‘Life as We Know It’ Isn’t Worth It

Director Greg Berlanti has made a career out of tv melodrama’s including ‘Brother’s and Sisters’, ‘Dawson’s Creek’, and ‘Everwood’. This fall his foray onto the big screen is a little more comedy and a little less drama. ‘Life as We Know It’, staring Josh Duhamel (Eric) and Katherine Heigl (Holly) tells the story of two adults with mutual friends who die in a car crash and name ladies man Eric and obsessive compulsive Holly as guardians of their baby. ‘Life as We Know It’ utilizes all of the traditional ‘baby humor’ we’ve scene before; poop jokes, inappropriate urinating, awkward actions in front of the child, etc. The basic plot has promise, one can imagine all the awful things that could go wrong in this situation. However, first time screenplay writers Ian Deitchman and Kristin Rusk Robinson have a lot to learn about what makes a good movie. I’m going to look at ‘Life as We Know It’ as a learning experience for both writers, a mistake we will sweep under the rug for Berlanti, and merely a paycheck for Duhamel and Heigl.