If you are thinking of catching a movie to watch at home for date night or girls’ night in, consider downloading “
Expecting”.
This
Jessie McCormack written and
directed film presents an unconventional pregnancy story through the peculiar lives
of a quirky yet human and relatable ensemble cast starring
Boston Public’s Michelle
Monaghan. Her character Andie, a
sexually liberated free-spirit who resists the traps of aging and responsibility,
winds up accidentally pregnant from a one-night stand. She volunteers to give up
her baby to her best friend Lizzie (
Radha
Mitchell of horror film
Silent Hill) who is having troubles
conceiving with her husband of several years Peter (
Jon Dore).
For sake of convenience, Andie
moves in with the two-some and soon personalities clash and three become a
crowd. The cramped quarters become more constrained when Peter’s substance abuse recovering adult adoptive
brother, Casey (Michael Weston), shacks
up with the non-traditional trio temporarily after completing rehab at the insistence
of a guilt-ridden and paternalistic Peter who wants to make sure Casey doesn’t
relapse again.
The mix of hormones, anxiety, tension, cigarettes, emotions,
unresolved angst and uncertainty blend to create some pretty interesting
exchanges during the nine months the awkward grouping is forcibly glued together.
Lizzie and Peter’s couple
therapist Dr. Grayson (MiMi Kenney )
rounds off the eclectic mix of characters but just to interject some forced clichéd
psych visits. It’s really extra and could’ve been left out.
The movie really centers around
the bond and friendship between Andie and Lizzie and is much a story about
female friendships, and it works given a woman wrote and directed
the project.
The film deals with themes related
to the challenges that couples must and should consider before getting married because when one partner is not that gung ho
about kids and another one is, you can imagine how much of a challenge that
could be if fertility issues crop up.
This film may be a portrayal of something you or someone you know is going through right now
The movie also explores all the
various options and complex considerations couples deal with when they discover
they are infertile: adoption, in vitro fertilization, and surrogacy. It tackles
these issues in a situational drama with bursts of comedic interplay thrown in.
It’s heartwarming at spots, uncomfortable at others, and almost unrealistic
elsewhere. Without giving away too much,
the story has an unsurprising ending which is still a little disappointing, but
not necessarily bad. [ Okay, that was confusing It’s hard to be revealing while
trying not to be too revealing here.] Let’s just say there is a reason to go through the formalized steps when opting for surrogacy.
It’s not much of a feel-good story, though you will enjoy some of the many human moments weaved within. Mitchell’s character is sympathetic in her longing to become a mother. It will get you thinking and is quite entertaining
overall. The 90-minutes goes by fast.
Monaghan, who currently stars as a
detective in the new HBO crime drama
True
Detective, is a standout and her personality, as depicted through her
character, shines through the screen. She seemingly was typecast in this film
considering the fact she played Robert Downey Jr’s character’s pregnant wife in the 2010 film Due Date.
And it was art imitating life because Monaghan and her hubby since 2005 Peter White welcomed their very own
real live baby, their second child, son Tommy
Francis on October 30 2013 after the film debuted at TriBeCa Film Festival last year. Tommy joined big sis Willow Katherine who is 4.
