Bettina’s Take: Jon Hamm at the ‘Friends With Kids’ Cinema Society Screening
Friends With Kids, a new film written and directed by Jennifer Westfeldt, is a funny and poignant commentary on the consequences of parenthood. The stellar ensemble cast of this Indie movie includes Westfeldt, her real life partner Jon Hamm, Kristen Wiig, Adam Scott, Chris O'Dowd and Maya Rudolph.
"This is the dream cast," said Westfeldt, wearing vintage Vicky Tiel, at the Cinema Society screening. "I'm pinching myself every second that this cast said yes."
The film is about the dramatic changes brought about in couples' lives when they have kids. Two friends, played by Westfeldt and Scott, watch in horror as the stress of having children makes marriages around them deteriorate. They decide the best way to avoid the same pitfalls is to have a baby together, stay friends and date other people. Good plan? No one else thinks so, but they do it anyway.
Friends with Kids was shot in a whirlwind four weeks, during which the cast packed in lots of memorable times together.
"The movie starts with a dinner scene with all of the friends around the table," Hamm, wearing Tom Ford, told FashionEtc. "We shot that at Soho House downtown, and there were a lot of laughs. It happened to be on Grammy night, almost a year ago to the day. It was a really fun, funny, loose, improv-y, exciting day."
"There's a scene where a baby has a diarrhea accident so I had chocolate sauce all over my face and my hands, and aside from the screaming baby who had chocolate sauce all over it—which was sad—we found the humor in it and ended up laughing," added Scott.
The newly engaged O'Dowd, wearing a bespoke suit and studded Christian Louboutin loafers, is looking forward to having children of his own.
"Kids are crazy—I have seven or eight nephews and nieces, so I'm used to the mayhem that ensues when you put that little ball of crazy skin into an area with people in it. I'm mad for it," he smiled.
The after party at The Top of the Standard was a star-studded extravaganza. Jonah Hill, Ryan Phillippe, Seth Meyers, Paul Rudd, Fred Armisen, Sarah Silverman, Jack McBrayer, Chuck Close and Robert Kennedy Jr. all made an appearance and might at least have pondered having a Grey Goose Cherry Noir cocktail. How many of them, besides CNN's Alina Cho and Carson Griffith of The Daily News, had a hankering for the Standard's superb cheeseburger, cut in half, wrapped in paper, and passed as an hors-d'oeuvre? Those cheeseburgers are incredible. What do they put in them?
Friends With Kids opens this weekend, and since I don't believe in spoilers, you'll have to see for yourself how it ends.
Photo: Jon Hamm and Jennifer Westfeldt