Can You Have A Kid with No Strings Attached?: Friends with Kids

Friends with Kids

Before I even knew what Friends with Kids was about (even though the title is pretty much self-explanatory), I automatically knew that I needed to see it. I recognized all of the cast members, with the exception of Jennifer Westfeldt (who wrote and directed the film as well), and found that this film was not your typical romantic comedy after watching the trailer. There are so many films that follow the same premise today – I’m talking about you, No Strings Attached and Friends with Benefits – and I was intrigued by Friends with Kids’ unusual storyline.

Friends with Kids is about, well, a group of friends and how their lives change when they have kids. After witnessing the effects that children have taken on their friends’ respective relationships – Hamm is married to Wiig’s character and O’Dowd is married to Rudolph’s – best friends Jason (Adam Scott) and Julie (Jennifer Westfeldt) realize that they want to have kids, but don’t want to fall into the “trap,” as Julie says, that their friends have. They decide to have a baby together and share custody while maintaining a platonic relationship with one another. While Jason and Julie think this is a fantastic idea, their friends are shocked: no one believes that this arrangement will actually work out. The rest of the film follows Julie’s and Jason’s lives after the birth of their son, and we witness the toll that their child takes on their friendship, as well as on their respective romantic relationships with others.

The cast of Friends with Kids alone is fantastic: Adam Scott (Parks and Recreation, Step Brothers) and Jennifer Westfeldt (Kissing Jessica Stein, 24) are supported by several Bridesmaids’ cast members including Kristen Wiig (Saturday Night Live), Maya Rudolph (Saturday Night Live, Up All Night), Jon Hamm (Mad Men), and Chris O’Dowd (The IT Crowd). The six friends have amazing chemistry, and they keep the movie moving. Megan Fox and Edward Burns are also great additions to the film. Their relationships with Scott’s and Westfeldt’s characters, respectively, bring yet another complicated element to the film.

Adam Scott, however, shines in Friends with Kids. Often known for his jerky and nerdy roles in both film and television, he portrays Jason as the perfect balance between the two. His performance of the atypical womanizer with a heart is believable, and we easily sympathize with his character. I must also give credit to Westfeldt though for writing such a remarkable character for her film.

While I was impressed overall with Friends with Kids, I was a bit disappointed in its resolution. The film started out great, and was extremely fast-paced and witty, but it began to lag towards the middle after the six friends and their respective partners (Fox and Burns) travel to a ski cabin together. From then on, unfortunately, the film devolves into a typical romantic comedy. Despite its rom-com pitfalls, I think that Friends with Kids is definitely a film that all adults would love to see.