Life As We Know It

Life As We Know It, was one of those movies that from the moment I saw the first trailer I looked forward to see it at some point. After being a parent seeing two people thrown in to taking care of a baby it is definitely funny to see the hilarity that comes along with this unusual situation as they try to learn what it takes to take care of a baby. Life As We Know It is the story of Holly, who her married best friend sets her up on a blind date with her husbands best friend. This blind date goes horribly wrong and Holly wants to avoid seeing This guy as much as possible. However, nothing goes the way she would like as her best friend and husband, while out on a date, end up getting in a car accident and pass away. Holly comes to find out that they have left their little girl, in the event of their death, in the custody of Holly and Eric (bad blind date friend).

Katherine Heigl plays the role of Holly and does a job that is precisely what is expected in a romantic comedy nothing/nothing less. Heigl plays the same type of character that she has seemed to play in each and every movie. While there is nothing wrong with the way she has been playing her roles as they work just fine. I guess for me I want to see Heigl not just be the sweet girl type, I would love to see her play a role similar to the she played when was on Grey's Anatomy, where she could be the sweet lovable character at one point only to be a catty, mean or even one that does not follow the ethics a doctor should follow character later on. It would be nice to see her take on a role where you don't feel like she did not have to do anything to portray her character. Alongside Heigl, we have josh Duhamel in the role of Eric, the ladies man whose life changes with this new change to being a guardian over Sophie (the baby). Duhamel actually was quite a surprise for me, I was not really expecting much from him as he seem to do well in action movies where explosions and such can distract from an actors abilities and flaws. Duhamel brought a quick likability almost instantly, as the audience can see that he has this jerk facade that is really just a defense mechanism to prevent him from being hurt. Duhamel does a great job at no being an over the top male lead, that in a lot of romantic comedies can be so overacting and over the top that you do not gain a rooting interest for the male lead to end up with the girl. The rest of the cast do great jobs and really excel at being in supporting roles that they not only help to make the movie better, but also make Heigl and Duhamel strong in their roles.

What Bertlanti does well is to populate Life As We Know It with quirky supporting character and nominal narrative twists. Melissa McCarthy is good as the seen it all mom. While Andrew Daley and Bill Brachtrup are funny as the gay parents who fawn over Duhamel. The girls that play Sophie are perfect and fit nicely. Sarah Burns as the social worker to Sophie is hysterically touching as she becomes Holly and Eric's biggest advocates. Josh Lucas plays the pediatrician to Sophie and small love interest to Holly with such a great southern charm, that I actually wanted Holly to end up with him.

The story for Life As We Know It is very simple and one that follows the romantic comedy formula. The story for this movie is just fine, but I think there were some aspects that would have made it more interesting in the end. I would have loved to see more of a build up between Lucas and Heigl's characters in having feeling for each other. As well as the inner conflicts this fledgling relationship was causing for Duhamel's. I think an interesting aspect is had they gone with a non traditional romantic comedy ending, what feelings this may have caused for the audience toward Duhamel's character if he made the career wise decision over what his heart was telling him. The comedy for this movie ends up giving quite a few laughs throughout the movie. As a parent you can not help but laugh at those moments that relate to the parent firsts we all experience. Duhamel has one of the funniest moments that is one of those moments where what he does is a similar thought that every parent has had so that the other parent did not miss out on one of those baby first moments. This moment is Sophie standing and trying to take her first steps, Heigl yells out for him to stall her until Heigl can get there to see, so he ends up pushing her down.

Life As We Know It is a movie that is nothing that is groundbreaking, but one that is enjoyable. I was surprised how much Sophie losing her parents saddened me, but I think that all has to do with having a son and not wanting to lose him or to have him have the pain of losing both his parents suddenly at such a young age. The acting all do fine jobs and the quirky supporting characters are a breath of fresh air, that deliver some great laughs and funny situations throughout. I am giving Life As We Know It three buckets of popcorn out of five. This movie was well worth the rental price and is one that would make for a good date night movie at home.

-The Movie Man