Review: What to Expect When You're Expecting
Thanks to finding the right channels over here in Boston, I've been going to a few screenings. I keep thinking about doing reviews and since my mind keeps circling on this one, I figured I'd give it a shot.
Now, if you watch cable and don't fast forward through commercials, you've probably seen a LOT of commercials for What to Expect When You're Expecting. The dudes' club. The hilarious things guys get up to when they have to take care of their own kids. The Hangover with babies and no alcohol/drugs. Hilarity like that. And after seeing the movie, a horrible representation of the movie in order to get guys to want to go see it. The Dudes' Club plays such a minor part of the movie that there are likely going to be some people pissed off that they didn't get the movie they were promised with the previews.
The movie is actually about many different couples and how they deal with their pregnancies in a Love Actually sort of structure. It shows all the different sorts of pregnancies that can happen. The planned and unplanned. The hard and easy. Plus there are of course the issues that each individual person needs to overcome as well. And when I saw every sort of hetero-normative pregnancy, I mean every sort.
While both Kori and I saw it coming, the miscarriage plot line was still shocking, especially since we were expecting a very silly, man-centered movie about pregnancy. Which then brings up the issue too that we weren't sure who they were marketing the movie towards. The previews show they want men to watch the movie. The actual movie has a good number of pregnancy lingo and in-jokes that makes it seem like it's targeted towards parents. One example is that they tossed the abbreviation of IVF around multiple times in the movie. I know what it stands for because of research I've done, but I'm not sure how many people would actually know what it stands for or understand why parents would nearly bankrupt themselves with it.
On the flip side, it seems like there were too many triggery things in the movie for something that they're advertising as a comedy. There's the miscarriage which happens suddenly after a very cute, snuggly scene between the two characters. There's a woman coming off as crazy in her steadfast opinion that circumcision is wrong. The stress of being infertile, that is only really glossed over.
While it was an enjoyable movie, it felt like it was trying to do too much and therefore it failed doing things as well as it could. They touch on so many issues (circumcision, abortion, miscarriage, adoption), but doesn't really go deep enough. I would have preferred if they had cut some of the stories (Joe Manganiello, I love you and your abs, but there really was no point to you in the movie other than eye candy, no matter what they tell you)and fleshed out the interactions. To have more of an arc after the 'well, it's your body, isn't it your decision?' conversation in the unexpected pregnancy instead of things just resolving easily. That if you're going to bring up the religious argument for circumcision, to go a bit more into why it's important, and to go more into the benefits of being uncut. Or talk about that and the breast feeding issue without both of the women sounding a bit unhinged on the matter.
It was an enjoyable movie, but if you go and see it, keep in mind that it isn't the movie they're advertising. And since I haven't been pregnant, I'm not sure how triggery it would be to that part of the audience demographic.
Now, if you watch cable and don't fast forward through commercials, you've probably seen a LOT of commercials for What to Expect When You're Expecting. The dudes' club. The hilarious things guys get up to when they have to take care of their own kids. The Hangover with babies and no alcohol/drugs. Hilarity like that. And after seeing the movie, a horrible representation of the movie in order to get guys to want to go see it. The Dudes' Club plays such a minor part of the movie that there are likely going to be some people pissed off that they didn't get the movie they were promised with the previews.
The movie is actually about many different couples and how they deal with their pregnancies in a Love Actually sort of structure. It shows all the different sorts of pregnancies that can happen. The planned and unplanned. The hard and easy. Plus there are of course the issues that each individual person needs to overcome as well. And when I saw every sort of hetero-normative pregnancy, I mean every sort.
While both Kori and I saw it coming, the miscarriage plot line was still shocking, especially since we were expecting a very silly, man-centered movie about pregnancy. Which then brings up the issue too that we weren't sure who they were marketing the movie towards. The previews show they want men to watch the movie. The actual movie has a good number of pregnancy lingo and in-jokes that makes it seem like it's targeted towards parents. One example is that they tossed the abbreviation of IVF around multiple times in the movie. I know what it stands for because of research I've done, but I'm not sure how many people would actually know what it stands for or understand why parents would nearly bankrupt themselves with it.
On the flip side, it seems like there were too many triggery things in the movie for something that they're advertising as a comedy. There's the miscarriage which happens suddenly after a very cute, snuggly scene between the two characters. There's a woman coming off as crazy in her steadfast opinion that circumcision is wrong. The stress of being infertile, that is only really glossed over.
While it was an enjoyable movie, it felt like it was trying to do too much and therefore it failed doing things as well as it could. They touch on so many issues (circumcision, abortion, miscarriage, adoption), but doesn't really go deep enough. I would have preferred if they had cut some of the stories (Joe Manganiello, I love you and your abs, but there really was no point to you in the movie other than eye candy, no matter what they tell you)and fleshed out the interactions. To have more of an arc after the 'well, it's your body, isn't it your decision?' conversation in the unexpected pregnancy instead of things just resolving easily. That if you're going to bring up the religious argument for circumcision, to go a bit more into why it's important, and to go more into the benefits of being uncut. Or talk about that and the breast feeding issue without both of the women sounding a bit unhinged on the matter.
It was an enjoyable movie, but if you go and see it, keep in mind that it isn't the movie they're advertising. And since I haven't been pregnant, I'm not sure how triggery it would be to that part of the audience demographic.