Life as We Know It is a 2010 American romantic comedy film directed by Greg Berlanti, starring Katherine Heigl and Josh Duhamel. It was released on October 8, 2010, after sneak previews in 811 theaters on October 2, 2010.

Plot

Holly Berenson is the owner of a small Atlanta bakery, and Eric Messer is a promising television technical sports director for the Atlanta Hawks. Their best friends, Peter and Alison, set them up on a blind date that goes horribly wrong, and results in both hating each other with a passion. As the years go by, Peter and Alison get married, have a baby girl named Sophie, and select Holly and Eric – who teasingly tolerate each other – as the godparents.

Shortly after Sophie s first birthday, Peter and Alison are killed in a car crash. Holly and Eric learn that their friends named them Sophie s joint guardians. After finding that none of Peter and Alison s relatives are fit to take care of Sophie, Holly and Eric put their differences aside and move into Sophie s home.

Living together proves to be a struggle. One night, Holly is away at an important catering job when Eric is given the opportunity to direct a big basketball game. Eric takes Sophie with him, but her crying distracts him, leading to him making a big mistake on the broadcast. When they get home, Eric and Holly argue, but later they make up.

Holly goes on a date with Sam, Sophie s pediatrician. The date is cut short when Eric calls to tell Sam that Sophie has a high fever. When they join him at the hospital, Eric sees Holly kiss Sam.

Over time, the guardians discover that raising a child is more expensive than they had expected, and Holly can no longer afford to expand her business. Eric helps by investing in her company, and they cement the new relationship by going on a date, which ends with them having sex, while developing strong feelings.

Their Child Protective Services caseworker, Janine, tells them they must make a firm commitment either to stay together, or break up, as waffling in between would be bad for Sophie. Eric is offered his dream job with the Phoenix Suns, and doesn t discuss it with Holly. When she finds out, she tells him to take the job, accusing him of looking for a way out of raising Sophie.

At Thanksgiving break, Eric returns from Phoenix for a visit, hoping to patch things up with Holly. She invites him to a dinner that she and Sam are hosting for neighbors and friends. Eric and Holly argue when he learns she is planning to sell the house soon, as the upkeep is too costly. Holly accuses Eric of deserting her and Sophie, while Eric points out how quickly she replaced him. Eric tells her he loves her, but leaves the dinner, planning to return to Phoenix. Once alone with Holly, Sam says that if he and his former wife had fought in the way that Eric and Holly did, they would still be together. He tells Holly to work out her feelings for Eric, and leaves. That night, Sophie calls Holly Mama for the first time.

Janine visits to make her final determination whether Holly and Eric are fit parents. Holly realizes that she can t take care of Sophie without Eric, and that she loves him. She, Sophie and Janine rush to the airport, but on reaching the gate, finds that Eric s flight has departed. She returns to the house, where she finds him sitting inside. He tells her he has realized that Peter and Alison chose them to be Sophie s guardians because, together, they are a loving family.

A few months later, they host Sophie s second birthday party, with all the neighbors and friends in attendance. Holly has made a second cake with the number 1 on it, telling Eric It s for us, cause we made it a year. They kiss, then the guests sing Happy Birthday to Sophie.

Cast

• Katherine Heigl as Holly Berenson
• Josh Duhamel as Eric Messer
• Josh Lucas as Sam
• Christina Hendricks as Alison Novak
• Hayes MacArthur as Peter Novak
• DeRay Davis as Lonnie
• Sarah Burns as Janine Groff
• Rob Huebel as Ted
• Bill Brochtrup as Gary
• Andy Buckley as George Dunn
• Andrew Daly as Scott
• Majandra Delfino as Jenna
• Reggie Lee as Alan Burke
• Melissa McCarthy as DeeDee
• Will Sasso as Josh
• Jessica St. Clair as Beth
• Kumail Nanjiani as Simon
• Alexis, Brynn, and Brooke Clagett as Sophie Christina Novak (The Baby)

Production

Filming took place on location, in a house in the wealthy Buckhead area of Atlanta. Holly Berenson s bakery was depicted at Belly General Store in Virginia-Highland, a century-old bungalow-style neighborhood with several small-scale historic retail clusters, a few miles northeast of Downtown Atlanta. Scenes from Eric s workplace were filmed at Turner Broadcasting System (TBS) off Techwood Drive in Atlanta. Filming also took place at Philips Arena.

Reception

On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 29% based on 153 reviews and an average rating of 4.60/10. The critics consensus reads: Katherine Heigl and Josh Duhamel make a charming couple with plenty of chemistry, but that isn t enough to make up for Life as We Know It s formulaic plot and poorly written script. On Metacritic, the film has a score of 39 out of 100 based on 31 critic reviews, meaning generally unfavorable reviews . Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of A− on an A+ to F scale.

