So spielt das Leben (2010) Online

My wife's choice of film made me miss "The Town" and "The Social Network" which I preferred, but I'm not regretting this night. As a mere film lover, I have no idea how the two leads managed to make this script believable, but they did. Katherine Heigl is a known, reliable entity who's graced many a movie, but the real discovery for me was Josh Duhamel who conveyed all of his feelings to me, another guy, extremely well in situations I've never really encountered, perhaps better and more agreeably than any other male lead I can think of. Now I'm not sure why. The guy's quite a bit more handsome than me and everything's done with a light touch, but somehow, he's effective and simultaneously non- threatening, if that's the word.

Anyway, this film is far from perfect, but what it's attempting to explore is a bit mind boggling. How would two people who initially dislike each other find enough common ground to come together in the best interests of a child? You won't find a 'how to' here, but all the small moves and incidents rang true to me, and the result in the end, seems quite plausible to me, at least. Things happen when two people get thrown together like this and I doubt you'll have it illustrated more enjoyably than this any time soon.

OK, so perhaps it's a bit formulaic. But getting through the process was unexpected. A very sweet story line, and some clunky transitions; however, the ultimate feel was very sweet and pulled at the heart strings. Life isn't simple, doesn't always go as expected, and requires a bit of effort. This film seemed to capture a wide variety of experiences and faced them with poignancy and humor.

I truly was expecting it to be all fluff, or very silly, and I didn't expect the film to tell the story as well as it did. Insight into different families, good times, bad times, and the mundane. No huge laugh out loud moments, but definitely some chuckles. I'm glad I gave it a shot. Give it a try sometime, and you just might be surprised, too.

I am not a great fan of romantic comedies because, honestly, they all seem the same. This one proved me wrong! I actually laughed (unexpected) and even cried (really unexpected) during this movie. There is great chemistry between all the cast members . The premise that the story is based on is presented as very believable. I found myself immersed in the possibility of this happening in real life, not just reel life! I think the director brought out the best in the actors. Katie Heigl has more depth as an actor than I gave her credit for. Josh Duhmel proves to be more than just a pretty face. I really loved this movie and was so glad I went to see it!

"Life as We Know It" is predictable. Not breaking news. 3 years ago Josh Duhamel as Messer and Katherine Heigl as Holly have a set up date by their best friends Peter and Alison (Hayes MacArthur and Christina Hendricks) that terminates in Holly's Smart Car. Holly despises Messer way too much. Life happens and tragedy unfolds. Peter and Alison die in a car accident. In their will, unbeknownst to Messer and Holly, the Novaks' name them as legal guardians to their 1 year-old daughter Sophie. Reluctantly, Messer and Holly agree to move into the Novaks' house, and raise Sophie until they can figure this out. Did Alison and Peter know something that Holly and Messer were clueless to? Do they fall in love, and transform into loving parents?

Come on, we're smart and have seen our share of romantic comedies. Narrative surprise is not the strong suit of Ian Deitchman and Kristin Rusk Robinson's screenplay. In spite of all this, "Life as We Know It" is touching romantic comedy. Katherine Heigl and Josh Duhamel are awesome, and have a natural chemistry. Deitchman and Robinson's story strongly evolves. Director Greg Berlanti expertly orchestrates the right tone. Although, "Life" is romantic comedy, the set up is heart wrenching tragedy. The future of orphaned Sophie (played by Brooke and Kiley Liddell) hangs in the balance of whether Heigl and Duhamel can get over themselves. Heigl has a charming vulnerability and authenticity as Holly, who has dreams of expanding her bakeshop and dearly misses Alison, her personal rock. Duhamel is a nice surprise. He casually inhabits Messer, the Player who really has a big heart, by the numbers. However, Duhamel never overplays, embodying humanity and humor. With Duhamel we cheer for Messer's transformation. At the story arc, he confesses to Heigl, "Together… Somehow we're a family."

