Love, Happiness, Kids. Pick Two. Jason and Julie (Adam Scott and Jennifer Westfeldt) are single thirtysomething Manhattanites. They’ve been best friends since college, they live in the same building, trust each other implicitly – and aren’t remotely attracted to each other.
As the film opens, they meet at a chic downtown restaurant for a dinner with their closest friends, two married couples: Leslie and Alex (Maya Rudolph and Chris O’ Dowd), funny and frank — and Ben and Missy (Jon Hamm and Kristen Wiig), such a sexy pair that they are in fact having a quickie in the restaurant bathroom when Julie and Jason arrive.
Jason notices the behavior of some unruly children being seated at the table next to them – and he and Julie riff on how inappropriate it is to bring kids to such a sophisticated place. But their comic rant is cut short when Leslie suddenly blurts out that she’s pregnant. Mortified, Julie and Jason turn on a dime and congratulate their friends wholeheartedly – and earnestly: it’s the first of their close friends to take the plunge. Leslie and Alex reassure them that they would never bring their kids to a fancy restaurant – they’re gonna be cool parents, and nothing is going to change.
Fast forward to Four Years Later – and everything has changed. Leslie and Alex have two kids, Missy and Ben have a newborn – and Jason and Julie, still single and childless, find themselves taking a long expensive cab ride to Alex and Leslie’s apartment in Brooklyn – on Jason’s birthday. They have brought the wine, the food, the cake, Julie has brought the only birthday gift for Jason – and when they arrive, the mood is not remotely festive. Their friends are sniping at each other, harried and utterly consumed by the demands of parenting.
On their way home from what proves to be a funny, entirely chaotic and thoroughly unsatisfying birthday celebration, Julie and Jason end up in a bar, wondering what’s happened to their friends – who now seem overwhelmed, exhausted, angry, humorless – altogether unfamiliar.
Friends with Kids
Directed by: Jennifer Westfeldt
Starring: Kristen Wiig, Megan Fox, Jon Hamm, Maya Rudolph, Adam Scott, Ilana Levine, Ken Barnett, Edward Burns
Screenplay by: Jennifer Westfeldt
Production Design by: Ray Kluga
Cinematography by: William Rexer
Film Editing by: Tara Timpone
Costume Design by: Melissa Bruning
Set Decoration by: Nicole Duryea, Mila Khalevich
Music by: The 88, Marcelo Zarvos
MPAA Rating: R for sexual content and language.
Studio: Lionsgate Films
Release Date: March 9th, 2012
Related Link: View the Full Production Notes for Friends with Kids
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