo Santoro), with no luck. They’re hoping to adopt an orphan from Ethiopia, an emotionally intense, life-changing moment for which Lopez’s character apparently felt the need to wear fake eyelashes.
