What To Expect When You’re Expecting Review
When copies of non-fiction pregnancy manual What To Expect When You’re Expecting (WTEWYE) flew off the shelves, a Hollywood bigwig obviously saw an opportunity to make a quick buck by exploiting the bestseller’s popularity and so WTEWYE: The Film was born.
WTEWYE follows an array of impossibly good-looking couples as they struggle with pregnancy and come to terms with impending motherhood/fatherhood. This multi-plot film follows the various couples through their unrealistic lives and attempts to deliver a humorous take on all things pregnancy.
Unfortunately, it fails at every turn. Although there are a multitude of characters there are very few, if any, that the audience can relate to. Many of the characters are obnoxious and not particularly likeable, or else they are completely unmemorable. The stories are as disjointed as the photo-shopped promotional poster and about as riveting.
WTEWYE is in the same bracket as films like Valentine’s Day, New Year’s Eve and He’s Just Not That Into You, which is not really a great bracket to be in given the critical savaging levelled at these films. These films were, at best, lacklustre and predictably WTEWYE follows suit. Apparently all efforts were concentrated on securing as many big names as possible and the script and plot appear to have been an afterthought. It doesn’t matter how many big stars you cram into a film, if there’s no real plot and the characters are underdeveloped then it just doesn’t work. Furthermore WTEWYE is populated by movie stars and current fleeting favourites (yes Chase Crawford, I’m talking to you) but there’s little in the way of genuine acting talent, comedic or otherwise (with the notable exception of Chris Rock and this is far from his finest moment). Jennifer Lopez might be a world famous movie star, but Helen Mirren she ain’t.
It is likely that the film’s target audience is expecting couples and new parents; however, it seems unlikely that any pregnant woman would want to squeeze herself into a cinema seat for 2 joyless hours and one would imagine that new parents value their sparse spare time far too highly to waste it watching a film that bears no resemblance to their own experiences. This film may be about pregnancy, but it’s Hollywood’s version of pregnancy and frankly, it’s all rather stupid and if Hollywood thinks this is what women want to watch then it’s rather insulting too. I would say there were the occasional amusing moments but this would be an outright lie, the only smile I cracked was when the credits finally started rolling. Giving birth would be less painful than sitting through this film.
Lindsay Emerson