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1[[quoteright:320:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/friends_with_kids.jpg]]
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3''Friends with Kids'' is a 2012 RomanticComedy film written by, directed by, and co-starring Creator/JenniferWestfeldt.
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5Julie and Jason (Westfeldt and Creator/AdamScott) are two single Manhattan yuppies and longtime platonic friends living in the same building. After observing their other close friend couples, Missy and Ben (Creator/KristenWiig and Creator/JonHamm) and Leslie and Alex (Creator/MayaRudolph and Creator/ChrisODowd), pair off and have kids, Julie and Jason decide to conceive a child together so they can experience the joys of parenthood without the complications of being in a relationship. [[SarcasmMode Surprisingly]], complications ensue.
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7----
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9!!This work provides examples of:
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11* ACupAngst: Jason is straightforward in believing that [[BuxomBeautyStandard bigger breasts are better]], causing the flat Julie to worry that he won't get excited when it's time to conceive and later crying that that's why he doesn't love her.
12* AnguishedDeclarationOfLove: Two, from different characters, at different times.
13* BetaCouple: Leslie and Alex (Rudolph and O'Dowd) have their moments of stress, but their marriage seems both generally normal and generally happy, in stark contrast to Missy and Ben's (Wiig and Hamm) [[spoiler:disastrous]] marriage and Jason and Julie's unusual approach.
14* BigApplesauce: Well, who makes a romantic comedy about two people falling in love in Boise, Idaho?
15* ChildHater: Mary Jane (Creator/MeganFox) is this, leading to the end of her relationship with Jason.
16** to be fair, her reasons for not wanting children herself (she travels a lot for work, etc) seem fair enough, but her only interactions with children are characterised by boredom or disgust; so it was clear she would never be interested in playing a part in Joe's upbringing.
17* EveryoneCanSeeIt: Their friends are astonished when they find out that Jason and Julie aren't getting together.
18* FriendsRentControl: There is a HandWave about Julie's apartment being rent-controlled.
19* IDontWantToRuinOurFriendship: Jason when Julie wants more.
20* InelegantBlubbering: Julie after Jason turns her down.
21* TheMatchmaker: played with. Leslie appears to this Jason and Julie would make a good couple, but she doesn't do anything to actively bring it about, and throughout the film introduces Julie to various men including [[NoodleIncident a convict]] and the main RomanticFalseLead.
22* NiceGuy: Kurt, who appears to have zero flaws. It doesn't even seem to bother him when Jason goes on a long rant about how much he loves Julie (in theory, platonically, but even so) at a New Years dinner.
23%%* OffscreenBreakup: Most of them.
24* ParentsAsPeople: Especially Ben and Missy, but the whole film spends a lot of time discussing the struggle it is to have kids and make a marriage work.
25* PickUpBabesWithBabes: Jason does this in Central Park when he spots Mary Jane while out on a walk with the baby. It works.
26* PlatonicCoParenting: The entire plot is Jason and Julie deciding to do this; they're best friends and on the same page about most things, and they both want a kid, so why not have one together without that pesky relationship business? Other people think it's weird, but they actually do a pretty good job. [[spoiler:And wind up falling in love anyway.]]
27* RightThroughTheWall: Jason and Mary Jane are rather loud when having sex at the cabin in Vermont, much to the displeasure of Julie and Kurt.
28%%* RomanticComedy
29* RomanticFalseLead: One for each of the principals, in the form of Creator/MeganFox and Ed Burns.
30* SeasonalBaggage: A fade from Central Park in springtime to the same shot of Central Park in fall.
31* ShipperOnDeck: Leslie. Alex by extension. Arguably Joe too, by the end.
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