Release

Despite having been a critical failure, Life as We Know It had a successful run at the box office, bringing in over $105 million worldwide against a $38 million budget.

Year	2010
ReleaseDate	2010-10-08
RuntimeMins	114
RuntimeStr	1h 54min
Plot	Two single adults become caregivers to an orphaned girl when their mutual best friends die in an accident.
Awards	Awards, 2 nominations
Directors	Greg Berlanti
Writers	Ian Deitchman, Kristin Rusk Robinson
Stars	Katherine Heigl, Josh Duhamel, Josh Lucas
Produced by	Bruce Berman,Paul Brooks,Denise Di Novi,Richard J. Gelfand,Joe Hartwick Jr.,Katherine Heigl,Nancy Heigl,Barry Josephson,Brad Kessell,Scott Niemeyer,Jon Silk,Norm Waitt,Alexander Young
Music by	Blake Neely
Cinematography by	Andrew Dunn
Film Editing by	Jim Page
Casting By	John Papsidera
Production Design by	Maher Ahmad
Art Direction by	Austin Gorg,Mark Hunstable
Set Decoration by	Cindy Carr
Costume Design by	Debra McGuire
Makeup Department	Lay Na Anderson,Andrea C. Brotherton,Sean Flanigan,Vincent Gideon,Lucia Mace,Sarah Mays,Tania McComas,Heather Morris,Susan Ransom,Mark James Ross,Toby Sells,Oney Syers II,Shunika Terry,Dawn Turner,Dionne Wynn
Production Management	Christy Dimmig,Richard J. Gelfand,Mark Scoon,Elizabeth Miller Gavcus
Second Unit Director or Assistant Director	Scott David Brown,Aaron C. Fitzgerald,Matti Kluttz,Alyson Latz,Michael Lerman,Jessica Pollini
Art Department	Scanlan Backus,Cameron Beasley,Donald K. Cochran,Sandi Cook,Kirk Corwin,Gordon Craig Davenport,Chad R. Davis,Russ Dickerson,Rod England,Semret Fesseha,Michael Gowen,Peter N. Griffith,Joseph Haase,Sammy Ray Hill,Chris Hunter,Mark Keever,Solomon King,Rich Koll,Ryan Kutch,Stacie McKinnon McAdam,Adam Miller,Vera Mills,Swift Moseley,Jenn Moye,David H. Nash,Javed Noorullah,Shane Reed,Andy Rusk,Mike Sullivan,Linda Verzi,Frankie Walker,Burt Welleford,Robert Williams,Nichole Wleklinski,Jay Womer
Sound Department	Matt Andrews,Ron Bartlett,Mary H. Ellis,Danny Ferraro,Mike Filosa,Eric Flickinger,Doug Hemphill,Chris Jargo,Mary Jo Lang,Christopher Mills,Alyson Dee Moore,Thomas J. O Connell,Drew Ponder,John Roesch,Brian Seagrave,Frederick H. Stahly,Peter Staubli,Bartek Swiatek,David Young
Special Effects by	Scanlan Backus,Peter Damien,David Fletcher,Thomas Kittle,Brendan McHale
Visual Effects by	Cheryl Bainum,Sarah Coatts,Chad E. Collier,Dominic Daigle,Olivier Dumont,Deak Ferrand,Pam Gonzales,Jason Gottlieb,Evan Clarke James,Shahen Jordan,Marc Kolbe,Andres Martinez,Eddie Offermann,Siouxsie Stewart,Christine Verzosa,Holli Alvarado,Chris B. Schnitzer
Stunts	Brent Bernhard,Cheyenne Ellis,Trey Greene,Jason Kehler,David Paul Lord,Jay Pearson,Corinne Van Ryck de Groot
Camera and Electrical Department	Matthew E. Alper,Will Arnot,Irie Bailey,Shelley Baldwin,Tom Barrett,Mike Besaw,Giovanni Bommarito,Frank Boone,Doug Brannon,Alex Calderon,Joseph V. Cicio,Jeff W. Curtis,Marc Dobiecki,Wes Eastin,Danny Eckler,David Ellis,Ramon Engle,Brian Evans,Andrew Fisher,Terry Fitzpatrick,Jeff Funderburk,Lisa Guerriero,Doug Harmes,Matthew Haskins,Melissa Hollingsworth,Darryl Humber,Peter Iovino,Jeb Johenning,Carl M. Johnson,Mike Laird,Lane Leagans,Jason Lerczak,Len