What to Expect When You're Expecting

Name: What to Expect When You're Expecting
Genre: Drama, Comedy, Romance
Released: May 18, 2012
Duration: 110 min
Rating: 41
Cast: Anna Kendrick, Brooklyn Decker, Cameron Diaz, Chace Crawford, Chris Rock

2012

METASCORE

Mixed or average reviews based on 30 Critic Reviews

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USER SCORE

Generally favorable reviews based on 167 Ratings

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7.9

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7.9	User Score Generally favorable reviews based on 167 Ratings

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What To Expect When You're Expecting

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Movie Details & Credits

Lionsgate | Release Date: May 18, 2012 | PG-13

Starring: Anna Kendrick, Brooklyn Decker, Cameron Diaz, Chace Crawford, Chris Rock, Dennis Quaid, Elizabeth Banks, Jennifer Lopez, Matthew Morrison, Rodrigo Santoro, Thomas Lennon

Summary: Over the moon about starting a family, TV fitness guru Jules and dance show star Evan find that their high-octane celebrity lives don't stand a chance against the surprise demands of pregnancy. Baby-crazy author and advocate Wendy gets a taste of her own militant mommy advice when pregnancy hormones ravage her body; while Wendy's husband,Over the moon about starting a family, TV fitness guru Jules and dance show star Evan find that their high-octane celebrity lives don't stand a chance against the surprise demands of pregnancy. Baby-crazy author and advocate Wendy gets a taste of her own militant mommy advice when pregnancy hormones ravage her body; while Wendy's husband, Gary, struggles not to be outdone by his competitive alpha-Dad, who's expecting twins with his much younger trophy wife, Skyler. Photographer Holly is prepared to travel the globe to adopt a child, but her husband Alex isn't so sure, and tries to quiet his panic by attending a "dudes" support group, where new fathers get to tell it like it really is. And quandary: what to do when your first child comes before your first date? (Lionsgate)… Expand

Director: Kirk Jones

Genre(s): Drama, Comedy, Romance

Rating: PG-13

Runtime: 110 min

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Critic Reviews

Ty Burr

May 17, 2012

The writing is sharp and the performances bright, and if you've been through the forced gestational march known as pregnancy, there are knowing laughs to be had. If you haven't, do yourself a favor and stay away. Read full review

A.O. Scott

May 17, 2012

The overall mood is of warm reassurance, and some of it is even pretty funny. Read full review

Steve Persall

May 16, 2012

The only surprise is that Garry Marshall didn't direct this jumbled, star-studded kibitz and rename it "Mothers Day." Read full review

Peter Rainer

May 18, 2012

Cameron Diaz and Jennifer Lopez provide the star power, but what's missing is script power. Read full review

Bill Goodykoontz

May 16, 2012

The worst thing about What to Expect When You're Expecting, director Kirk Jones' fictionalized film version, is how fake it is, how cartoonish the experiences. Read full review

The Guardian Mike McCahill

May 26, 2012

Someday Hollywood will think of women as more than fallopian tubes in heels; until then, we're stuck with this kind of project. Read full review

Eric Hynes

May 15, 2012

For all the fear, loathing, and overthinking that Murkoff's bedside text engenders, its journey ends with the hopeful beginning of a new life, whereas the movie leaves you hoping for a swift end to your own. Read full review

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User Reviews

FabulousCity

May 19, 2012

These critics are nuts!!! And this is why I NEVER EVER believe what they say! The movie was hilarious!!! Love Cameron Diaz and the cast! True entertainment!!!!! Thank you!!!

3 of 6 users found this helpful33

Hugoema

Sep 9, 2019

Buenas historias, cada una de ellas tiene su parte divertida, triste e inspiradora.

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

GagaForGhibli

Jul 13, 2012

The Critic's Are Crazy!
This Is A Good Movie!
JLO Does A Great Job!

2 of 2 users found this helpful20

Bruce722

Nov 29, 2012

While this movie had some really funny parts and a great cast, it just felt too long and dragged out. Honestly, it felt like a 3-hour movie. They should've just made a movie focused on the dads in the park. Now that would've been a keeper.

