A Friendly Arrangement

I recently watched last year's independent film, Friends With Kids. It comes from the real-life partner of actor Jon Hamm, a triple-threat writer, director, and actress named Jennifer Westfeldt. It's a film revolving around a pair of longtime friends, played by Westfeldt and Adam Scott, who decide to have a child together in their own platonic, unmarried relationship. The story unfolds over years as the two of them conceive and begin raising the child, try to juggle their parenting, and continue their separate dating lives in search of "the one."

There's a great deal of both humor and sentiment in this film. The cast is full of actors able to play both comedy and drama with skill. Many of the cast are friends in real life, and several actually appeared together in Bridesmaids -- Kristen Wiig, Maya Rudolph, Chris O'Dowd and Jon Hamm. They're joined here by Edward Burns and Megan Fox in supporting roles.

The humor here is sure to play to all kinds of audiences. As one without children in my own circle of friends, I laughed riotously and cringed with familiarity at the opening 15 minutes, which show the singles trying to blend into the angst-ridden wild kingdom of their friends with toddlers. I'm sure if those friends were to watch this movie, they'd have a similar reaction laughing at the moments where those childless friends talk too flippantly about how easy parenting would be if they were doing it.

The drama of the film is just as strong. Because the movie has multiple couples in it, and because it unfolds over several years, you get to see several stages of several different types of relationship. And I'm probably not spoiling anything to say that not all of them do well. There are several honest moments in the film both uncomfortable and sad.

Adam Scott and Jennifer Westfeldt make a wonderful screen not-a-couple. You really end up rooting for them to make their arrangement work. The film could be called an ensemble piece, but it really revolves around the two of them. They do most of the heavy lifting, and the film wouldn't work at all if not for them.

My only criticism would be that you know exactly how the movie is going to resolve. And not only does it make no effort to buck convention despite the unconventional premise, it actually embraces a few cliché moments from other romantic comedies... and not to tweak or deflate them. It's not that they feel wrong in this movie; you just wish it had done a little better.

Still, the movie is well worth watching even if parts of it feel familiar. I'd actually grade it an A-. There's something for everyone here.