Review - Life As We Know It

It Wasn’t Supposed To Be Like This

Anyone who has had kids has had the discussion. In the unfortunate situation where both parents would pass away at the same time, who would care for their children? Holly (Katherine Heigl) and Eric’s (Josh Duhamel) best friends have chose them, and the unexpected has happened. Now it’s up to them to raise Sophie and try to maintain lives that are almost total opposites.

They tried to date, a long time ago, and it was an unmitigated disaster. In fact Holly and Eric don’t like each other one bit. Being forced to live together, under the same roof, and raise a child was not in either of their plans. Can they make it work? That is, can they make it work without killing each other?

They both try to keep their lives, jobs and dating in tact, but this will be a bigger challenge than either of them expected. Will they make it? Or will Sophie end up getting lost in the cracks.

Have you seen the trailers for this film? If you have, you’ve seen this movie. This really disappointed me. You head through a roller coaster of emotions as one point tries to be funny and then abruptly we switch to a more serious moment. There seems to be a lack of flow, though that is what can happen in this type of relationship.

Heigl has played this role before, so there is not much memorable from that standpoint. I did like Duhamel as Eric, but this seems like something that is right in his wheelhouse from an acting perspective.

Overall the film was way too uneven and disjointed to get excited about. Women will like it more than men, but only slightly. And, please, despite the cute baby in the commercials – this is PG-13 and if you think your 8-10 year old will like it, you may be red faced more than once. Life As We Know It wasn’t supposed to be like this.


C-

Life As We Know It
Warner Brothers Pictures

Director: Greg Berlanti
Cast: Katherine Heigl, Josh Duhamel, Josh Lucas

Rating: PG-13 for sexual material, language and some drug content.
Runtime: 112 minutes.