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

FDT44

May 18, 2012

Contrarily to this adapted rom-com's verbose title, one shouldn't 'expect' much; that is, unless literary desecration is in your hand of cards--if that is the game you're looking to play, then consider this mess a winner. Inspired by Heidi Murkoff's multimillion-selling-self-help-book forContrarily to this adapted rom-com's verbose title, one shouldn't 'expect' much; that is, unless literary desecration is in your hand of cards--if that is the game you're looking to play, then consider this mess a winner. Inspired by Heidi Murkoff's multimillion-selling-self-help-book for expectant mothers--holding the same name--'What to Expect', the film, will be much less prolific. Obviously alotting more work, and money, towards getting an ensemble cast--as opposed to garnering producers with emphasis on purpose and ingenuity--the filmmakers, here, create a product that is not the least bit unique; it's a generic label laden with followed genre-specific cliches, bawdy humor, and disjointed direction. So unevenly collected, that audiences feel as if they are watching several different sit-coms, mangled together into one episode; it's an amalgamation that becomes more tedious--keeping its storylines and characters straight--and less enjoyable to watch, as the characters are simply not all that interesting. By following five Atlanta-based couples, the film wants fervently to incorporate all its character's diverse fluff into one sitting, but such hopes are subverted to an emptily-flat experiment that pairs audiences with familiar faces acting out a weak script, while the experimenters stand back and pray that the audience doesn't notice just in fact how hollow it all really is. Nonetheless, the same experimenters (filmmakers) know that the subject matter can relate to everyone--we all have either been a kid, a parent, etc.--and manipulatively milk the subject matter for all it's worth. As far as the audience's concerned, director, Kirk Jones ("Nanny McPhee," and "Everybody's Fine") was never anticipating a success here, rather, with emphasis placed on superficially manufactured platitudes and close-ups of innocently adorable babies, he purported to cash-in on a huge demographic. Following the conventional screenplay formula for movies of the rom-com variety, there are endless storylines co-existing. There's the TV-fitness-guru instructor (Cameron Diaz), who's having a baby with her partner from a reality "Dancing with the Stars"-copy program (Matthew Morrison). In an exchange between the two, director Kirk Jones takes a few lines from Murkoff's book, where the couple discusses circumcision; germane to the book's content--maybe--but interpolated well into the film--not in the least. Next, is a struggling photographer (Jennifer Lopez) who desires to adopt a child from Ethiopia, due to a failure to conceive, with her husband (Rodrigo Santoro). Much of their involvement in the film stems from their doubts that the adoption agency will accept their bohemian lifestyle as apt, as well as Lopez's attempts to sell her pain from her child-rearing limitation; this, however, is made hard to buy as she lacks any real emotional connection with audiences, endowing only a trimmed figure, a petulant behavior, and a little girl's voice. Dennis Quaid also appears into the mix as the back-slapping, ultra-competitive, former NASCAR champ, now-dotage-dwelling sugar-daddy of much younger trophy-wife, Brooklyn Decker, who's character also happens to be expecting. But, perhaps the best to watch of the couples is Elizabeth Banks, an author and boutique owner, and her subservient husband (Ben Falcone) who is immediately assigned as the target of fun-poking and humiliation. His father happens to be Quaid's character, but his dislike of his father's personal life is made apparently known. Being a former weight-loss-show-contestant, his once obese-self still wears heavy on him, and is the source of some ridicule. Anna Kendrick and Chace Crawford make up the last couple, rival foodtruck chefs, albeit they are the least like the other four, and at times, appear to be starring in their own movie--something that could possibly work much better than this film here. They are twenty-something lovers, who occasionally exchange a few flirtatious right-hands in the process. Notwithstanding the women's role in the film--Bank's awkward, yet resonantly true rant about her third-trimester "hell" towards the end is the best part--this film is about the "Dudes." The husbands join up with Chris Rock to form a support group for fledglingly-expecting fathers, as they banter in the park about parenting bloopers and blessings. They offer some laughs, but mostly they appear pretentiously unfunny--pushing strollers in slow-motion and strutting like secret agents; not to mention the severity of some of the preceived jokes' content--leaving a child at daycare, for example, not considered humorous by all. Despite its few laughs, ensemble cast, and affecting hints towards pregnancy, 'What to Expect' is an over-packed piece of luggage that becomes too frustrating to haul around; an immersion too tediously futile and not nearly enough funny. Expect worse.… Expand

1 of 2 users found this helpful11

beingryanjude

Sep 1, 2014

Although the cast (Elizabeth Banks, Cameron Diaz, etc.) makes this one completely watchable, What to Expect When You're Expecting is an over-cliched mess and not all that funny.

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

Hadrianus

Nov 25, 2012

Terrible acting;terrible movie.I predict that it'll be nominated to the Razzie Awards.When I went to see it in the theater I got bored.I hope it'll be the winner of the 33th edition of the Razzie Awards for Worst Picture.

0 of 1 users found this helpful01

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