Levine,Michael Lowrance,Halley Manning,Carl L. Marxer,Nathan McConnell,Tully McCulloch,Matthew McGinn,David McLean,Keith Moore,Greg Morse,Matthew Austin Murray,Ray Myers,Edward Nyankori,Pierre O Halloran,Connor O Malley,Christopher E. Pettus,Jason Petty,Justyn Plath,Kelly Price,C. Alan Rawlins,Matt Robinson,Jacob Ross,Robert Russell,Riko Schatke,Chad Schroeder,David Shakibanasab,Joshua Sherrill,Alexander G. Smith,Roxanne Stephens,Gregory Still,Brent Studler,Jeff C. Sutton,Cris Toebben,Troy Toebben,Porter Versfelt III,Paul E. Woods
Casting Department	Janella Bersabal,Beth Cannon,Marty Keener Cherrix,Patty Connolly,Jennifer Cram,Patrick Ingram,Dylan Jury,Kris Redding,Mark Sussman,Gabby Williamson,Nathan Wright
Costume and Wardrobe Department	Marie-Bernadette Angeles,Lorraine Calvert,Joseph Cigliano,Catherine Hahn,Jennifer Iizuka,Hannah Jacobs,Andrea Medina,Meriwether Nichols,Kendra L. Patterson,Linda N. Robinson,Kate Sawyer,Heather Sease,Kenya Ware,Jessica Wenger
Editorial Department	Victoria Anderson,Michael Boggs,Terence Curren,Vince Filippone,Bernie E. Gomez,Dave Jackson,James Koon,Daniel Paress,Alex Romano,Stefan Sonnenfeld,Matthew Willard,Lee Wimer,Nancy Jundi,John Petersen,Jason Sikora
Location Management	Lauren Aparicio,Norman Bielowicz,Andrew C. Kirk,Melanie Manning,Carlos Rey del Castillo,Sam Tedesco
Music Department	Christopher Anderson-Bazzoli,Nathaniel Blume,Monica Ciafardini,George Doering,Kevin Globerman,Joel Iwataki,Brian Kilgore,Beth Neely,Dana Niu,Jasper Randall,Ryan Robinson,Peter Rotter,Booker White,Richard Ziegler,Mae Crosby,Frank Macchia
Script and Continuity Department	Alicia Accardo,Megan Graham
Transportation Department	Monique Allen,Stephen Edward Austin,Joseph F. Beeco,John Clayden,Mark Corley,John Croker,Derek James Gober,Barbara Hopkins,Steve Humphrey,Lewis Jones Jr.,Daniel La Fave,Jeffrey L. McLaughlin,Charlie Ping,Cindi Randall,Windi Robinson,Vanschaick Thomas,Huelon F. Thrift Jr.,Hank Van Apeldoorn,Susan Van Apeldoorn,Thomas Van Schaick
Additional Crew	Russell Allen,Gena Berry,Sebastien Betsch,Susan Boyajian,Max Calder,Becky Campbell,April Sams Cavallo,David Champion,Brenda Cross,Sandra L. Dixon,Wes Eastin,Shantell Fancher,Maureen Poon Fear,Will Freeman,Landon Geiger,Adam Hamilton,Ashley Harvin,Sylvia V. Hillman,Jennifer Hoffman,Melody S. Jones,Daniel S. Kaminsky,Zach Kane,Amir R. Khan,Peter Kunin,Jessica Lang,Kristin R. Lauterbach,Ryan Lindenberg,Miles Logan,Stephanie Logan,John Malakoff,Adam R. Mehr,Heidi Brook Myers,Carl Ogawa,Carrie Ringler,Rayne Roberts,Cody Rowlett,Erin Rutland,Chris Saharek,Rick Schirmer,Taffy Schweickhardt,C. Alexander Sears,Michael C. Smith,Tarin Squillante,Jeanette Stout,Elizabeth Tompkins,Greg Tresan,Karen Turner,Michael Umble,Rick Vigil,Norman Wakefield,Thomas Ward,Tucker Wells,Candace Williford,Zachary Woodlee,Garson Yu,Marie Barnas,Michelle Coppins,Larry Gilbert,M.V. Oliphant
Genres	Comedy, Drama, Romance
Companies	Josephson Entertainment, Gold Circle Films, Village Roadshow Pictures
Countries	USA
Languages	English
ContentRating	PG-13
ImDbRating	6.5
ImDbRatingVotes	132087
MetacriticRating	39
Keywords	best friend,bakery,godparent,1st birthday,birthday