What to Expect When You're Expecting 2012

Moira MacDonald, Seattle Times: Don't expect much. Read more

Glenn Kenny, MSN Movies: Everything that happens in the multiple story lines is entirely predictable; the only question is when. Read more

A.O. Scott, New York Times: The overall mood is of warm reassurance, and some of it is even pretty funny. Read more

Scott Tobias, AV Club: To use the appropriate parlance, it's bloated, though the waves of nausea here come more in the third trimester than the first. Read more

Bill Goodykoontz, Arizona Republic: Some of the pregnancies are played for laughs, others are depicted more melodramatically. It's a mishmash of mediocrity. Read more

Ty Burr, Boston Globe: The writing is sharp and the performances bright, and if you've been through the forced gestational march known as pregnancy, there are knowing laughs to be had. Read more

J. R. Jones, Chicago Reader: Technically the genre isn't beneath contempt. But this movie is. Read more

Peter Rainer, Christian Science Monitor: Babies are cute and expectant parents often aren't. That kind of sums up What to Expect When You're Expecting. Read more

Tom Long, Detroit News: "What to Expect" rolls out this shocking revelation: Having kids is a messy and complicated process. Read more

Owen Gleiberman, Entertainment Weekly: As sociology, it's skin-deep, but if you're a parent or preparing to be one, you might see yourself in a few of these folks and have a good time doing so. Read more

William Goss, Film.com: Patently contrived to deliver the safer side of pregnancy-related humor over the course of five tidily intersecting plot lines. Read more

Sheri Linden, Hollywood Reporter: Amid the would-be and actual laughs, the screenplay tries to drum up drama, but every disagreement and tension is treated superficially and summarily resolved. Read more

Betsy Sharkey, Los Angeles Times: Cute couple Kendrick and Crawford are completely lost at sea. But the guys in the Dudes Group have the worst of it - they are a whiny, unappealing bunch through and through. Read more

Connie Ogle, Miami Herald: Remember when advice books stayed on the shelves where they belonged? Read more

Rafer Guzman, Newsday: With 10 main characters and nearly as many smaller players, "What to Expect" attempts to cover every possible type of motherhood in America and very nearly succeeds. Read more

Stephen Whitty, Newark Star-Ledger: Director Kirk Jones and screenwriters Shauna Cross and Heather Hach consistently fall back on corny music and slow-motion to try to get laughs. Very little of this movie feels risky, or even frisky. Read more

Joe Neumaier, New York Daily News: What you don't expect is how bad almost all of it is. Read more

Farran Smith Nehme, New York Post: The film is dully shot and so predictably plotted, you could tick off the items like you're packing a bag for the delivery room. Read more

Carrie Rickey, Philadelphia Inquirer: It makes one long for the comparative complexity and subtlety of Valentine's Day. Read more

Richard Roeper, Richard Roeper.com: Exactly what you'd expect. And that's not a good thing. Read more

Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times: The plot nearly stalls with gridlock. It's clever but the stories are thin soup. Read more

Peter Travers, Rolling Stone: The still-born What To Expect... is an all-star dud that could be easily confused with Valentine's Day and New Year's Eve, except for the absence of Ashton Kutcher. Read more

Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle: "What to Expect" isn't an inspired movie, but a manufactured one, but one with some laughs and some moments. Read more

Colin Covert, Minneapolis Star Tribune: An amiable but disjointed movie with too many stories and not enough storytelling. Read more

Jennie Punter, Globe and Mail: It's a sitcom-y ensemble film (complete with product placement) that feels like you're flipping around the TV dial. Read more

Christy Lemire, Associated Press: A good-looking cast of popular actors can only do so much with material that's superficial and sitcommy. Read more

Alonso Duralde, TheWrap: In a year when women's reproductive freedoms are constantly in the political crosshairs, What to Expect When You're Expecting feels like just another affront to anyone who owns and operates a uterus. Read more

Guy Lodge, Time Out: Bringing a child into the world is no laughing matter, and all involved seem to have done their level best to make things as mirthless as possible. Read more

Keith Uhlich, Time Out: At least a slight step up from director Kirk Jones's last effort, 2009's claw-your-eyes-out-awful Robert De Niro vehicle Everybody's Fine. Read more

Peter Howell, Toronto Star: What to Expect When You're Expecting is pretty much what you'd expect. It plays to its target audience with a vengeance, and that audience would be people expecting kids or who can remember their own pre-parenthood jitters. Read more

Claudia Puig, USA Today: What audiences should expect is a tone-deaf, superficial, charmless ensemble rom-com, focused on five attractive, but uninteresting, couples. Read more

Lael Loewenstein, Variety: Helmer Kirk Jones does a solid job negotiating the material and managing the few tonal shifts when an occasional dark moment emerges. Read more

Eric Hynes, Village Voice: For all the fear, loathing, and overthinking that Murkoff's bedside text engenders, its journey ends with the hopeful beginning of a new life, whereas the movie leaves you hoping for a swift end to your own. Read more

Stephanie Merry, Washington Post: The movie turns out to be a little of everything yet succeeds only occasionally at anything. Read more