Friends With Kids

Directed by Jennifer Westfeldt

(R)

**

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Some might argue that this “bright, quick-witted” romantic comedy is heading for a predictable end from its start, said Mary Pols in Time. But from the moment two longtime best friends decide to have a baby without the hassles of marriage or monogamy, there’s just enough doubt about whether they’ll end up together that it gives the movie “at least the kiss of freshness.” Jennifer Westfeldt wrote, directed, and stars, but the more confident Adam Scott “effortlessly steals the show” as her baby daddy, said Lisa Schwarzbaum in Entertainment Weekly. Bridesmaids veterans Maya Rudolph, Chris O’Dowd, Kristen Wiig, and Jon Hamm fill out the cast as married friends who’ve devolved into joyless breeders, and they make many of the jokes about child-rearing feel timely and smart. But given that we expect the leads to pair up eventually, it becomes “almost painful to watch the characters jump through the obligatory story hoops” to get there, said Roger Ebert in the Chicago Sun-Times. Audiences may need repackaged rom-coms every season, but “there must be a better reason to have a baby.”