Tag: What to Expect When You’re Expecting

‘What to Expect When You’re Expecting’: Unexpected Gem

Elizabeth Banks and Brooklyn Decker in What to Expect When You’re Expecting
What to Expect When You’re Expecting was [excuse the hack writing here, it’s unavoidable:] not what I expected.  I expected it to be another He’s Just Not That Into You: an insipid, generally obnoxious star-studded ensemble piece loosely inspired by a bestselling cultural touchstone of a nonfiction book.  Instead, it is an entertaining, surprisingly touching star-studded ensemble piece loosely inspired by a bestselling cultural touchstone of a nonfiction book.
One of the best things about What to Expect is that it never attempts to universalize pregnancy or parenting.  The five semi-connected expecting couples in the film all have different conception stories (from an oops one night stand, to getting lucky after years of infertility, to choosing adoption) and pregnancy experiences (from Brooklyn Decker’s walk-in-the-park pregnancy with twins to lactation advocate Elizabeth Bank’s hormone-fueled emotional breakdown to [spoiler alert!] an astonishingly sensitive depiction of miscarriage).  While the film unfortunately depicts an Atlanta that knows no gays and is largely white, it at least partway makes up for its lack of demographic diversity by exploring a rich diversity of experience.
“Dudes Group” of fathers in What to Expect When You’re Expecting
I was also very happily surprised by the depiction of fatherhood in What to Expect When You’re Expecting, especially after seeing the bit in the trailer where a group of dads pushing strollers slo-mo walk to Biggie’s “Big Poppa.”   I expected this plotline to be another iteration of “men doing ladywork: HILARIOUS!”  But the “dudes group” is celebrated, not mocked, for embracing fatherhood, and while the group has a code of “no judging” when they share such parenting mishaps as “last week, my kid ate a cigarette”, the dads are not depicted as incompetent impostors in a woman’s world. They’re equal partners in parenthood.
And best of all, What to Expect When You’re Expecting is genuinely funny and emotionally affecting.  It’s sort of unfortunate that the movie features a lot of humor bizarrely specific to the 2012 zeitgeist, from food truck rivalries to autotuned remixes of public breakdowns; because the movie could be, like the book of the same title, something of a perennial classic for expecting parents.  But What to Expect When You’re Expecting makes up some points by also including some of the best things about the 2012 cultural moment: scene-stealing Rebel Wilson and shirtless Joe Manganiello. 
Shirtless Joe Maganiello is one of the best things about living in 2012.

Women-Centric Films Opening Friday, May 18

I’m happy to report that this Friday several women-centered films are opening in theaters, some in limited release. While I doubt these films will all be fabulous feminist explorations of gender constructs that also depict women’s actual real-life experiences–and some of them might even be anti-feminist (I don’t necessarily have high hopes for What to Expect When You’re Expecting, based on the trailer)–at least we get to see women represented onscreen. Sometimes that feels like a low bar to set, but it’s significant considering how rarely it occurs. So here they are, accompanied by movie trailers and film synopses (taken from Rotten Tomatoes). And remember, we welcome review submissions for our Guest Writer Wednesday series. Check out the guidelines!



What to Expect When You’re Expecting

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 rival food truck chefs Rosie and Marco’s surprise hook-up results in an unexpected quandary: what to do when your first child comes before your first date? — (C) Lionsgate

 

Polisse

A journalist covering police assigned to a juvenile division enters an affair with one of her subjects. 

The Color Wheel

The Color Wheel is the story of JR, an increasingly transient aspiring news-anchor, as she forces her disappointing younger brother Colin to embark on a road trip to move her belongings out of her professor-turned-lover’s apartment. Problem is, these grown up kids do not get along, and are both too obnoxious to know better. Chaos and calamity are not far behind her beat up Honda Accord. Too bad that nobody else in the world can stand either of them. Not Colin’s neglectful girlfriend, nor JR’s former high school friends, nor strangers they clash with at pretty much every step of their hopeless and increasingly infuriating voyage of frustration, failure and jerks. It can only be a matter of time before JR and Colin arrive at the strangest and most unsettling of resolutions and put to rest their decades of animosity, half-baked sibling rivalry and endless bickering. Resting uncomfortably somewhere between the solipsistic, unrepressed id of late Jerry Lewis, and the confrontational pseudo-sexual self-loathing of Philip Roth and shot on grainy 16mm black and white evoking the motels, diners and loners of Robert Frank’s America, The Color Wheel is a comedic symphony of disappointment and forgiveness.

Lovely Molly

When newlywed Molly Reynolds returns to her long-abandoned family home, reminders of a nightmarish childhood begin seeping into her new life. A malevolent force, whether her own haunted past or some supernatural ‘thing,’ tirelessly seeks to overwhelm her. Alone and isolated in a centuries-old manor, she soon begins an inexorable descent into depravity. Somewhere in the house, in the terrible space between psychosis and possession, lies an evil that will pull Molly and all those around her into darkness and death. — (C) Official Site



Virginia

A single mother struggles to raise her son Emmett while dreaming of escaping her small Southern boardwalk town. Her long time affair with the very married, Mormon Sheriff Richard Tipton is thrown into question when he decides to run for public office. Things are further complicated when Emmett begins a romantic relationship with Tipton’s daughter. Virginia and the town-populated by Amy Madigan, Toby Jones, Yeardley Smith-are full of secrets and everyone knows Virginia can only keep things together for so long. Virginia is a funny, touching drama that looks at the American Dream and what it takes to keep it together. — (C) Official Site

Hysteria

Hysteria is a romantic comedy with an accomplished cast led by Maggie Gyllenhaal, Hugh Dancy, Jonathan Pryce, Felicity Jones and Rupert Everett, that tells an untold tale of discovery – the surprising story of the birth of the electro-mechanical vibrator at the very peak of Victorian prudishness. — (C) Sony Classics

 

Diana Vreeland: The Eye Has to Travel

A portrait of legendary fashion magazine editor Diana Vreeland. She was one of the twentieth century’s greatest arbiters of style who dazzled the world with her unique vision of style high and low.

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