LIFE AS WE KNOW IT (REVIEW)
Rated M - 114 mins
Katherine Heigl, Josh Duhamel, Josh Lucas, Christina Hendricks, Hayes
Macarthur, Katie Kneeland
This romantic story revolves around two protagonists that
are complete opposites and because of an extraordinary circumstance,
are thrust together to become responsible for a beautiful baby orphan
girl.
Miscalculated love has always come the way of Holly (Katherine
Heigl), none more so than one particular evening in which she has been
set up on a blind date with a faux gentleman. Eric (Josh Duhamel) provides
Holly with the worst date of her life. Before even leaving the premises,
Eric has managed to offend her in uncertain regard, not to mention in-between
the insults, taking a phone call to arrange another date right in front
of Holly. It is obvious from the outset that Eric is a slacker, an adolescent
minded male with nothing but sport and long legged floosies on his mind.
Holly on the other side of the spectrum is a control freak with a penchant
for being miss perfect and solid in what she wants to achieve in life.
The duo are best friends of mutual best friends, so for
years after their initial disastrous date, they still bump into each
other at various events. It takes a tragedy for the pair to come together
as a unit. As god parents to Sophie, a beautiful baby girl, Holly and
Eric become unlikely allies without a clue on rearing an infant. Living
together as faux parents provides this romantic comedy with all the
classic ingredients one would expect from this genre. Obstacles snowball
out of control putting a strain on their responsibility issues at hand.
Sophie is a delightful cherub and the basis of the changing
mannerisms of her guardians. Agreement on who can go out when and with
whom starts arguments to begin with, but cupid has other ideas. Mutual
disdain converts to true love right before your eyes. For the most part,
the audience will see events in advance, such as the thrills of nappy
changing and preparing a bottle, long before it occurs. Airheads they
are not, the leads have a chemistry likely to sweep the romantic inclined
off their feet.
Duhamel, last seen shooting missiles at Transformers,
may be eye candy to some, but he's an amorous charmer and natural on
screen as the slowly maturing Eric. Former child star, Katherine Heigl
('My Father the Hero', 'Under Siege 2') constantly pouts and with heartfelt
sentiment galore in the script, she also succeeds bringing the tears
on cue. Her character Holly develops a vulnerability behind her broad
smile and the values of becoming a family are sorted as a priority.
Humour is evident throughout, however 'Life As We Know
It' is an emotional rollercoaster of a film, not staying on one particular
feeling for too long, but never failing to tug the heartstrings constantly.
Shane A. Bassett
