Romantic comedies have been in a weird state of flux for awhile now, as our view on marriage and parenting has been irrevocably altered by the Sex and the City generation. Now more than ever we're seeing less rom-coms anticipating wedded bliss(no more Father of the Brides!), and more featuring New York hipsters with no interest in settling down, and even less desire for the life upheaval that comes with children. This has given birth(pun intended) to a slew of similarly styled comedies featuring pretty people having their cake and eating it, too, like No Strings Attached or Friends with Benefits, or the older skewing It's Complicated.
Ten years after she rose to fame with the insightful and often funny Kissing Jessica Stein, Jennifer Westfeldt is standing front and center ahead of a talented supported cast in Friends with Kids, a sharp and witty comedy that shows her understanding of near-middle aged New Yorkers has only become more refined. Her style is delightfully Woody Allen-esque, or maybe like one of Ed Burns' city-set indies. Burns ironically co-stars in the film, along with a cast that would have any studio head salivating. Springing from the ultra successful Bridesmaids are Kristen Wiig, Maya Rudolph, Chris O'Dowd, and Westfeldt's long-time partner, Jon Hamm. Yet it's Westfeldt and Adam Scott who sparkle together on screen and steal the show from their hilarious colleagues.
Jason(Scott) and Julie(Westfeldt) are two long time best friends, enveloped in their world of social gatherings and bachelorhood, with no desire to ever see that change. Their closest friends are couples in various states of wedded bliss: Leslie(Rudolph) and Alex(O'Dowd) are chummy and stable. While Ben(Hamm) and Missy(Wiig) can't keep their hands off each other long enough to make it through dinner. As long as they're happy and childless, Jason and Julie are content to sneer at those parents who bring their noisy kids into busy restaurants. But when their friends start popping out the little buggers, forming families of their own, Jason and Julie not only see their carefree world grind to a halt but also feeling the pangs of old age.
A few years later, and their friends aren't nearly as happy as they once were. Kids have turned Leslie and Alex's marriage into a gale force wind of chaos, while Missy and Ben don't speak and can't stand one another. Even worse, they're boring! Wanting to have kids but not the deadweight of marriage to burden them, Jason comes up with the ingenious idea for he and Julie to have a kid together, just "pop one out" he says, but stay best friends and not get married. It's a terrible idea from the start, and their friends know it as surely as we do.Westfeldt, who also write and directed the film, presents us with a situation that seems ripe for sitcom treatment, but presented in a (mostly) mature and thoughtful way that stands apart from other romantic comedies. In particular, she veers away from the heavily dominated female perspective and focuses equally on the plight of both Jason and Julie, who are rapidly approaching middle age and seeing the prospects of finding "the one" dwindling. As Julie, she fits somewhere in between Sex and the City's Carrie Bradshaw and Wiig's character in Bridesmaids. She's a successful, outgoing woman who just can't seem to put it all together on the relationship side of things. It's actually surprising that Wiig wasn't chosen for the lead role, instead set in the background with her usual exuberance quieted. Westfeldt's performance is strong and believable. Even though Julie is a beauty by almost any measure, she has an insecurity about her that feels real, especially after she gives birth. When Jason starts dating the younger and more traditionally sexy Mary Jane, played by Megan Fox, it only exacerbates the situation.
Adam Scott is an actor who has been knocking at the door of being a leading man for awhile now, although he's mostly been able to show it on television and the occasional film like Leap Year. His wry attitude and easy charm work wonders opposite Westfeldt, hopefully meaning we'll see him in more roles such as this in the future. With the exception of Wiig, who may have been a tad underutilized, the rest of the supporting cast is terrific. In particular O'Dowd steals literally every scene he's in as Rudolph's "just go with the flow" husband. Megan Fox, a better actress than many give her credit for, does her best work when she's not being forced to play the sex pot.
Disaster strikes, of course, as Julie and Jason are forced to deal with the realities of raising a kid. That includes babysitters, poopy diapers, and for Julie an horrific realization the effects it has on a woman's body. Some of the talk gets pretty frank, but it sounds natural. While the film does slip into conventional romantic comedy territory as the two best friends continue to deny their obvious attraction, the true impact of their rash decision making is perfectly explored in a tense and revealing dinner scene near the film's conclusion. We're so used to seeing Hamm as the unabashed alpha male in everything he does that it's strange to see him in this scene in particular, as a drunken, angry husband beaten down by life.
Those turning up to see Bridesmaids-style will get something completely different, but they won't walk away disappointed. Westfeldt clearly has a lot to say, and she might be wise to keep her cast together for an even deeper exploration of the rigors of marriage. Perhaps a spinoff starring O'Dowd and Rudolph?
Trav's Tip: For more on Friends with Kids, check out my interview with Jennifer Westfeldt. You can listen to it here!
