I finally decided to watch this movie. I still have no idea who thought it would be a bright idea to base a movie off of a “how to” book. What’s next an entire movie based of an old “how to” book by Bob Vila? Or maybe we can look forward to a movie based on a “how to” Martha Stuart book? Martha Stuart actually already has a movie, I’ve seen it. The movie is a biopic about her life.

Anyway, this movie was not as stupid as I thought it would be, which is surprising. This is definitely a girl movie though. It’s not even a date movie, it’s purely a girl movie. I can’t really say that I see a lot of the book in the movie because A) I’ve never read the book and B) it’s a “how to” book. how do you translate that into a movie?

Summary

Ok, so we meet five different women. One woman hosts one of those weight loss shows, Cameron Diaz. Another woman is a freelance photographer in Atlanta, Jennifer Lopez. Another woman owns her own baby boutique, I don’t know here name. I guess I could be bothered to look it up, but I’m not going to. Another woman happens to be the mother-in-law of the woman who owns the boutique. The mother-in-law is a much younger wife of a former race car driver, played by Dennis Quaid. The final woman is the proprietor of a food truck which appears to frequent Grant Park, but I could totally have that wrong. I know there is more than one park in Atlanta, Grant Park is the most familiar to me, but I haven’t been there in years, so sue me if I have the wrong park name.

We then move on with the story. Three of these women were not trying to get pregnant while two of them were. Three of the couples are married and two of them have short relationships which have led to pregnancy. I kind of like how the movie covered a variety of situations.

Jennifer Lopez’s character is actually infertile, which is a refreshing idea for a movie. Infertility is one of the taboos in conversation in our society, so I do think it’s neat that the movie mentions it.

We follow these five women on their journeys to become parents. Each situation ends up differently. There are some funny moments along the way. I especially like the character played by Rumor Wilson. I also like the dad group that gets together and walks. They complain about all the stuff they caught their kids doing and it’s just so true, especially when you’re talking about little boys. One character mentions that he found his kid in the toilet. That will totally happen if you have to take care of a male toddler at some point in your life, trust me.

Observations

This movie is filmed in Atlanta, which I like. Call me biased because I lived near Atlanta for so long, but I just think it’s great that the movie industry is filming in more locations besides Hollywood and New York City. Atlanta is a good city to be filmed. I wouldn’t want to live there, but it’s a neat place to visit every once in a while.

Oh yeah, before I forget, there is one scene in which it’s snowing outside the window. That’s wrong on so many levels. First of all, it hardly ever snows in Atlanta. Second of all, if it did snow those people wouldn’t be sitting quietly in their room ignoring the snow fall outside their window, they would totally be at the store buying bread and milk. Why bread and milk…I don’t know. Third of all, they would be fascinated by the fact that it was indeed snowing. They would have their faces plastered to the windows  watching people crash their cars on the street below. I did say that I liked movies being filmed in Atlanta, but the director must be from up North or somewhere where snow isn’t that big of a deal.

Differences

As I mentioned before, I can’t’ really cite a lot of differences between the book and the movie. First of all, the book does not actually have a story line. It’s a “how to” book. No story. There might be individual anecdotes within the book, but I can’t say that there are.

It would be logical to include information from the book in the movie, but in a fictional context. For example, in the movie one or two of the characters do discuss what is normal in pregnancy. You get facts, but in a fictional tale. There isn’t a lot of that going on in the movie, which is good because if there were the movie would be kind of stupid.

The whole idea of translating a “how to” book into a fictional movie reminds me of this commercial I watched one time. It was a commercial for some birth  control pill. Several women are sitting together talking about different birth control pills. Then one woman buts in and says, “Oh you should try so-and-so pill,” then proceeds to list off all the side effects, even those random weird side effects that aren’t well-known, like it’s part of normal every day conversation. I believe she even says the tagline of, “If you experience so-and-so talk to your doctor,” when she’s finished listing all the side effects. It’s awkward.

What I liked

I did mention that I liked the idea of this movie mentioning infertility. It’s a big problem for a lot of women so I liked that this movie didn’t just gloss over that fact. It didn’t go all into detail about the process or emotional toll it takes on a woman, but it’s nice to know that someone decided to be realistic about it.

What I didn’t like

I still can’t get over the fact that this movie is based on a “how to” book. How do you do that? Maybe there should be a “how to” book about how to turn a “how to” book into a movie then someone could make that book into a movie. Jennifer Lopez could be in it as well.

Parental Advice

This movie is pretty tame besides a few cuss words. There are some adult references, but honestly the only people who are really going to watch this movie are adult women. There isn’t a whole lot of need for parental advice for this movie because I can’t see parents showing this movie to their kids.

Overall

While mildly humorous, I wouldn’t call this an awesome movie. I’m also still confused about this book being based on a “how to” book.

 
atlanta, Cameron Diaz, dennis quaid, Jennifer Lopez, movies filmed in atlanta, What to expect when you’re expecting, what to expect when you’re expecting the movie
Movies based off of books
One-elevenbooks

That famous (or maybe you’d say infamous) book, What To Expect When You’re Expecting, has been turned into a blockbuster movie coming to theatres May 18, starring Cameron Diaz, Jennifer Lopez, Matthew Morison, Dennis Quaid and Chris Rock.

