Life As We Know It

You might be surprised to discover that Josh Duhamel and Katherine Heigl make for quite the cute couple. It's undeniable. Heck, they even make sure people in the movie tell us just how attractive they are. Good looks and a cute baby aren't enough to save a strictly formulaic expanded sitcom that can't seem to decide if it wants to be funny or poignant. It accomplishes neither very well.

Just once it'd be nice to see Heigl play someone other than an uptight stick in the mud. Here she's Holly, a woman who seems to be on the verge of having it all. Good looks, a successful cafe and catering business, and two best friends(Christina Hendricks and Hayes MacArthur) who love her dearly. When they introduce her slick womanizer, Eric(Duhamel), the two mix like milk and liquid Drano-O. Despite hating eachother for years, Eric and Holly remain in eachother's lives through their friends, becoming godparents to their daughter Sophie. When tragedy strikes, leaving Sophie an orphan, it's decreed in the will that Eric and Holly are to be Sophie's guardians.

It plays out terrible at first. Neither is willing to give up what they perceive to be perfect lives just because parenthood was thrust upon them. Living together is a disaster. Holly's overbearing, and Eric just wants to nail chicks and nurse his career as a stat junkie for the Atlanta Hawks. It's all too much too fast. As the responsibilities of parenthood begin to wear them down, they begin to grow fonder of eachother. I know you're shocked.

Director Greg Berlanti(Brothers and Sisters) brings his touch for familial drama to bear early on, and for awhile there are hints of a powerful film about family and responsibility as Holly and Eric deal with their newfound roles in life. Simultaneously they're  trying to work through their grief at the loss of their two best friends, and figuring out how to pick up where they left off in raising their daughter. Heigl and Duhamel are both particularly strong at this point, and it was nice to see Heigl actually stretching herself a bit for the few minutes that she does. Duhamel is starting to grow on me. He's almost like a poor man's Matthew McConaughey, only without the need to show his abs every 5 minutes to keep folks interested.

Then the floor drops out, and what had been working so well devolves into what can best be described as an hour of poor TBS sitcom hijinks, as Eric and Holly go through the usual parenting comedy tropes: baby vomit in the face; stinky diapers; lack of sleep.  As if we aren't suffering enough already, we also get lame romantic comedy junk piled on, especially when Holly begins dating an all too perfect pediatrician(Josh Lucas) who's the polar opposite of Eric. Does she go off and be happy with the man of her dreams? Or does she figure out that true happiness lies with the guy who's been banging women right under her nose for months? Do bears crap in the woods? Does the Pope live in a big ol' house?

A wasted supporting cast led by Melissa McCarthy(she's the hefty neighbor lady in EVERYTHING), Will Sasso(MadTV) and Jean Smart(why is she in this??? I have more lines than her!!) only add to the disappointment.

In a terribly contrived and unfunny moment, Eric and Holly find some weed and rather than smoking it decide to bake it into brownies. You already know that somebody unexpected wants to eat one, but that's besides the point. The point is they should hand out some of those funny brownies before every screening of this flick. It might be the only way anybody leaves happy.