A fine tangle of emotions

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Barry C Chung
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Barry C Chung |
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Best friends Jason (Adam Scott) and Julie (Jennifer Westfeldt) know firsthand about the romance killer: being married with children. As they see it, their coupled-up friends - Ben (Jon Hamm) and Missy (Kristen Wiig); and Leslie (Maya Rudolph) and Alex (Chris O'Dowd) - are living proof that the traditional marriage system does not work.

So the pair decide to "beat the system" and have a child together ... without the marriage and relationship parts.

As they soon discover, that's the easy part. Once emotions - and other variables - come into play, it only makes for heartache. They realise there is no simple formula for love and happiness.

On the surface, Friends with Kids is a comedy with moments of drama. Of course, there are the scenes with witty dialogue and back and forth bantering. But much to my surprise, there are plenty of intensely emotional and engaging scenes that take a modern look at relationships in their many forms.

The film is not going to win any originality awards, but it is smart enough to know the complexities of relationships and not to opt for easy cliches. Such modesty can go a long way in a movie.

Contains mature themes

YP Rating: 3/5


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