Ben (Jon Hamm) and Missy (Kristin Wiig) play the oversexed couple who always seem to be excusing themselves from the gatherings so they can reconnoiter unusual venues. But with the baby responsibilities come the attendant pressures which throw such cold water on their ardor that now they just grow increasingly irritated with one another, and even start fighting in front of the rest of the group. Not pretty.
Alex (Chris O’Dowd) and Leslie (Maya Rudolph), though she’s a bit older, seem to have a strong relationship, until he reveals that now that they’re both older, the age difference is starting to be significant, which hurts her, of course, but they’re trying give latitude to the changes in attitude.
Then there’s Adam (Jason Fryman) and Julie (Jennifer Westfeldt, who’s also the writer and director), who are “best friends” without benefits. They look at the stress that having kids seems to apply to a romance, so they decide that they can just have a kid together without worrying about the romance: they can just remain friends, share custody, and continue to date other people without any messy emotional entanglements. Sounds simple, right?
Of course it isn’t. They find themselves developing feelings toward one another as if they really do want to be in a committed relationship together, but the problem is that they don’t both develop this at the same pace. So when Julie seems ready to actually make a commitment, Adam thinks he’s in love with Mary Jane (Mary Fox), and when Adam starts to realize he’s now romantically inclined toward Julie, she’s already developing a new relationship with Kurt (Edward Burns), who seems perfect for her.
Now we change the couple dynamics in the ski vacation lodge by Adam being with Mary Jane and Julie being with Kurt, when all the time the other couples thought that Adam and Julie should have been together in the first place.
Well, there are some funny moments, if you don’t think too much about the personal morality, or the advisability of bringing children into the world when the parents say they’ve never loved each other. Nobody seems to be too worried about what the child might learn about love from that kind of semi-logical, but emotionally bereft, assumption. Worse, for the sincere believer, is when Adam is making a quick list of things that he knows he and Julie are in complete agreement about, and he categorically states that they are both convinced that organized religion is B.S.
Really? All of it? Condemned wholesale? Blanket irrelevancy? Is that so easy for everyone to assume without even a question for discussion?
Well, Ms. Westfeldt (who in “real life” is in relationship with Jon Hamm) certainly provides some food for thought; some more digestible than others; some tart, some sweet, some salty, but this is not gourmet filmmaking. More like a mildly amusing adult date night movie where everyone is affably flawed.
Ronald P. Salfen is interim pastor of St. Stephen’s Presbyterian Church in Irving, Texas.
