Pros:
1. Owen Wilson (Rick) and Jason Sudeikis (Fred) have really good chemistry together. It's like you're actually watching two good friends traverse their marriages together.
2. The costume design is spot-on, as Fred and Rick genuinely do appear to be two dorky suburban dads.
3. The comedy is mostly carried by Jason Sudeikis and his comedic timing and sardonic delivery.
4. The soundtrack has some fantastic songs, as well as clearly having some thought behind it as the songs feel like they were chosen appropriately for specific scenes.
5. The movie does a decent job at highlighting the fundamental differences between men and women, in the dating market particularly. For example, where Rick and Fred struggle to pick up any women in a week, Maggie (Jenna Fischer) and Grace (Christina Applegate) instantly pick up men without even trying.
Cons: 1. Whenever Jason Sudeikis isn't on screen, the supposed comedy falls flat. Luckily he is there most of the time.
2. There's no need for the ridiculous over-the-top drama that goes on between Fred, Rick and Brent (Derek Waters) at the end. Not only does it add nothing, or feel needed, but the placement of it right when Fred hears that his wife has been in a car accident is jarring.
3. It's extremely difficult to buy that Richard Jenkins (Coakley) is some sort of successful lady-killer. Caking him up in fake tan does nothing alleviate this doubt.
4. There's criminal underuse of Stephen Merchant (Gary), Larry Joe Campbell (Hog-Head) and J. B. Smoove (Flats). They help to flesh out the two main characters and are therefore sorely missed when they disappear halfway in.
5. The coupling of Grace and Fred is extremely dubious. Not only do both of them end up cheating on each other, but Grace routinely chastises and patronises Fred, and she admits to perpetually refusing to sleep with him.
6. The film paints the wives in a favourable light, and shifts the blame of the hall passes onto Fred and Rick. However, it was Maggie and Grace who voluntarily handed out the hall passes. It was Maggie and Grace who admitted to denying them intimacy, but then wondered why their husbands were sexually frustrated and looking elsewhere. It was Maggie, who when Rick tried explaining the valid differences between men and women in regards to sex, Maggie waved it away and decided not to listen. Moreover, Fred and Rick checking out other women is chalked up to them having "foggy memories of their single days", instead of the actual reasons, a lack of sex from their wives and the biological wiring men have which leads to men becoming tired of hooking up with the same woman, with sexual interest only heightening via new females - it's called the Coolidge effect.
2. The costume design is spot-on, as Fred and Rick genuinely do appear to be two dorky suburban dads.
3. The comedy is mostly carried by Jason Sudeikis and his comedic timing and sardonic delivery.
4. The soundtrack has some fantastic songs, as well as clearly having some thought behind it as the songs feel like they were chosen appropriately for specific scenes.
5. The movie does a decent job at highlighting the fundamental differences between men and women, in the dating market particularly. For example, where Rick and Fred struggle to pick up any women in a week, Maggie (Jenna Fischer) and Grace (Christina Applegate) instantly pick up men without even trying.
Cons: 1. Whenever Jason Sudeikis isn't on screen, the supposed comedy falls flat. Luckily he is there most of the time.
2. There's no need for the ridiculous over-the-top drama that goes on between Fred, Rick and Brent (Derek Waters) at the end. Not only does it add nothing, or feel needed, but the placement of it right when Fred hears that his wife has been in a car accident is jarring.
3. It's extremely difficult to buy that Richard Jenkins (Coakley) is some sort of successful lady-killer. Caking him up in fake tan does nothing alleviate this doubt.
4. There's criminal underuse of Stephen Merchant (Gary), Larry Joe Campbell (Hog-Head) and J. B. Smoove (Flats). They help to flesh out the two main characters and are therefore sorely missed when they disappear halfway in.
5. The coupling of Grace and Fred is extremely dubious. Not only do both of them end up cheating on each other, but Grace routinely chastises and patronises Fred, and she admits to perpetually refusing to sleep with him.
6. The film paints the wives in a favourable light, and shifts the blame of the hall passes onto Fred and Rick. However, it was Maggie and Grace who voluntarily handed out the hall passes. It was Maggie and Grace who admitted to denying them intimacy, but then wondered why their husbands were sexually frustrated and looking elsewhere. It was Maggie, who when Rick tried explaining the valid differences between men and women in regards to sex, Maggie waved it away and decided not to listen. Moreover, Fred and Rick checking out other women is chalked up to them having "foggy memories of their single days", instead of the actual reasons, a lack of sex from their wives and the biological wiring men have which leads to men becoming tired of hooking up with the same woman, with sexual interest only heightening via new females - it's called the Coolidge effect.