Featuring quite a few cast members of Bridesmaids (Jon Hamm, Kirsten Wiig, Chris O'Dowd and Maya Rudolph), Friends With Kids follows Jason (Adam Scott) and Julie (Jennifer Westfeld), the last two singletons in a group of friends that includes Ben and Missy (Hamm and Wiig) and Leslie and Alex (Rudolph and O'Dowd). Horrified by the way their friends have lost all sense of romance, in their minds anyway, after having kids, but both wanting children themselves, they come up with a radical plan: have a baby together but keep their relationship platonic, so they can still find love. The two go through with the plan, much to their friends dismay.
As well as taking a lead role, Westfeld writes, directs, and produces this witty look at the trials and tribulations of relationships and parenthood. The script offers some hilarious moments, including the bluntest declaration of love I've ever seen, and is ably delivered by the cast, and the use of quick jumps cuts adds to the hilarity, setting up one punchline only for it to be delivered in the next scene. The film passes by at a quick pace, the narrative sometimes jumping years at a time, but it never feels rushed. While a very funny film, it does have some very deep and affecting drama with the third act offering a change of tone very different to the first two, but one that doesn't feel out of place. The one issue I had with it was that for a film that bills itself as an ensemble, pretty much all of the focus of the movie falls on Jason and Julie. The other characters do get their own story arcs and character development but they all come to ahead in one scene, having only being set up in the scene before hand, and are then pretty much forgotten about. It's a credit to the story and strong writing that you are able to gloss over it.
The cast really bring their A game, with all of them having great chemistry together. Scott and Westfeld bounce off each other really well, their game of asking the other how they would like to die becoming oddly cute as the film progresses, and prove they have what it takes to carry a movie. A real surprise was Meagn Fox, whose performance didn't elicit my usual response of shouting at the screen until she left. The other main cast are as good as you would expect, though O'Dowd's American accent became really distracting at times. A strange complaint I know, but I'm reaching here.
This is a fantastic film, ably written and directed, with some great turns from a very talented group of actors. Well worth a watch.
