Appearing without pomp and circumstance, "Life As We Know It" is a film both largely disliked by critics and satisfying to audiences. Balancing chemistry, some homely humor, and a dose of tenderness against legible formula and some flat jokes, it is what it sets out to be and fulfills the set job of a romantic comedy. Everything said, this film appears neither regrettable loss nor riveting find but a night at the cinema simple and true.
The plot starts out with Holly Berenson, a young caterer and bakery owner (Katherine Heigl) preparing for a blind date in her apartment. The doorbell rings, she meets her date, Eric Messer (Josh Duhamel) and things fail pretty quickly. The two can't even agree how to start the night and Berenson ends up kicking Messer out of her car, hoping never to see him again. As time goes by, their mutual friends, Peter and Alison (Hayes MacArthur and Christina Hendricks), get married and have a little girl named Sophie. Messer and Berenson, bound by friendship and love for their new goddaughter, decide on a truce with many insults. In a twist on the usual tragedy, Peter and Alison are killed in a car accident, willing joint custody of Sophie over to the erstwhile match. Inconceivably, they must develop a working relationship and long-term toleration for the child's sake.
The main thing "Life As We Know It" has in its favor is the leads' chemistry. Josh Duhamel and Katherine Heigl work together well and there is something realistic in the accumulated mess and resolution of their characters. MacArthur and Hendricks do well supporting until they leave the stage, and then are followed up by off beat neighbors of unusual quality for stock. Josh Lucas as Sam provides a spotty but still reassuring presence as Berenson's love interest.
As is usual for such a soft genre as Romantic Comedy, there are moments when you don't feel anything substantive and others when you feel the characters are moving. Many times, you feel this when the writers don't intend it, and though that is a fault, there is the idea that some importance lies in the central struggle. Berenson and Messer's movement to a predictable end has some grace embedded deep in the progression and, though one can stand back and see the flaws, their slow budding is what involves moviegoers.
What may turn them off are the latest in an infinite series of dirty diaper jokes, the like faire, and what can best be called polish and Hollywood characterizations. Berenson and Messer are not rich at all, but far from average. As a practical entrepreneur in the food business and a network sports director, they have the jobs everyone wants when riches aren't expected. Their lives are moveable, responsibility laden but, nonetheless, stable and middle-class. With their friends dead and the difficulty of coping, Berenson and Messer's shock is palpable but they never seem confused and viewers know they'll succeed. This underlying stability rings false to an audience and is only comfortably warm.
However, those believable pearls of emotion between Duhamel and Heigl are not destroyed, making the film float for a casual movie night. There is also a feeling that its high points deserved to develop with bodily functions in a less glossy environment. It is not suggested that this be "The Road" with two urbanites and an infant. Some of the comedy needs to be retained, but the stakes were upped with what the leads can do in glimpses.Overall, the audience can either look deep or laugh heavily, just let them know they're not "The Constant Gardener;" they're on vacation.
Katherine Heigl and Josh Duhamel star in the film.
