Movie Review: Life As We Know It

I'm thoroughly enjoying a movie I found at my local Redbox. It's called Life As We Know It, and stars Katherine Heigl and Josh Duhamel. Basically, their characters, Holly and Messer are polar opposites and don't get along at all, but they're godparents to Sophie, the baby daughter of their mutual friends, Peter and Allison. When Peter and Allison are killed in a car crash, and Holly and Messer are named co-guardians of Sophie.

One thing that frustrates me a bit is that Katherine Heigl's only successful role it seems, is playing the Type A control freak, and Josh Duhamel is typically seen playing the devil-may-care bad boy, and then, they almost exaggerate them here. So I mean, if those are the only two roles they can play, then sure, it's a good movie for those two, but eh, they could stand to branch out a bit.

SPOILER ALERT:

One thing Heigl and Duhamel know is comedy, and they have hilarious moments that leave me clutching my stomach. I'll list a few snippets: neither of them know how to change a diaper so it's a crash course that he abandons her in...then the neighbors show up as she's finishing, and she doesn't know about the poop on her cheek; Holly takes a one-time night off to drink a bottle of wine and the social worker makes an unannounced visit...later they eat pot brownies, also as a one-time thing...and the social worker again shows up; he tries to teach her how to ride a motorcycle...it gets run over by a bus; Sophie starts to poop in the bathtub and they can't get the childproof toilet open in time...so Holly grab Messer's hat off his head....; get the idea? It's a funny movie.

Overall, the movie ending is predictable, but any romantic comedy has to pair them off by the end, so I'm not mad. And the premise of the movie is still believable while keeping us on our toes about what's going to happen.

What I took away from it: This is an excellent example of how any two people, no matter how different, can fall in love and have a beautiful life, if they both work at it.

Quotes that made me laugh:

"It's like slumdog millionaire in there!...it's like a poop unit"

"If I knew where the Wiggles lived, and, I'm working on it, I would murder them with an AK-47."

"I can't believe he asked you out, doesn't that defy some docter-patient thing?"

"Well he's a pediatrician, so if he's dating a patient, yeah, that's a problem."

VERDICT: Good for a laugh on your own, good for date night, good for the 15+ girl's sleepover, even co-ed parties would probably enjoy it. Younger kids probably won't be too into it, it's not wildly inappropriate, but there is swearing/drinking/illegal drugs/sex innuendos (nothing shown though).