Friends with Kids - DVD

Movie: Julie (Jennifer Westfeldt) and Jason (Adam Scott) are best friends. They live in the same house, spend a lot of time together, and share all their secrets with each other. But romantic feelings have not arisen between the two yet. They enjoy their freedoms and vow never to become like their married friends (Jon Hamm & Kristen Wiig and Chris O`Dowd & Maya Rudolph), who, since having children, just seem miserable. And yet Julie feels more and more the desire to become a mother, too. And since she hasn't found the perfect man for it yet, she comes up with an idea: she could have the child together with Jason. Since there is only friendship involved, but no love, the emotional chaos that their friends have to deal with would be eliminated. Plus, one of them could always jump into the nightlife while the other watches the kid. In fact, this unusual plan seems to be working. Although viewed with great skepticism by their friends, Julie and Jason have a harmonious relationship with their little baby. And love also opens new doors for the two. While Julie falls for the handsome Kurt (Edward Burns), Jason begins a relationship with the sexy dancer Maryjane (Megan Fox). It could all be so perfect - but then unexpected feelings suddenly arise that threaten to destroy everything...

2002 Jennifer Westfeld enchanted movie audiences in the comedy Kissing Jessica, which she wrote. The film was seen by many critics as the cornerstone of a very big career. But it has not yet come to that. Westfeld has had some success on Broadway, has had small supporting roles in films and TV series, and has continued to work on new scripts. But in contrast to her long-term partner Jon Hamm (Mad Men), she has not yet succeeded in moving up into the upper league of Hollywood. Her directorial debut Friends with Kids, produced by Jon Hamm, brought new hope, which was made in the wake of the success of Bride Alarm and reunited four of the actors from the hit comedy (Jon Hamm, Kirsten Wiig, Chris O`Dowd, Maya Rudolph) in front of the camera.

It is then also these supporting actors who make Friends with Kids worth seeing despite some clear weaknesses. No question, the initial situation is promising, some dialogues very funny and some moments really romantic. What the movie ultimately struggles with is the acting of Jennifer Westfeld. Because in many scenes she seems to want to play herself too much into the foreground, but seems less charming than in Kissing Jessica. When she talks wildly, which is especially the case at the beginning, her acting seems almost hysterical and threatens to get on the viewer's nerves. Her co-stars are always able to cushion this, but by the end it's clear that Westfeld didn't do herself any favors by deciding to take on the lead role in addition to directing. Had she left that part to Kirsten Wiig and taken on her supporting role instead, the end result would certainly have been much better.

Another criticism is the dialogue. On its own terms, the story may be reminiscent of the works of Nora Ephron (Harry and Sally, Sleepless in Seattle), who died in 2012. But unfortunately, she repeatedly forgoes clever wordplay in favor of raunchy conversations about sex and private parts. All right, the odd bit of crudeness is quite amusing. But the constant talk on a rather low level seems to be trying so hard to be cool that it permanently harms the story, which is very charming in itself.

As negative as these criticisms may sound, Friends with Kids still hasn't become a flop. The secondary characters are nicely drawn, some situations very well observed and when the dialogue works, it works really well. The stuff of a classic, this romantic comedy has not, but who likes it verbally a little rougher and would like to amuse themselves with the problems of young parents, this home theater premiere can certainly be recommended to the heart.

Picture + Sound: The image of the DVD is clean and has a decent overall sharpness. Colors are very warm, but seem a bit overdone at times. The sound is primarily determined by the powerfully mixed dialogue. There isn't much movement in the surrounds, but for a romantic comedy this is perfectly adequate. Good!

Extras: Except for the trailer for the film, the DVD unfortunately has no other extras to offer.

Conclusion: Friends with Kids is a very nice romantic comedy in itself, which has to suffer a little from the sometimes too hysterical verbal exchanges, too many obscenities and a leading actress who is played by all the supporting actors to the wall. Thus, the scenes in which the action is primarily determined by Julie are much weaker than those moments in which director, producer and screenwriter Jennifer Westfeld takes a step back as an actress. If you like verbally a bit cruder comedies and can overlook the arguably exhausting moments, this technically well-realized but meagerly equipped DVD can definitely be recommended to you!

An article by Frankfurt-Tipp