Star cast: Katherine Heigl, Josh Duhamel, Josh Lucas.
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Plot: Katherine Heigl and Josh Duhamel, who hate each other, are forced to stay in the same house and take care of their dead friends’ baby girl. Over a year, they fall in love but Josh leaves for another city for better job prospects. What happens then?”
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What’s Bad: The clichéd characters and setting; the regular story that is devoid of any novelty.
Verdict: Life As We Know It is just another rom-com. It will not change our lives at all, even during its run time.
Loo Break: Anytime!
Watch or Not?: Watch only if you are an expecting parent and want a comic take on things about to come your way. For the rest, be warned!
Josephson Entertainment, Gold Circle Films and Village Roadshow Pictures’ Life As We Know It is a romantic comedy about a couple who find themselves in the unlikely situation of raising their dead friends’ infant girl.
Eric Messer (Josh Duhamel) is a carefree Casanova who has a button-pushing job in sports broadcasting. He aspires to get promoted soon. Holly Berenson (Katherine Heigl) is a control freak baker who is looking ahead to expanding her bakery into a restaurant. Messer and Holly meet up for a blind date when their best friends, Peter (Hayes MacArthur) and Alison (Christina Hendricks), set them up. The date is a disaster as Messer turns up an hour late and then insults Holly by fixing up a late night date with another girl, right in front of Holly. However, the two meet often as their friends, Peter and Alison, get married and even have a baby girl, Sophie (Alexis, Brynn and Brooke Clagett). Messer continues sleeping around with girls randomly, and Holly also takes a liking to a customer, Dr. Sam (Josh Lucas), who often frequents her bakery.
The turning point in their lives comes when Peter and Alison are killed in a car accident. Sophie, who survives, gets taken in by child services. Messer and Holly spend a distraught night, waiting to retrieve young Sophie. The next morning, they discover that Peter and Alison had, in their will, appointed the two of them as Sophie’s guardian. They are shocked beyond belief at their dead friends’ strange wish and dread being with each other, but, nevertheless, decide to respect their last wish. They have a few fun times with Sophie, who is a lovable child, but things fall apart as Messer decides to shift to Phoenix for his dream job. Holly is hurt but reconnects with Dr. Sam, who moves in with her. Messer misses Holly and Sophie, whom he now considers to be family. He decides to come back home. Will Holly accept him? What happens to Sophie? The latter part of the film reveals the rest.
Script and Screenplay
The biggest drawback of the story (Ian Deitchman and Kristin Rusk Robinson) is that it is predictable. Within minutes of the film starting, you know what course the story is going to take. As such, there are no surprises in the screenplay. What was lost by way of a generic story could have been made up by strong characterisations. But here, too, the filmmakers have fallen short. All the characters, the lead pair, the nosey neighbours, even the kid are stereotypically what we are used to seeing on screen. This begs the question, why make a film that offers nothing new? Moreover, Messer and Holly’s falling in love and drifting apart is too convenient to be believed. The climax is predictable and unconvincing. Emotions fail to touch the heart.
Star Performances
The performances of the lead actors are good. Josh Duhamel is believable as the thick-skinned Casanova, while Katherine Heigl plays the control freak and desperate single woman, with élan once again (after The Ugly Truth). Josh Lucas shines in a cameo. The rest of the actors do average jobs. The three little girls, who have played Sophie, are adorable.
Direction and Editing
Director Greg Berlanti succeeds in creating a few funny and warm moments on screen. The scenes where the untrained parents, Messer and Holly, try to take care of Sophie’s toilet habits, or their joy when Sophie starts walking, are worth mentioning. Blake Neely’s background score is appropriate. Andrew Dunn’s cinematography is bright and brings out the colours beautifully. Jim Page’s editing could have done with a few more cuts, especially a few of the emotional scenes that don’t work at all.
The Last Word
On the whole, Life As We Know It fails to impress. It will not find favour at the Indian box-office because of the weak storyline and poor publicity.
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