Friends With Kids (2012)
Average Rating: 6.5/10
Reviews Counted: 137
Fresh: 91 | Rotten: 46
No consensus yet.
Average Rating: 6.4/10
Critic Reviews: 40
Fresh: 22 | Rotten: 18
No consensus yet.
liked it
Average Rating: 3.2/5
User Ratings: 31,547
Movie Info
Friends with Kids is a daring and poignant ensemble comedy about a close-knit circle of friends at that moment in life when children arrive and everything changes. The last two singles in the group observe the effect that kids have had on their friends' relationships and wonder if there's a better way. They decide to have a kid together - and date other people. There are big laughs and unexpected emotional truths as this unconventional 'experiment' leads everyone in the group to question the
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Cast
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Adam Scott
Jason Fryman -
Jennifer Westfeldt
Julie Keller -
Jon Hamm
Ben -
Kristen Wiig
Missy -
Maya Rudolph
Leslie -
Chris O'Dowd
Alex -
Megan Fox
Mary Jane -
Edward Burns
Kurt -
Lee Bryant
Elaine Keller -
Kelly Bishop
Marcy Fryman -
Cotter Smith
Phil Fryman
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Friends With Kids Trailer & Photos
All Critics (139) | Top Critics (40) | Fresh (91) | Rotten (46) | DVD (7)
It's safe to assume its sharp comments on what kids can do to marriage - and friendships - come from years of observation.
Top CriticPleasant but overfamiliar.
Sitcom-amusing, in that middle-of-the-road way.
It's the kind of cutesy idea that doesn't ring remotely true.
This is a sharp, funny, touching and utterly winning slice of New York.
[A] crass, shallow cash-in.
As she did with her first script, the gender-bending 'Kissing Jessica Stein,' Westfeldt goes for something radical and winds up pulling her punches when things start getting interesting.
Trying to figure what is the most offensive thing about this accidental mashup of 70s Woody Allen and Sex and the City...
Movies of this genre normally want you to root for the couple to end up together. All this one had me doing was hoping that someone would smack them upside the head and talk some sense into them.
Ultimately, Friends With Kids is an unconventional family drama that uses conventional romantic comedy clichés to make its point.
I'd rather have my head stuck in a vise than be forced to sit through another viewing.
Friends with Kids is funny and likable and while the dialogue is often bawdy and sexually frank, its elements are completely fairytale, including a climax involving a cross-town dash.
Adam Scott takes the leading male role as Jason Fryman. Were such a thing possible, he looks like he could be the son of Tom Cruise and Michael Sheen, minus their celebrity baggage.
Westfeldt's screenplay is often sharp, shrewd and funny...
Sure this is going to draw some comparisons to Bridesmaids - and understandably so - but still there are some great performances and touching moments.
Friends With Kids is a smart, witty and potty-mouthed confection that uses an intriguing premise as a hook for a familiar tale of soulmates who are blinkered to the deep love that binds them.
Friends With Kids is a smart, witty and potty-mouthed confection that uses an intriguing premise as a hook for a familiar tale of soulmates who are blinkered to the deep love that binds them.
If the leads ultimately conform to rom-com type, there's enough messiness, heartbreak and hurt around them to stop the movie becoming cosily bland.
It's conventional, dull and unconsciously nasty.
If you see this on at the cinema, walk on by.
It's left to the wonderful Scott, with his satyr's face and killer timing, to carry the movie through thick and thin.
Sadly the film then downhill-races to a feelgood, feel-inauthentic ending. But for 90 of 107 minutes it is cracklingly good.
It's difficult to muster the will to get behind these fools, and yet there are stretches where Westfeldt's script glows, such as an expertly executed dinner-table fracas, which manages to engage the entire ensemble.
It's hardly a relatable scenario but there's something compelling about it all the same as these two not wholly sympathetic characters try and have their cake and eat it.
While this results in some genuine moments of truth, most scenes feel forced to fit the standard rom-com template.
Friends With Kids is the story of two best friends who discuss having a child together even though they are not a couple.
Audience Reviews for Friends With Kids
Super Reviewer
Super Reviewer
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- Ben: So why didn't you guys ever even try to get together?
- Jason Fryman: It's too much familiarity. It's like she's one of my.
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- Jason Fryman: She over-French pronounces French words.
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- Mary Jane: F**k the s**t out of me!
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- Julie Keller: It feels like it's coming out of my ass!
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- Leslie: He's like an annoying dog... of a brother.
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- Jason Fryman: It's like... she's one of my limbs.
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Movie: ID: 771217537 Title: Friends With Kids Release Date: 2012-03-09 00:00:00.0 MPAA: 4 Status: 1
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Jennifer Westfeldt is fast becoming one of my favorite new filmmakers. It is right that she works with Edward Burns in this film because their films have similar milieus, and her slice-of-life comedies bare the mark of Woody Allen's influence. She may make her way to my list of favorite neurotic Jews, an honor that all should aspire to. Her comic eye is sharp, her dialogue is extraordinarily witty, and her direction has Burns's and Allen's ease.
As he often does, Adam Scott gives an exceptional performance as Westfeldt's leading man. He's got such great comic timing, balanced by an ability to turn on sharp intensity when the dramatic scenes call for it.
The story seems quite familiar, delving in to how children can throw lives astray but also how getting older changes friendships. Westfeldt may be young, but she's got an old, cynical soul, tempered by a charming romanticism; only she could make "I want to fuck the shit out of you" the most romantic line in the film.
Overall, Friends with Kids is an exceptionally strong film from a gifted filmmaker.