What should you expect from Hollywood's latest ensemble adaptation of a self-help book? In short, a lot of beautiful starlets — Jennifer Lopez, Elizabeth Banks, Cameron Diaz, and Anna Kendrick among them — joking about farting, circumcision, unintentional urination, and any other bodily functions that can be "milked" for a laugh. Director Kirk Jones tackles pregnancy with a taste for its sillier moments. What he's crafted falls far closer to He's Just Not That into You than Knocked Up. The film works on the rare occasions in which he embraces that inherent silliness — like in a subplot featuring Dennis Quaid as an insanely wealthy NASCAR veteran building his own Margaritaville, or when he devises a meet-cute centering on injuries sustained while cooking. But most of the time, the sentimental rom-com antics and underdeveloped archetypes feel as fake as the big bellies the ladies are showing off.
