Rated PG-13 for sexual material, language and some drug content, 115 minutes
Icky sweet, forgettable "Life as We Know It"
"Life as We Know It" is one of those films. One of those romantic you can tell what will happen just by seeing the trailers or even the prints ads for it. In spite of its handsome leads in Katherine Heigl and Josh Duhamel and a few entertaining moments, "Life as We Know It" is utterly forgettable: overly sweet, highly implausible and overlong. Icky rom-coms like this are a dime a dozen and fall in the "Red Box Rental" category.
Holly Berenson (Heigl) is an up-and-coming caterer and Eric Messer (Duhamel) is a promising network sports director. After a disastrous first date, the only thing they have in common is their dislike for each other and their love for their goddaughter, Sophie. But Holly and Messer are forced to put aisde their differences when Sophie's parents are tragically killed in a car accident. Juggling career ambitions and competing social calendars, they'll have to find some common ground while living under one roof.
A maudlin, irritatingly sweet "Odd Couple"-like rom-com that is best remembered for the cute babies and the caustic neighbors, "Life as We Know It" pulls no punches, no surprises and is geared mainly for Heigl and Duhamel fans only. Heigl, who also co-produced this yucky film (along with her mother Nancy, who cameos as her Mom in the movie), tiresomely plays the same role she's played in her last few films: the uptight control-freak single professional, something that's becoming quite annoying. Duhamel is handsome but has never been more bland than he is here.
The babies, played by the Claggett triplets (Alexis, Brynn and Brooke) are the cutest thing about the film, along with a couple of other supporting players. "Mad Men's" Christina Hendricks shines in a few brief scenes as Sophie's mom, while Melissa McCarthy (Molly of the fun new show "Mike and Molly" and Jenny McCarthy's cousin) steals every scene she's in a wise-cracking neighbor with a Southern drawl.
If only "Life as We Know It" were as much fun or interesting as McCarthy. You simply won't buy into the baffling reason these two selfish, immature people were chosen to raise a kid, about as much as you did with the similarly-themed also forgettable Kate Hudson flick "Raising Helen" a few years ago. Heigl's character makes some original, unique and quite lovely cakes during several occasions in the film. Too bad you can't say the same for this tiresome, bland and flavorless rom-com.
