Friends with Kids (2011)

Two best friends decide to have a child together while keeping their relationship platonic, so they can avoid the toll kids can take on romantic relationships.

Director:

Jennifer Westfeldt

Writer:

Jennifer Westfeldt

Stars:

Jennifer Westfeldt, Adam Scott, Maya Rudolph

2 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Adam Scott	...	Jason Fryman
Jennifer Westfeldt	...	Julie Keller
Maya Rudolph	...	Leslie
Chris O'Dowd	...	Alex
Kristen Wiig	...	Missy
Jon Hamm	...	Ben
Loulou Sloss	...	Girl Acting Up in Restaurant
Katie Foster	...	Girl in Office / Jule's Assistant
Robert Halpern	...	Cole
Daniel Halpern	...	Cole
Rekha Luther	...	Life Coach / Jason's Date
Peter K. Hirsch	...	Doctor in Delivery Room
Lee Bryant	...	Elaine Keller
Kelly Bishop	...	Marcy Fryman
Cotter Smith	...	Phil Fryman

Storyline

Julie and Jason have been best friends for years with no romantic interest in each other. He sleeps with someone new every few days, and she's looking for Mr. Right. Now in their thirties, they notice that their friends seem to lose all their good qualities when they have children - child rearing and the spark of Eros don't seem to co-exist. So, they decide to have a child together, share in child rearing, but pursue their own romantic lives. Things go well until he meets Mary Jane and she meets Kurt. Both seem like perfect mates. What could go wrong?

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Plot Keywords:

f rated | cabin | life coach | friend | children | 

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Taglines:

Family doesn't always go according to plan.

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Genres:

Comedy | Drama | Romance

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for sexual content and language

Details

Official Sites:

Lionsgate [United States] Official Facebook

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

16 March 2012 (USA)

Also Known As:

Plan perfecto

Filming Locations:

Mt. Peter, Warwick, New York, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$10,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$2,017,466, 11 March 2012, Limited Release

Gross USA:

$7,250,054, 10 June 2012

Company Credits

Production Co:

Red Granite Pictures, Points West Pictures, Locomotive

Technical Specs

Runtime:

107 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Jason introduces Mary Jane to his parents (played by Kelly Bishop and Cotter Smith) in Mary Jane's dressing room, backstage at the Broadway revival of Chicago. In Kelly Bishop's real life, she appeared in (and won a Tony for) the original Broadway production of A Chorus Line, which in 1975 engaged in a famous box office and awards rivalry with the original production of Chicago.

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Goofs

In the final scene, when Jason leaves Julie's house, she is wearing a black v-neck sweater and her hair is nicely coiffed. After she asked him to leave, when he decided to go back and try again, she is wearing a completely different outfit and her hair is longer and messy.

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Quotes

Jason Fryman: Please, please, just let me fuck the shit out of you right now. And if you're not convinced afterwards that I am into you in every possible way a person can be into another person, then I promise I will never try to kiss you, or fuck you, or impregnate you ever again, as long as I live.

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Connections

References Boogie Nights (1997)

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Soundtracks

Sweet Little Baby Boy
Written by James Brown and Nat Jones
Performed by James Brown
Courtesy of Universal Records under license from Universal Music Enterprises

User Reviews

Friends with Kids is mediocre, but moderately entertaining

North American cinema is already quite saturated of films about the vicissitudes from "pretty people", but in spite of that, I was interested in watching Friends with Kids because its cast included various solid actors, and because it was Jennifer Westfeldt's debut as a director. One of her previous works as a screenwriter was for the film Kissing Jessica Stein (one of my favorite romantic comedies), which had a sarcastic/indie/emotive voice which distinguished it from the competence, and that's exactly what I expected from Friends with Kids; however, I wasn't left very satisfied by this film, because even though it's a bit distant from being the typical romantic comedy, it sacrifices acid humor for the sake of commercialism, and it ends up being as predictable as most of the films from the same genre.

Friends with Kids offers some moderately interesting comments about the setbacks from marriage and the erosion of romance in front of the relentless onslaught of domestic co-existence. However, the screenplay quickly degenerates into clichés, and it employs forced conflicts and artificial drama in search of the drama, which isn't very credible nor satisfactory. What is more, there's a point in which the film is near from falling into the soap-opera field. Nevertheless, Westfeldt, Adam Scott, Kristen Wiig, Maya Rudolph, Chris O'Dowd and Jon Hamm (Westfeldt's romantic partner in real life) bring sincere performances, and they are the main reason why this film is worthy of a slight recommendation.

Friends with Kids spills in every frame the pretension from New Yorker "yuppie" cinema, with characters too plunged into their own melodrama in order to realize that many of their problems are absurd, and could have an easy solution if they were less selfish and more mature. Anyway, as I previously said, I can slightly recommend Friends with Kids mainly because of the competent performances.