At times we're smarter than the screenplay. From the beginning we see through Messer's jerk facade, and distinguish the good man that he is and great guy he can be. Holly is too obsessed being annoyed, to see the obvious. Fortunately, Heigl and Duhamel are smarter than the script—hinting at the underlying love Holly and Messer have always had. Chemistry conquers a lot. Validation comes when Baby Whisperer Amy (great Britt Flatmo) says, "You guys make an awesome couple." Listen to the 12 year-old. Heigl and Duhamel are an amazing looking couple that has a very comfortable feel.

What Berlanti does well is populate "Life" with quirky supporting characters and nominal narrative twists. Melissa McCarthy is good as the seen-it-all Mom DeeDee. Andrew Daly and Bill Brochtrup are funny as the gay parents Scott and Gary, who faun over the strikingly handsome Duhamel. Sarah Burns is awesome as the social worker Janine Groff, who warns Holly and Messer about complicating their relationship. Burns is hysterically touching as she becomes their biggest advocate. Brooke and Kiley Liddell are priceless as Sophie. Though hers is not really a performance, she is just being. There are the formulae high jinx with baby poop and babysitting duty. Conflict is manufactured. Messer is offered the sports TV director slot for the Phoenix Suns, which would displace him from home in Atlanta. Holly starts a relationship with solid Sam (down home charming Josh Lucas), Sophie's pediatrician. Life is diverging.

Here in "Life as We Know It" there is an upside to predictability. We cheer for Holly, Messer, and Sophie, because we see before they do: They are a family. Heigl and Duhamel are awesome, apart or together. They overcome a lot of the formulae. Being predictable is overrated, when you have great heart like "Life as We Know It".

After their first date Holly Berenson(Heigl) and Eric Messer (Duhamel) don't like each other. They have friends in common and those friends die in a car accident and leave their daughter, Sophie, to both Holly and Eric (call him Messer) who are the God-Parents. Now, the games begin

This will start off sad, then it will be okay and funny in many places, and then later on a little sad again; then surprise, surprise, okay again. You were looking for a happy ending, weren't you? I thought so, but it takes some doing to get there. It's all in the telling. And, this is told quite well. And, to have Josh Duhmel and Katherine Heigl portray the God-Parents, well it just doesn't get any better. I think they are terrific actors and their chemistry was excellent.

I said the sad thing because it is sad and tragic when friends die and then leave a 1-yr old baby with others. And, like it or not, I am sure things like this have happened. Maybe the title should have been LIFE AS IT CAN HAPPEN.

So Holly and Eric (wants to be called Messer) are thrown into instant parenthood and go through those trials and tribulations just as if they were married and had their own kid. Well, almost. Many parents will see themselves in here.

As far as the comedy goes, it was very good and I got a lot of laughs throughout starting with the first diaper change. Yes, that's always a good starter duty for new parents. The audience patiently waits for that one.

Violence: No. Sex: No. Nudity: No. Language: Not really, but Heigl does mouth an F-bomb. You don't hear it and she turns away quickly so you don't see all.

In Atlanta, Holly Berenson (Katherine Heigl) is the best friend of Allison (Christina Hendricks) and Peter Novak (Hayes MacArthur). She is single and has just called off a three-year relationship and professionally she runs a bakery, is very well-organized and plans to upgrade her business to a restaurant. When her friends schedule a blind date with Peter's best friend, TV sports director Eric Messer (Josh Duhamel), their encounter is a flop and Holly hates the reckless womanizer Messer. However, when Allison and Peter have a fatal car accident, the godparents Holly and Messer learn by the lawyer that they have been named the legal guardians of Peter and Allison's baby, Sophie, and have inherited their large house to raise the girl. Having in common only their love for Sophie, Holly and Messer have their lives turned upside-down and need to support each other to keep the girl with them and honor the wishes of their best friends.

