Friends With Kids | Rotten Tomatoes (2025)

66% Tomatometer 152 Reviews 49% Popcornmeter 25,000+ Ratings

In the wake of their friends' marriages and eventual offspring, longtime pals Julie (Jennifer Westfeldt) and Jason (Adam Scott) decide to have a child together without becoming a couple. By becoming "time-share" parents, they reason, they can experience the joys of parenthood without significantly curbing their personal freedom. However, when Julie and Jason both become involved with others, they discover that they secretly harbor romantic feelings for each other.

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Friends With Kids

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Critics Consensus

Sharp, shrewd, and funny, Friends with Kids features excellent performances that help smooth over some of the story's more conventional elements.

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Critics Reviews

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Friends With Kids | Rotten Tomatoes (1) Anna Smith metro.co.uk Blending Jennifer Westfeldt's talky, observational style with the kind of irreverent humour that helped Bridesmaids bridge the gender divide, Friends With Kids explores love, marriage and child-rearing with gusto and wit. Rated: 4/5 Aug 24, 2018 Full Review Friends With Kids | Rotten Tomatoes (2) Daily Telegraph (UK) Rated: 3/5 Jul 6, 2012 Full Review Friends With Kids | Rotten Tomatoes (3) Derek Malcolm London Evening Standard Westfeldt's screenplay is often sharp, shrewd and funny... Rated: 3/5 Jun 29, 2012 Full Review Friends With Kids | Rotten Tomatoes (4) David Walsh World Socialist Web Site There is no substitute for important things to communicate. Good looks, attractive locations and a handful of brittle, clever lines have never been enough. Feb 12, 2021 Full Review Friends With Kids | Rotten Tomatoes (5) Felicia Feaster Charleston City Paper More than the trite set-up, Friends with Kids' biggest travesty is a criminal waste of professional funny people like Kristen Wiig and Maya Rudolph. Jan 16, 2020 Full Review Friends With Kids | Rotten Tomatoes (6) Micheal Compton Bowling Green Daily News Sharp enough to appreciate, with Westfeldt and Adam Scott anchoring a really good cast. Apr 12, 2019 Full Review Read all reviews

Audience Reviews

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Gareth v Cliched, predictable and dull.Not horrible but there's not really anything memorable about this movie. Rated 2.5/5 Stars • Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars 06/19/23 Full Review Audience Member Decent script, main characters have good chemistry. Funny and sweet in the right moments. Rated 3.5/5 Stars • Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 01/31/23 Full Review Audience Member Don't look for anything surprising here. You can tell the fate of this film a few miles away, and let me say the end dialogue of the film is so horrid it almost ruins the entire production all together. There are few laughs worth side glancing at your tv while this plays, but do not expect to be entertained or surprised by this predictable and basic story. I like many of the actors and actresses in their other roles, this just doesn't come together at all. Rated 1/5 Stars • Rated 1 out of 5 stars 02/01/23 Full Review Audience Member Great acting, interesting storyline, and although the ending was pretty expected, I thoroughly enjoyed it the whole way through. Rated 5/5 Stars • Rated 5 out of 5 stars 02/01/23 Full Review Audience Member While Friends with Kids mostly conforms to the classic story of best friends gradually discovering they're in love with each other throughout the movie, the film makes this cliche trope slightly more entertaining with the added element of the two characters raising a child together. However, the compatibility of Jason (Adam Scott) and Julie (Jennifer Westfeldt, who also wrote, directed, and produced the film) is undermined by the fact that Jason is almost unbearable. His constant comments that objectify and demean women are disgusting. In fact, his best moment is the dinner table scene when he yells at Ben, played by Jon Hamm, to stop being so judgemental. Ben is also horrible, but he is supposed to be horrible and the audience is supposed to hate him. Jason is supposed to be one of the characters that the audience is rooting for, but I found myself wishing that Julie would end up with Kurt, despite the fact that anyone who has ever seen a romcom knows that this other man will eventually disappear, just like Megan Fox's character, Mary Jane. While Mary Jane is also far from likable, this is mostly because she seemed to have zero personality. Her appearance was commented on numerous times by many of the characters, but she lacked any character development that could have made her tolerable. The idea of villainizing a woman who does not want to have kids also feels stale and outdated. Besides Julie, Leslie (Maya Rudolph) and Alex (Chris O'Dowd) were by far the most likable characters. However, this is mostly because they were uninvolved with the plot. Although they did have a micro-story arc about finding passion in a relationship after having kids, they were mostly just bystanders as the drama unfolded. Despite their small roles, Rudolph and O'Dowd were both hilarious in their roles, particularly Rudolph. She stole many of the scenes she was in and provided the most genuinely funny material. Overall, the film is good. Not outstanding but certainly better than some of its romcom peers that are either completely cliche or just an hour and a half of crass jokes that aren't very funny. It presents a compelling message about romance, suggesting that it does not always have to be based on passion or sexual attraction. It recognizes the hardships of parenthood and does not pass judgement on imperfect parents. Rated 3.5/5 Stars • Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 02/07/23 Full Review Audience Member The premise was enticing. The cast made me click play, but the acting left a lot to be desired. Won't be recommending to many friends but happy that I finally watched. Rated 3/5 Stars • Rated 3 out of 5 stars 02/25/23 Full Review Read all reviews

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Cast & Crew

Jennifer Westfeldt Director Jennifer Westfeldt Julie Adam Scott Jason Jon Hamm Ben Kristen Wiig Missy Maya Rudolph Leslie
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Synopsis In the wake of their friends' marriages and eventual offspring, longtime pals Julie (Jennifer Westfeldt) and Jason (Adam Scott) decide to have a child together without becoming a couple. By becoming "time-share" parents, they reason, they can experience the joys of parenthood without significantly curbing their personal freedom. However, when Julie and Jason both become involved with others, they discover that they secretly harbor romantic feelings for each other.

Director
Jennifer Westfeldt

Producer
Jennifer Westfeldt, Jon Hamm, Joshua Astrachan, John Kasdan, Joey McFarland, Riza Aziz

Screenwriter
Jennifer Westfeldt

Distributor
Roadside Attractions

Production Co
Red Granite Pictures, Locomotive, Points West Pictures

Rating
R (Sexual Content|Language)

Genre
Romance, Comedy

Original Language
English

Release Date (Theaters)
Mar 9, 2012, Wide

Release Date (Streaming)
Dec 17, 2015

Box Office (Gross USA)
$7.3M

Runtime
1h 40m

Sound Mix
Dolby Digital
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Friends With Kids | Rotten Tomatoes (2025)

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