by Ken San Nicolas

Director: Greg Berlanti

Time: 1 hour 52 minutes

Genre: Romantic Comedy

Starring: Katherine Heigl, Josh Duhamel

"Life as We Know It" is a romantic comedy that is 1 part deep, 1 part funny, 1 part sweet and 1 part enlightening. Unfortunately, the sum of its parts is a complete mess. Poor pacing, transitions, acting and dialogue spread "Life as We Know It" way too thin for enjoyment.

Holly (Katherine Heigl) and Eric (Josh Duhamel) are godparents to Sophie, an infant whose parents were killed in an unfortunate accident. It was their wish that Sophie be raised by Holly and Eric and for the two godparents to inherit their home -- there is only one glaring problem, Holly and Eric, while close friends of the deceased, can't stand each other.

The problem with Greg Berlanti's romantic comedic effort is that it doesn't effectively stress its points. It is like he thought of interesting scenes and conflicts and just threw them together in a pot. Kind of like mixing a salad -- the only difference is that in Berlanti's film, the pieces of his offering don't blend into something better. Instead, it's just individual scene followed by another totally unrelated scene and when the film ends, none of these are ever brought together.

"Life as We Know It" has great diversity for a film. unfortunately that range does not help it build any credibility. Instead, the film takes something as serious as death, and makes it look fickle and forgettable. The irony is that death is not forgettable, and yet this film very much is.

1 out of 5 stars.