"Life as We Know It" is a pleasant romance, despite the tragedy and predictability of the story. I usually like the films of the gorgeous Katherine Heigl and the practically unknown Josh Duhamel is hilarious in the role of a wolf. Their chemistry is awesome, but the babies Alexis, Brynn and Brooke Clagett steal the movie. I believe that everybody that is experienced father or mother will recall their first experiences as parents and will love the troubles of Holly and Messer. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "Juntos Pelo Acaso" ("Together by Chance")

This film is about two people who got set up by their friends, but the date dis not go well at all. Their friend died unexpectedly, and they have to care for their friend's child.

"Life as We Know It" is fun to watch. It's a formulaic romantic comedy in the sense that you know what will happen in the end, but still it is not so formulaic as it has there are lots of elements which are not usually in romantic comedies. It is not usual for romantic comedies to incorporate the frustration of child care, for example. The two leads are charming, believable and goes well together. The social worker is very funny too, but if she really acted like that in real life, she would not have been so professional!

"Life as We Know It" (2010). Having seen the film myself I was moved with empathy when the character of Holly Berenson discovers the death of her two best friends. This in turn causes an emotional breakdown in the local police precinct where she is joined by Eric (the other friend of the couple). I also thought the comedic timing was great as well with the chemistry within the cast. This was truly a film which held my attention. I laughed, I cried, I wanted more. The situation at hand was of two opposite people that have nothing in common; are abruptly placed as the legal guardians of their friends child, after the couple perish in an automobile accident. Soon after Holly and Eric Messer move into their friends home to make an attempt at raising the child. Throughout the film they show the difficult burden of raising a child before one truly knows they are prepared for such a step. The film concludes with a bond having formed over the three main characters Holly, Eric, and the little baby left in their care. This is a film that many should take the time to see and enjoy. The story shows how against the odds of tragedy two people can grow up and discover possibilities within themselves. The possibility to care for and further another human life.

Okay, so Life as We Know It is a rom-com with some drama thrown in as it concerns two people on a blind date that turns disastrous the moment they meet but they can't get away from each other since each is a friend of one of a married couple that just had a baby. And then that married couple is killed in a car accident with the will revealing that the mismatched friends are their baby's new caregivers. I'll just stop there and just say that while I didn't think this movie was all that funny, and I didn't completely believe their falling in love when they did, I did appreciate that the movie did put some realism concerning the complications of raising a baby, financial duties concerning the house, and how jobs that take you away from your loved ones can affect lives. At least the characters aren't close to being one-dimensional like I feared so that's a plus. So on that note, Life as We Know It is worth a look if you're interested.

This was a good combination of a movie which contained clichéd plot structure but strayed away from being too run-of-the mill for this kind of film. In other words, it got to the places that you would expect but it took a different route than you might expect. Josh Duhamel and Katherine Heigl were good eye candy throughout the movie, and the baby (like most) was absolutely adorable. The filming schedule must have been pretty spread out to let her grow probably as much as a year older (progressively), as the film itself jumps through its seasons similar to how Juno did. In fact, one thing really annoyed about this and I'm going to throw it out there right now... we all know that the NBA doesn't run through the summer, so why does this movie show the NBA running through the summer? I know there are summer leagues but this wasn't that. Anyway, just irritated me a bit.

There were many characters in this movie that had to help with the story's stability, but they were also in there for the minute giggles and frankly I could have done without most of them. Like I said with "cliché" moments, if you've seen one movie with these characters you've seen them all. Josh Lucas was the only person with a half-decent supporting role IMO.

This movie was somewhat divided; I don't mean this just in the sense that things start to go well then they don't then they kind of do again, but I mean in terms of focus. The first half is very baby-centric, and the latter half pertains a lot more to Duhamel and Heigl, where the baby is obviously used as a device to connect and/or separate the two. Said first half is what I really loved about the movie as I just love babies and it dealt more with internal resolutions, but it was cute enough to keep me interested anyway.

This movie works well with a female crowd, and it would help if you brought just one more along with you. Bring your wife, girlfriend, date... whoever if you plan on seeing it. For what it's worth, I enjoyed it with my company. The 6 out of 10 is almost as much as you can get out of me with this kind of movie. In all seriousness, a 6 is good... a 2 obviously is not, and this movie is not a 2. On a final side note, I love how Pearl Jam got a song in this movie. Haven't heard them in one since Eddie Vedder's original soundtrack in Into the Wild.

