Movie review: What to expect when you're expecting

Pregnancy and childbirth are a special time for woman - right?

A time when life is wonderful as motherhood approaches? Not always.

Based on the bestseller of the same name, What to Expect When You Are Expecting is a humorous and honest look at the reality of the experience.

We track five couples whose intertwined lives are turned upside down by the challenges of impending parenthood.

There is surely a level of empathy and understanding that mothers will take from this movie that fathers just won't get.

But it is not all roses and wonderfulness, the scriptwriters have tried to pull together a representative collection of experiences.

TV fitness guru Jules (Cameron Diaz) and dance show star Evan (Matthew Morrison) try to juggle celebrity and pregnancy, baby-crazy author Wendy (Elizabeth Banks) suffers with all the downsides of pregnancy, Wendy's husband, Gary (Ben Falcone), struggles not to be outdone by his competitive alpha-Dad (Dennis Quaid), who's expecting twins with his much younger trophy wife, Skyler (Brooklyn Decker), photographer Holly (Jennifer Lopez) faces up to adoption with her husband Alex (Rodrigo Santoro) and Rosie (Anna Kendrick) and Marco (Chace Crawford) must deal with a miscarriage.

What is clear is pregnancy is different for everyone who goes through it.

The stories of these five couples are told with empathy and large doses of humour.

What brings some solid male perspective to the whole experience is the "dudes group".

This group of four guys and their children meet regularly in the park to take out the frustrations that come with being a dad. Their take on life is a highlight.

What to Expect When You Are Expecting is slow to gain momentum and can be a bit disjointed as we flick among the five stories, but sticking with it pays big rewards with wonderful humour and warm outcomes for the various couples.

What to Expect When You're Expecting

(M) 125 minutes

Rating: 3 / 5 Stars