What to Expect When You're Expecting

What to Expect When You’re Expecting is a Hollywood comedy following the lives of five couples, each at different stages in their lives and relationships but each facing the ups and downs of pregnancy. Jules (Cameron Diaz) is a TV guru who falls in love, and unexpectedly becomes pregnant, with the star of a dance show, Evan (Matthew Morrison). Their blossoming romance is juxtaposed with Wendy (Elizabeth Banks) and Gary (Ben Falcone), a long married couple who after two years of trying for a baby are overjoyed to become pregnant. However, Gary is soon to be outdone by his competitive father (Dennis Quaid) and new ‘mum’ (Brooklyn Decker) who are having no less than twins! Whilst each couple offers their own unique experience of pregnancy, each story intertwines as characters are united in the woes and excitement of a new born baby.

But the uniqueness of this film is that, as well as focussing on the mothers to be, it also heavily narrates the lives and emotions of the dads. Holly (Jennifer Lopez) and Alex (Rodrigo Santoro) unable to conceive, start the process of adoption. However, whilst Holly already feels like a mother, Alex needs time to adjust to the possibility of being a father. Help comes from an unexpected source of a ‘dudes’ support group. Some of the greatest comic moments derive from scenes in which fathers bond over their inadequacies in parenthood. Laughing and joking that they dropped their baby on the changing mat or that their child ate a cigarette, it is the rules of the group that allow these dads to grow as parents. Rule One: nothing they say can leave this group and Rule Two: don’t judge.

The great array of actors, characters and stories make this a heart-warming, human and funny film - definitely worth a watch!

Emily Hopkins