L!fe Happens | Film review

Krysten Ritter, Rachel Bilson and Kate Bosworth in L!fe Happens

Kim (Krysten Ritter) and Deena (Kate Bosworth) are hot young L.A. singles and roommates. But after both bring men home on the same night with just a single condom between them, Kim winds up pregnant. A year later, they’re still hot, young and single, but now Kim’s a mom, too, which puts a crimp in her dating life and drives a wedge between the roomies. It’s Sex and the Kiddie, basically, with all that entails: The actresses have spunky banter, there are a lot of scenes in bars and restaurants, and the comedy is strictly sitcom-level material (although one funny moment will teach ignorant men in the audience—this writer included—something new about lactating).

Ritter, who wrote the screenplay with director Kat Coiro, gave herself a juicy showcase for her talents and charm, and the story will surely resonate with single mothers struggling to balance romance and responsibility. But after a first act full of trenchant observations, L!fe Happens devolves into a series of exhausting mistaken-identity subplots and one-scene-wonder supporting bits from good—and wasted—actors like Jason Biggs and Seymour Cassel. The exclamation point in the title is not a typo, by the way—at least not our typo.