Life As We Know It (2010)

Typical garbage juice from Heigl. Recommend grabbing a rusty fork and stabbing out your eyes instead.

When I first purchased the DVD of "Life as We Know It", I was very turned-off by the sleeve of the cover. The photo shows Josh Duhamel standing straight up with a baby sporting colour-coordinated diapers and are in a similar stance slurping bottles towards their mouths while Katherine Heigl gives chase towards them. But then I had a change of heart when you learn that you can't judge a book by its cover alone, so i thought I'll give it a whirl. Sure when parents want to raise kids, they understand the positions they put themselves into and know the sacrifices and consequences they they must must face and the loving and nurturing they must provide in order to ensure their kids live a happy and caring life. Socialization will have to be minimal, assistance from extended family members and friends would be beneficial, and that setting good examples are the essential tools for raising a child. But what happens when a child is raised by unexpected parents who have never raised kids before or ever had any intentions until now? "Life As we Know It" is about a couple who now have to take the initiative of raising a baby unexpectedly and the trials and tribulations that come with the little package of joy. After the death of baby Sophie Novak's parents (Hayes MacArthur and Christina Hendricks), godparents Holly Berenson and Eric Messer (Heigl and Duhamel) have to step up to take the difficult task to raising Sophie (triplets Alexis, Brooke and Brynn Clagett) while trying to co- exist after their blind date goes bad which resulted in one can't standing each others. They never expected such events to happen as they had to hold aside their plans and their respected career agendas to raising this child which turns their life in circles. This may come across as a standard romantic comedy, but in this one there is a bit of a twist where two polar opposites struggle to raise a child while also fighting to set their differences aside. The love of a child can bring two people together or at best strive to inject positive vibes while providing essential support so that the child can live a happy and fulfilled life knowing there's people out there that love her. Though the comedy stems from the hardships of Holly and Eric raising little Sophie, the other comical idiosyncrasies stem from the legal processes, the overwhelming house mortgages and further career plans getting pushed aside.Performance wise, Katherine Heigl is still continuing her type- casted roles in her bubble as she once again is seen portraying hyper self-absorbed control freak domineering female characters towards their handsome costars. The key component to making romantic comedies sell is we have to have leading character ooze with some likability towards their characters. The script by Ian Deitchman and Kristin Rusk Robinson makes no denial that by having Duhamel as the leading male character, his charismatic manliness will surely make anyone's heart melt. The character that really makes your heart melt has to go to little Sophie played the by the Clagett trips. Every time they fill up the screen around them, the filmmakers know the right lighting and camera focuses to make you just say "Ahhh". It's hard to get children to act a certain way on screen, but director Greg Berlanti and company magically gives us that right amount of cuteness so that our leading stars have a legitimate reason to put every plan on hold to nurture this child. Sure this movie is formulaic with the familiar characters we've seen in this genre, "Life as We Know It" is a nice little comedy that is not memorable, but a fun film to watch on a rainy day. It's a quite innocent with subtle funny moments, though nothing really special. It makes you think hard if you're put in a rapid situation where responsibilities have become more mandatory than one could anticipate. Though I don't think Radiohead's "Creep" is a perfect choice for a lullaby.

the ambition to propose more than a romantic story is the basic virtue of film. the stories of two people who becomes parents, a couple, a family, has a great potential without be an original subject. and two good looking actors in lead roles represents a good point. Josh Duhamel does a good job in a role who explores the paternity in smart manner , using humor and drama in right doses. sentimental, decent, proposing solutions and reflecting a serious problem of every day reality, it seems be a little different by many other too sweet romantic stories. sure, it has a precise target and the need to respect the last decade rules of genre. but it has all points to not be boring or pathetic. and Katherine Heigl gives her the best.

In this romantic comedy, two people who really don't like each other become joint guardians of their best friends' infant daughter when catastrophe strikes. Katherine Heigl does a good job being Katherine Heigl with her usual blend of vulnerable and cattiness, and Josh Duhamel just plays "a guy", a mostly self-centered skirt-chaser, so he probably didn't really have to work too hard, but it was heart-warming to watch his character evolve as he spent more time with the kid. There aren't any big surprises and the ending is exactly what you'd expect (unless you've never seen a romantic comedy before), but overall I found this enjoyable, a fun escape if you're looking for a little light fare. 7/10