This is one of the best films I have seen this year. Very predictable but I didn't care. Everybody knows the two main characters will eventually fall in love...that is obvious...it's the ride getting there that is funny, delightful, and very touching at moments.

The film has a very classic movie feel about it. If one were to remove the drug scene and the sex scene, I could easily see Cary Grant and Katherine Hepburn in the two main roles.

Josh Duhamel and Katherine Heigl both give outstanding comedic performances while being quite believable when things occasionally get serious.

Holly (Katherine Heigl) and Eric, known by his last name, Messer (Josh Duhamel) were once set up by close married friends, wife Alison (Christina Hendricks) and hubby Peter (Hayes MacArthur). The date lasted all of five minutes, as each took an instant dislike to one another and rang the gong. However, they have had to see each other over the last few years, at parties and gatherings thrown by the wedded couple. More so now that the A and P have a little girl named Sophie. A self-described "control freak", Holly owns a gourmet food shop called Fraiche, in the Atlanta area, where she has grown interested in a frequent customer, Dr. Sam (Josh Lucas). For his part, Messer works in sports television, operating cameras for the Hawks basketball franchise and he has a new girlfriend every five minutes. Into this setting comes a shock. Alison and Peter tragically die in an automobile crash and, unbelievably, leave custody of Sophie to their unmarried pals, Holly and Messer. After the tears and agony, the we-loathe-each-other couple realize that they must move into their friends' large home and learn how to take care of their new daughter, with civility. But, as both are practicing "on the job parenting", they still have quite a few arguments and upsets. Juggling jobs and babies is a tough job, they quickly concede. Could it also be that, despite Dr. Sam's growing presence and Messer's frequent galpals, that Holly and Messer will actually grow to like each other? Maybe! This is a lovely new entry into the world of romantic comedies, for all of the genre's dedicated fans. Despite the tried and true theme of mismatched, argumentative folks falling in love, the movie has a few new twists, as a result of the adorable baby. Heigl and Duhamel are perfectly wonderful as the main couple, although both are such pros in this type of film that they should probably try to "branch out" in their next projects or be stuck in this kind of thing forever. The supporting cast is also very fine, as are the settings, costumes, and camera work. Add on the zesty direction and polished, humorous storyline and a winning flick emerges. Therefore, Hollywood, please send us more movies like this one, and fans, take time out from life's more mundane practices and make plans for a view.

This movie was actually a lot better then I thought it would be. It has a lot of heart and humour in it, from what would be a horrible situation to be in. It tells the story about Holly and Messer, who meet in 2007 on a blind date and it goes horribly wrong. They are both great friends of the couple who set them up and always seem to see each other through their friends events. When they find out their friends have passed away in a car accident, they are told that their friends wanted them to take care of the baby if anything were to happen to them. This is a shock to them but they decide to live together in their old house, so that they grant the wishes of their friends. Throughout the movie you see them, trying to raise the baby with often very funny results. It's a very sad premise but the humour does not make this movie depressing. I am curious to see if anything like this would happen in real life, with 2 friends who do not know each other well would raise a baby together for the sake of the child. Katherine Heigl plays a typical role here, of an overstressed woman who is unlucky in love and Josh Duhamel plays a guy with no responsibilities who ends up growing up in the end. Overall a fun movie to watch and will probably make you cry a bit

I went to this movie expecting to have a laugh, and you know what thats exactly what it gave my friend and I. I don't know why so many people are bashing the movie. I thought the story was decent enough to keep me engrossed in the movie the whole time. The ending was kind of corny but hey thats bound to happen with a movie like this.

I like the characters and how the movie developed through out and felt like I got my moneys worth, so hey I have no complaints. I really liked Josh Duhamels role in the film, the guy was such a goof,and an ass for most of the movie. I kind of saw myself in him minus the part about being a total idiot. Katherine Heigl is smoking and I liked her character to in this movie.

