Review: Life As We Know It (2010)

“I never had to think for three people before, hell, I barely had to think for one.”

Director: Greg Berlanti

Starring: Katherine Heigl, Josh Duhamel and Josh Lucas

Writers: Ian Deitchman and Kristin Rusk Robinson

There is this weird line that romantic comedies can cross and the female lead can become a shrieking harpy, and any sympathy is thrown out of the window. I would say that this applies to guys as well, but normally they are painted as obnoxious man children that need to grow up so if they deviate from this stereotype it’s often an improvement. Why do I bring this up? Well Josh Duhmel is the man child, Katherine Heigl plays a screaming harpy who I wanted to get hit by a truck as soon as possible.

You could find better romantic comedies out there instead of giving this movie a try. Honestly while I would love to assign blame to the writers or the director, it’s all pretty standard. Sure the writing could have painted Holly (Katherine Heigl) in a better light, and not made her such a shrew, but maybe in the hands of a better actor a bit of subtlety could have been used and the character would be more than what is written. Heigl is just a bad, and I don’t think I can stress how much she annoyed me through out the movie.

There is an idea here that could have made for a good movie, but the central premise is buried beneath the horrid romantic comedy. This movie is symptomatic of the lack of care taken with characters, and going for the wacky story beats and giving us unsympathetic characters in the process. Instead don’t waste your time with this movie and go find other more meaningful movies.