Life As We Know It

The romantic comedy genre has its share of fans but also has a huge share of detractors. If you watch them enough you can easily see why they are enjoyed by some and annoy others. They are formulaic and always driving towards putting the two main characters together in the film. On one hand that idea of people finding "true love" and getting together is a nice sentiment. Most of the fairy tales that permeate our culture operate on similar principles (well most of the Disney versions of those fairy tales anyway). However it is that same premise that causes the derision. Once someone has seen a few they know all the beats of the genre. One movie to the next is similar- boy and girl meet, they are perfect for each other but don't know it yet, something happens where they realize they are and they begin dating, something happens that makes them question the relationship, they have a moment of awakening and they end up together, everyone lives happily ever after. So I understand why people might not like that, and for a long time I sort of focused on it as well. To me though, what makes a romantic comedy good or bad is the two people playing the lead characters. Two actors with no chemistry is the kiss of death for these films. Sometimes the script treats them like dummies and makes them completely unlikable. Still in the end, if I like the characters I generally like the film.

A weeks ago on Facebook I made a snide comment about Life As We Know It stating, "Life As We Know It starring Katherine Heigl and Josh Duhamel is almost 2 hours long. Is there even a small chance that movie is any good?" A few of my female friends responded that they really enjoyed the film. Mentally I sort of wrote that off as a woman thing and gave up. However, it was still on HBO on Demand and my curiosity got the best of me regarding the film. 

From the first scene I was concerned about the film. Holly (Katherine Heigl) and Eric (Josh Duhamel) get their disastrous first date out of the way before the opening credits. At the end of the scene Holly calls her friend that set them up and says to her, "You can make it up to me by making sure I never see him again." The very next scene is a birthday party for the little girl in the film and both Holly and Eric are there. Clearly this scene is happening after the first one and immediately it undercuts the character of Holly. If she was so furious about the date and issued her ultimatum why would she only have mild revulsion to Eric's character in the next scene. I mean, the guy tried to set up a booty call in front of her on their date. I don't know much about women, but I do know that many would not act rationally to this course of action. Furthermore, it's pretty clear that Holly and Eric knew each other before the date so it is odd that either one would've expected the other to be any different than they actually were. Who did they think they were going on a date with? If this would've lead to some premise where they had dopplegangers out there and acting differently it would've been great. Alas they didn't go that route.

From there the film goes into one of the darker and weirder premises for a romantic comedy/dramedy. Holly and Eric's mutual friends are killed in a car accident leaving behind the little girl. The parents left Holly and Eric as the legal guardians in their will. Holly and Eric have no idea about this. Who would possibly leave someone as the legal guardian of their child and then not tell that person? Did they do it mere seconds before they were killed not leaving them the ability to alert their friends. Also, if you know the two friends hate each other as much as they do why would you stipulate that they work together to raise a kid? Even with those complaints though, I found the premise here fascinating. I mean this is a romantic comedy where the characters are joined by death. Fascinating that someone would think of that and pitch it as a film.

In spite of this initial inanity, I found myself mildly enjoying the film as it moved along. There are absolutely they completely predictable spots where the two new parents have no idea how to do things. There are scenes where they try to embarrass each other in the presence of the others in the neighborhood. There are silly scenes that have no semblance of reality. I don't care how well you know someone there is no way you would make a taxi driver babysit your kid for an extended period of time. Also there is some terrible dialogue sprinkled throughout. Often it is in the lines that are supposed to be comedy. There is a scene where the baby takes a poop in her diaper (because what romantic comedy doesn't need scatological humor) and Holly and Eric open the diaper and begin gagging. Eric's response is, "Ohhhh, it smells like Slumdog Millionaire in there." What the hell does that line even meaning. First off, the line has a bit of a racist undertone. Secondly, why wouldn't you just say, "Ohhhh, it smells like indian food"? Why would someone name the title of a movie as what it smells like? What does that even mean? It's a terrible line and really has no place in the film.

In the end though I enjoyed the film on some level because- going back to my viewing habits on these films- Duhamel and Heigl are having fun in the film and they do have some level of chemistry here. Heigl is getting too comfortable in these roles but she does radiate a certain energy and Duhamel really does feel like a normal person in this film instead of the caricature most guys are written as. There is a movie inside of here that would've been vastly entertaining but instead they went with the tried and true romantic comedy formula instead of branching outward. I wouldn't highly recommend the film, but as romantic comedies go- I've seen far worse.