The relationship between the two of them was kind of believable and not over the top. I think it was very typical when she chased him to the airport at the end and then he was at her house once she got back. I predicted this was going to happen which kind of tells you they could have made the climax in this movie a bit better.

OK, Monday morning in the studio board room. The team is present.

"Good morning people. lets make some money. What have we got?" "I saw a movie on TV this weekend that I really liked called "Raising Waylon"." "Tell me more."

"Well, It was made is 2004, had really likable characters, a good story line and it made me feel good about the world. I think a remake could generate some income." "I don't know. The money makers these days are the "hell, fire and brimstone movies"." "Yes, but I think that's why we can make some money. This would provide the audience an alternative." "What about costs?" "I believe it would not be too costly to produce." We can just change the characters and modify the story line a bit. We can also sign some popular talent who draw an audience. The profit margin could be sizable." "What do you think the title should be?" "How about, "LIfe as We Know It"?" " OK, let's check this out. Get it ready for a focus group evaluation. You just may have something."

This review may be more of a protest against an apparent lack of creativity in Hollywood. Remakes are becoming much too frequent. The point is that I'm looking for more originality for my entertainment dollar. Don't count on me to buy tickets for this one. I'll watch "Raising Waylon" again. Check it out at http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0400762/

Sometimes a spoiler warning is just a precaution: on this occasion I shall be revealing plot developments ie. it is a real spoiler warning.

There is a fairly standard template for the romantic comedy: we are introduced to a couple who appear to be chalk and cheese although we have an inkling that they are ideally suited to each other: they are thrown together by virtue of a maguffin: in the course of resolving the maguffin they discover love for each other: a last minute plot wrinkle drives them apart: various manoeuverings bring them back together, albeit not without an element of panic.

Life As We Know It fits this template perfectly. Holly (Katherine Heigl) is an ambitious, focused patisserie owner who dislikes Messer (Josh Duhamel), a hedonistic, laid back TV sports assistant director. They are godparents to Sophie, the baby daughter of their friends Allison and Peter. The maguffin is that when Allison and Peter are killed in a car accident, they find themselves guardians of Sophie and romance duly ensues. Messer is offered a dream job in another city and this drives them apart, but they get back together in the end.

The thing is, they shouldn't have got back together. Messer accepting the job was absolutely right for him, and Holly taking up with nice, handsome paediatrician Sam (Josh Lucas), who she had fancied since before the maguffin (and vice versa) was exactly right for her. I would have respected this film more if it had gone with something realistic and credible instead of the trite formula.

Katherine Heigl can play parts like this in her sleep, and it comes as no surprise to find her doing so here (and perhaps it is plot relevant too!). She is as gorgeous as ever, but completely forgets to be sexy. I am familiar with Josh Duhamel's name, but the only time I have seen his face is on the front of Johnny Knoxville's head - the resemblance is so strong that I was expecting something to whack him in the testicles at any moment. And the plot demanded that they have no chemistry for at least the first half of the movie, and they didn't. Then the plot demanded that they should have chemistry, but they still didn't.

I must say that the short section dealing with the deaths of Allison and Peter was dealt with well. But most of the laughs were obvious stuff, smelly diapers and the like.

It is a given that all non-documentary movies require some suspension of disbelief. However, they are still required to meet some level of plausibility. This movie doesn't make it.

The entire premise of the movie is that two people who can't stand each other would agree to take on the responsibility of raising a kid for parents who never bothered to tell them they were appointed as guardians. This is simply preposterous on too many levels for any rational human to accept. Maybe if this were sold as a fantasy, it might have a chance, but I doubt it would work.

I bailed after the first half hour.

There was surprisingly little of the baby in the movie. In fact I think almost every scene with the baby was in the trailer, certainly least all the funny ones. The rest of the movie is a standard "hate each other at the beginning" romantic comedy, the kind Ms. Heigl always seems to end up in. Do I need a spoiler tag to say, you can guess where it's going to end up?

