Call me a dag, but I love this sort of chick flick. It belongs to that school of rom-com writing that always gives the impression that those who came up with the screenplay started at the end and worked backwards, discovering as they went needed to happen in order to get one couple having a happy-ever-after meeting in a hospital, another getting married (a wedding is more or less mandatory) etc. It is a process of unscrambling the egg. The movie itself is not particularly funny, instead it’s one in which you find yourself smiling goofily at the screen as the formulaic plot and likeable cut-out characters while away a couple of harmless hours. And when you have three top-notch actresses involved – Jennifer Aniston, Julia Roberts and Kate Hudson – you know you can rely on being in the company of expertly drawn, well-rounded stereotypes. Sandy (Aniston), divorced with a couple of little boys under wing, is put out when her ex takes a gorgeous young thing as his new partner. Jesse (Hudson) has for years hidden her marriage to a ‘towel head’ (Aasif Mandvi) from her redneck parents. Jesse’s sister (Sarah Chalke – the second Becky in Roseanne if you’re wondering where you’ve seen her) has likewise concealed her lesbianism. Miranda (Roberts) is a celebrity who has made a name for herself selling jewellery on TV. She hides a deep sadness concerning the child she had as a sixteen-year-old (it doesn’t take long to see who that grown-up child will be). Widowers are now de rigueur in such capers and this time it’s Bradley (Jason Sudeikis), who happens to have a couple of daughters about the same age as Sandy’s boys. Makes you wonder what might happen there, doesn’t it – or does it? There is some laudable social commentary and subtle satire, but the biggest laugh for me came in the bloopers, with Julia Roberts sitting waiting for an endless train to pass. ‘I think I need to go shave my legs again,’ she cracks.
