“Ups and Downs”

“Hotshots” looks at a movie!

 

Friends with Kids is a comedy about three sets of couples who are all friends, but if you want to talk about it, you almost need a scorecard in order to keep everybody straight and to understand everything that goes on.

First of all, the movie was written and directed by Jennifer Westfeldt, who also stars as julie, the only woman in the three sets of friends who isn’t married.

Julie’s best friend is Jason, played by Adam Scott, who also stars in the “Parks and Recreation” TV series. Julie and Jason have been best friends forever, but they aren’t romantically involved with each other.

Second of all, Westfeldt’s real-life boyfriend, Jon Hamm, plays Ben, who is married to Missy, played by Kristen Wiig, who currently stars in “Saturday Night Live.”

And finally, the third couple are Leslie, played by Maya Rudolph, and Alex, played by Chris O’Dowd, who are also married and who are the first of the friends to have a baby.

When Ben and Missy also have a baby, there seems to be pandemonium whenever the friends get together, and the couples who have kids seem to be fighting more.

Meanwhile, Jason and Julie would also like to be parents, but because they are still looking for a romantic mate, they decide that they will have a baby together, but not get married, and Jason assures Julie, “I will be 100% committed to this half the time.”

Jason and Julie live in the same apartment building, and so it is easy ehough for them to share the parenting duties of their baby son, and they still discuss their respective dates with other people together, while they still search for “the one.”

Then they all go on a ski trip together, including Jason’s new girlfriend and Julie’s new boyfriend, and you can guess that something is going to happen that changes the lives of all the friends, but it is not what you expect.

You can also guess how the movie is going to end, but you might be wrong on that count, too, including a scene that contains the least romantic seduction you can imagine.

Friends with Kids goes on a little too long to get to where we expect it is going, and it has high points and low points and ups and downs.

I’m Dan Culberson and this is “Hotshots.”