There were definitely funny moments that weren't all in the trailer, so overall, it was a fun movie to watch. My wife was crying at the end so it succeeded on that front. The "neighbor" characters were a little grating, but the social worker character was my favorite. Overall, a decent enough 90 minutes of my life.

Saw this with my mom. As it kind of as you can say, is a chick flick! And that the movie, for girls that like eye candy like Josh Duhmael, who is more than the Transformers franchise. And ex-Grey's Anatomy Katherine Heigel, who can surpass Julia Roberts as the queen of romantic comedies if she chooses her material right.

They play Holly, a type-A caterer that runs her gourmet desserts business and Eric, a laid-back bachelor and sports director, who is a ladies's man. Their date, set up by their respected mutual friends, doesn't go off as well. As it ends before it even begins. As both dislike one another with passion and that is only the beginning to come.

Their friends who are, married to one another, have a baby and ask Holly and Eric to become godparents. Only two things both of them have in common. Loving the baby girl named Sophia and hating one another. But unexpectedly, their friends die in a car wreck.

The movie then really begins as both don't know that they are named the legal guardians should something ever happened to the parents. Which they are forced to live together and most of all, work together for the good of Sophia. Despite their dislike of one another.

As it is very rocky at first, which you would expect in any movie. But as, they learn to grow to learn to help Sophia. Taking better care of her. Falling more and more in love with her While running their professional lives. Plus Holly is beginning a romance with a pediatrician, played by Josh Lucas. And Eric still is at his, womanizing ways but that may change due to being with Holly. And vice versa! It is a cute movie for those that like "date night" movies. And those that love the "chick flick" films. It won't win any awards true. But you want to see a "feel good" movie like this. Then this is the movie to see! You won't be disappointed.

BTW, DON'T LISTEN TO THE CRITICS THAT ARE GIVING IT BAD REVIEWS! Go and see it for yourself!

Life As We Know It

Nowadays, it's commonplace for two people who don't love each other to raise their child in a hostile environment.

Surprisingly, while the at odds couple in this rom-com are doing just that, they're doing so with someone else's kid.

When they first meet on a blind date set-up by their mutual friends Peter and Alison (Christina Hendricks), uptight Holly (Katherine Heigl) and free-spirited Messer (Josh Duhamel) vow to never see each other again.

But their common connection makes that impossible. And when their friends are killed in a car accident, the pair must put aside their differences and assume custody of the couple's 1- year-old daughter and palatial home.

With Katherine Heigl portraying another lovesick female browbeating a deadbeat male into submission, Life As We Know It is redundant. Furthermore, its formulaic nature is an affront.

Besides, as a legal guardian, all you get to do is sign school permission slips. (Red Light)

I watched this movie because I quite like to watch romantic comedies and the plot seemed really interesting, but I'm sorry to say that I was disappointed by this movie.

The beginning is good and it seems like something that could happen in real life, but later on the movie turns out to be unconvincing, for example the parts with the social worker are too crazy.

I have to point out that the performance of the actors is good, they have good chemistry together and make the plot at least a bit believable.

For me, this is just another ordinary romantic comedy (despite the tragic part), one of the movies that I struggled to watch till the end and I will definitely not watch it again.

I don't understand comedies like "Life as We Know It". When are directors of this tripe going to understand that you cant mix sitcom humor and scripts with dramatic solemn issues. It does not work at all. Scene after scene we have sitcom dialog mixed in poorly with real-life situations of guardianship, death, and grieving. It adds up to a bad dish served. For instance we have the so-called social worker going from serious to wanna-be provocative exclaiming "You had sex" in one scene - ugh. No acquaintance to say less than a business relationship speaks like that. The neighbors were vapid, the couple especially the Messner character did not see believable at all. By the end, you have your Hollywood made for screen-groups ending. Do yourself a favor and skip this dud.

If you're craving something sickeningly sweet, something cloying and annoying, maybe this is the film for you. Here we have another ridiculously unbelievable rom-com written by a pair of writers who have obviously spent too much time in la-la land where they spend days, months, maybe years thinking up this drivel.

