What to Expect When You’re Expecting parents guide

What to Expect When You’re Expecting Parent Guide

Even the most determined prospective parent may give up on their nesting instincts by the time they are through with this.

Overall C-

First babies are always an overwhelming experience, and the movie What to Expect When You're Expecting isn't likely to answer any new parent's questions. Based on an advice book (or at least inspired by its title), this irreverent take-off follows five couples on their journey into parenthood.

Release date May 18, 2012

Violence B-
Sexual Content C-
Profanity D+
Substance Use C

Why is What to Expect When You’re Expecting rated PG-13? The MPAA rated What to Expect When You’re Expecting PG-13 for crude and sexual content, thematic elements and language.

Run Time: 110 minutes

Official Movie Site

Parent Movie Review

If overpopulation is a concern of yours, then by all means purchase and distribute as many tickets to this film as you can afford because even the most determined prospective parent may give up on their nesting instincts by the time they are through with this.

Borrowing the look and feel of recent films from Garry Marshal (director ofValentine’s Day and New Year’s Eve), What to Expect When You’re Expecting is chock full of characters who exist in a plot no deeper than a kids’ wading pool. Inspired by a non-fiction book with the same title, the screenwriters have conceived (ahem…) a script featuring five couples that are all in the state of expectancy.

Topping the famous faces list in this cast is Jules (Cameron Diaz), a TV fitness guru married to a celebrity husband (Matthew Morrison). Running a small business devoted to “breast is best” is natural pregnancy advocate Wendy (Elizabeth Banks) who gets a taste of her own advice when faced with the hormonal onslaught of growing a baby. Meanwhile her husband Gary (Ben Falcone) struggles with pregnancy-stress-induced weight gain after appearing on a “Biggest Loser”-style TV show. Gary’s “need to feed” may also be the result of the competition he is constantly engaged in with his wealthy father (Dennis Quaid) who’s expecting twins with his twenty-something wife (Brooklyn Decker). Not able to get access to the expecting club quite as easily are photographer Holly and her husband Alex (Jennifer Lopez and Rodrigo Santoro), so the infertile couple looks to Ethiopia to arranged an adoption. However Alex isn’t so sure he’s up to the task of being a dad—a problem that’s aggravated by his parenting-inept group of male friends. And at the bottom of this film’s social ladder is Marco and Rosie (Chace Crawford and Anna Kendrick). Proprietors of competing food truck businesses, they engage in an impulsive rendezvous that redefines fraternizing with the competition.

Frequent discussions surrounding conception, breastfeeding, circumcision and pregnancy result in explicit sexual discussions and innuendo using both anatomical and crude terms. Scatological slang, names of deity and profanities, including a full sexual expletive (along with a couple of abbreviated ones) are frequently heard. The movie shows characters drinking alcohol too. And a couple of the pregnancies experience realistic complications that create perilous and sorrowful situations.

It appears the movie’s female authors are attempting to communicate a “We feel your pain” message to the women in their audience. The wide range of pregnancy challenges portrayed should offer solace for anyone who has endured maternal discomfort. As well, the story provides the opportunity to despise those that don’t have it as bad when the rich young trophy wife delivers her matched set of infants with barely a bead of sweat. Yet sadly this estrogen-laced camaraderie comes at the cost of demeaning not only particular types of women but also most of the men. While all of the cast members are saddled with reams of immature dialogue, this is especially true for the males who are portrayed as infantile morons barely able to cope with basic childcare.

While hardly recommendable for any viewers, this film is perhaps even more unsuitable for anyone considering becoming a parent.

Directed by Kirk Jones. Starring Cameron Diaz, Matthew Morrison, J. Todd Smith, Dennis Quaid. Running time: 110 minutes. Theatrical release May 18, 2012. Updated

What to Expect When You’re Expecting
Rating & Content Info

Why is What to Expect When You’re Expecting rated PG-13? What to Expect When You’re Expecting is rated PG-13 by the MPAA for crude and sexual content, thematic elements and language.

Violence: Characters experience complications with pregnancy including a miscarriage and an emergency caesarean section that puts a mother’s life at risk. Men discuss physical accidents that have happened to their infants, such as a baby falling from a change table and another eating a cigarette. A young male child hits a man’s legs with a stick. Later this same child is spoken of in a derogatory manner and accidentally hit on the head with a full can of beer. Characters drive dangerously.

Sexual Content: Frequent discussions throughout on the topics of conception, pregnancy, breastfeeding, circumcision and delivery. Other related matters often involve explicit details and the use of anatomical and crude terms for sexual body parts. Some discussions include sexual innuendo. Sexual activities leads to implied sex between married and unmarried men and women. Women are seen in bikinis and other abbreviated clothing.

Language: The script contains frequent profanities, crude anatomical and scatological slang, a single full sexual expletive and two partial expletives, as well as terms of deity used as expletives.

Drugs/Alcohol: Many characters frequently consume alcohol. One unmarried couple drinks to the point of inebriation, and later we learn they have had sex that results in a pregnancy. A man laughingly talks about his child eating a cigarette.

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What to Expect When You’re Expecting Parents' Guide

What do you think is this film’s overall attitude toward pregnancy? Does the answer to this question depend on your own experience with the topic? Do you think you your feeling would vary depending on whether or not you have gone through childbirth?

How do movies typically depict men in stories relating to pregnancy? Is this a fair stereotype? How would a movie be received if the sex roles were reversed?

How many product placements can you find in this film? What are some of the ways the creators of this movie weave these placements into the storyline (including characters’ names)?

This movie is inspired by the title of the book What to Expect When You’re Expecting by Heidi Murkoff. Perspective parents can access the author’s advice at this website: http://www.whattoexpect.com/what-to-expect/landing-page.aspx

Home Video

The most recent home video release of What to Expect When You’re Expecting movie is September 11, 2012. Here are some details…

Home Video Notes: What to Expect When You’re Expecting

Release Date: 11 September 2012

What to Expect When You’re Expecting releases to home video (Blu-ray/Digital Copy) with the following extras:

- The Dudes Unscrewed

- What to Expect and the Pregnancy Bible

- Deleted scenes

Related home video titles:

Babies is a documentary that looks at the first year of five youngsters from around the globe. The dilemmas of other expectant parents are depicted in Father of the Bride 2.