To celebrate all you mothers, expecting or not, we’re giving away a Pregnancy Survival Kit, provided by the Spoke Agency.  This box is full of goodies sure to satisfy all your cravings, nourish your skin and put a little spice back in the bedroom.

To win, leave a comment sharing your ultimate pregnancy tip for the expectant mother – the one thing that you wish you knew to expect when you were expecting.

Make sure that you leave your comment before 11:59 pm on Sunday, May 6.  The 4mothers will announce the winner on Monday, May 7.

As much as we love our friends living outside Canada, this contest is open to those residing in Canada only. Residents of Quebec are excluded as well (sorry.)

It’s an advice book, or even a self-help book, but nothing more. There is no riveting story line. There aren’t characters that learn and grow during the course of the book. The only thing growing in this book are the readers’ bellies. There isn’t a beginning, a middle, and an end. There is no climax of the story. It’s just information.

I personally, have never read this book. I do have a copy, but have never had a need to read it. You would think that it would be impossible to make a movie out of a self-help book, but surprisingly, you’d be wrong.

Cameron Diaz and Jennifer Lopez are both going to be in this movie. Yes, that is right. I know you’re wondering if I am pranking you, or trying to pull one over on you, but I am telling you the truth.

Here is the movie poster, well, a movie poster anyways. Apparently there is a movie poster for each character. Also here is the official IMDB page for the movie.

Go look at it. See, I told you I wasn’t lying.

This whole thing makes me wonder if directors are so desperate for new material that they are reaching for self-help books. I mean they are remaking Spiderman and it’s only been a few years since the last one came out. I guess you could get tired of Spiderman in that time, but honestly, I would prefer if they had never made the movies to begin with.

So here we go, a movie that is based on a book that isn’t even story-driven. Again, I ask, seriously?

I can’t wait for the open-ticket other directors are going to see in this move. What other self-help books will be turned into movies?

Rich Dad Poor Dad the Movie 

Synopsis:

A young man learns the rules of finance from his poor father and his rich father. His rich father is the father of a dear friend. His poor father is his own father who is the superintendent of a Hawaiian school system. Robert as a young man learns that to make money, you need to think differently. Oh yeah, and for ratings sake, let’s throw in some explosions and maybe one of the dads dies of cancer, just to boost the story a little.

Dr. Atkins’ New Diet Revolution the Movie 

Synopsis:

Since this one is a diet book, directors are going to have to reach deep into themselves to try to pull this one off.

Robert is a young man who is overweight and in high school. We see him miss out on going to the prom because no girl will say yes when he asks her out. We follow Robert through his life. He goes to medical school, still single, still alone, because let’s face it, the American media hates anyone who is overweight and Robert is no different.

Finally Dr. Robert stumbles upon something great. If he eats Steak and eggs all the time, he will lose weight. Robert is overjoyed and we watch him get on the scale a few times. The number goes down and we get to be happy for Robert.

The viewers follow Robert on to the end of his life. When he slips on some ice and dies. The rest of the movie is filled with tributes to the man who changed the way America diets.

Wii Fitness for Dummies the Movie 

Synopsis:  

Ah, the beloved “for Dummies” series. The series of books that breaks down every and any task into pieces so small that you would have to be an idiot to not understand. I admit, making movies out of any of the “for Dummies” books is going to be quite the challenge for a director.

So Wii Fitness, that’s pretty easy right? Well, apparently someone didn’t think it was and they wrote an entire book about it, but hey anything can be a movie.

So we have to have a couple of characters, Bryce and Jennifer. They’re a young married couple and they just bought a Wii. They figure “why not exercise with this Wii thing?” So they go about learning how to do that, but they’re too stupid to figure it out. We’re actually surprised they figured out how to get married. So they call in a local Wii Fitness guru. He’s a lovable old man, kind of like Mr. Miyagi. He teaches them the wax on and wax off of doing fitness on the Wii. They laugh, they love, and they even go to the hospital when Jennifer suffers a terrible Wii fitness related injury (spoiler: she stubs her toe).

Do you, reader, see how absurd this is? Movies made out of advice books? Come on! This reminds me of another movie. That movie is called Idiocracy. In that movie everyone is stupid in the future and the best movie of the year is called “Ass.” The entire movie is just someone’s butt and everyone loves it. Are we heading towards that path? There are plenty of great books directors, please do some research. I don’t want to see a movie based off of a self-help book. I want to see a movie where characters are complicated and someone may or may not get blown up. Even the most girly of girls enjoys seeing some butt-kicking from time to time.

This is the oddest thing. I don’t know who had the idea to make a movie out of this book. That person must have literally been thumbing through a catalog or something when the team was pitching around ideas for new movies. He was all like, “How about a movie based on What to expect when You’re Expecting?” The other guys were like, “No, that’s absurd, it doesn’t even have a story line.” Our guy was like, “We can make one up. There will be several women and they’ll all be pregnant. All the pregnant women will eat that up. Do you know how many pregnant women there are? There are lots!” The other guys were like, “Well that was better than our idea to combine Superman, Batman, and Queen Latifah into one movie set in the great depression, where they’re all migrants to California. We’ll go with your idea instead.” That my friends, is how this movie was born.