Let's start off with the upper-upper middle class couple (Hayes MacArthur and Cristina Hendricks) with the adorable, but not so cute, daughter who just happen to live in a big house (which we find out later apparently has no mortgage) with a designer kitchen just on the outskirts of downtown Atlanta. Said couple perish in an accident twenty minutes in...plot point one...and their will leaves the paid-for house to at-odds godparents Holly (Heigl) and Eric (Duhamel). They fight, they make up, they clean poop that apparently smells very, very ugly, they fight, they make-up, they do all the things Hollywood writers think are cute but are actually so clichéd you want to scream at the screen. Add some icky music and songs throughout, suspend all believability, and it's life as Hollywood knows it.

Katherine Heigl proves in this film that she should have stayed on TV, because she is not a movie star. Maybe it's the material, but didn't we see her do this shtick before? Josh Duhamel is believable in spite of the material he's given to work with. Maybe it's baby guilt that keeps him around, because Heigl plays such a convincing shrew he'd have to be a masochist to do otherwise. Loved the Thanksgiving meal Heigl created prior to her final spat with Duhamel. It ends with her walking out of the kitchen perfectly coiffed and dressed in heels, no less, with this designer, golden brown turkey on a platter. Utterly unrealistic, and as phony as just about everything in this turkey of a film.

Later, after still another moment of introspection, Miss Heigl finally sees the light, and our leads get together once again.

Only in Hollywood. Why would anyone living a real life even care about these imaginary characters and their superficial lives?

I suppose many of the readers must be asking, "What is a cool guy like me doing watching a chick flick?" Suffice to say, the power of a woman over a man should never be underestimated. Now for the film. "Life as We Know It" is a romantic comedy, which means that its success or failure depends on an interesting couple and the plausibility of their relationship. A good romantic comedy should convince us that the couple is really turned on by each other, which is the key to making a love story seem erotic. To make a long story short, "Life as We Know It" lacks eroticism and chemistry, with the result that we cannot believe in the so-called love story involving Holly Berenson (Katherine Heigl) and Eric Messer (Josh Duhamel). And since I could not believe in their relationship, I really did not care about these characters and I was not the least concerned about whether they would remain a couple.

This movie not only fails as a love story; it also fails as a comedy. Heigl and Duhamel are not funny when they are together and they equally un-amusing when they are separated from each other. The filmmakers did try to use the baby Sophie to compensate for Heigl and Duhamel's lacklustre performance, only to discover that babies shockingly enough make for bad comedians. Sure the baby can be the inadvertent source of toiletry humour, but that kind of humour just disgusted me. So essentially this movie suffers from two uninteresting characters, Eric and Holly, a boring baby, boring neighbours representing the usual stereotypes (example: the nerd marries a fat woman, who really wants to have sex with the muscular Eric, because he cannot hook up with the hot Russian girl from the Serebro band) and a boring plot.In other words, this movie is a non-romantic-non-comedy.

This is a movie that is actually saved by the Stars, Katherine Heigl & Josh Duhamel, and that doesn't happen very often (these 2 saving any movie that is). The movie is so cliché that you really don't get anything new except the combination of the two leads, and they look really good together. Everything about this movie is so "done before" for a Romantic Comedy, that you wonder if the Producers used "software" that automatically wrote, produced, & directed this movie for them, and all they had to do was punch in the names of the two lead characters. Sure, you know everything that's going to happen before it happens, but Heigl & Duhamel look so good together, that it's still worth watching. Even the soundtrack is "cookie-cutter", and leans more on the "bland" side, which is a bad thing, because you're actually not supposed to notice the soundtrack unless it's really good or bad. And then there's the "Title", which is sooo... forgettable, that if you went to the theater, and saw, "Life As We Know It", on the marquee you might think you were at night school for the Learning Annex. Someone, somewhere in the Marketing Dept., must be secretly laughing with great satisfaction, because they must have protested the use of this awful Title only to be ignored by the idiot boss.