Movie Preview: 'What to Expect When You're Expecting'

CLEVELAND - "What to Expect When You're Expecting," the film inspired by Heidi Murkoff’s New York Times bestselling book, hits the big screen on Friday, May 18. The PG-13 comedy is about five couples whose intertwined lives are turned upside down as they experience the triumphs and trials of parenthood.

The star-studded cast includes Cameron Diaz, Jennifer Lopez, Chris Rock, Dennis Quaid, Matthew Morrison (from Glee), Chace Crawford (from Gossip Girl), Anna Kendrick (from Up in the Air and The Twilight Saga) and a few others.

The movie accurately depicts the fear of becoming first-time parents, the ups and downs of adoption, the devastation of miscarriage and the negative side effects of pregnancy (vomiting, nausea, exhaustion, gas, bloating, bleeding gums, constipation, hemorrhoids, swollen body parts, etc.) however, it is not a substitute for the book What to Expect When You're Expecting. The book, which has sold 35 million copies, is like a bible for parents-to-be. It walks you through your pregnancy week-by-week and offers answers to just about every question you could possibly have about pregnancy, parenting and child development.

Lopez, a mother of twins in real life said, “I think women, by nature, when we're pregnant, are so worried that everything's going to go okay. And here you have this book saying, ‘This is supposed to be happening.  Don't worry.  You're supposed to feel like this.’ I think the movie does the exact same thing. It reassures you by telling five totally different stories about being pregnant and making you laugh.”

Father of two, Chris Rock, admits that the book is still on his wife’s nightstand and his oldest daughter is nine. “This book’s been in my face for ten years,” he said. “But it really helped. It’s rough having a baby. My wife was pretty cool. But just imagine carrying around a seven- or eight-pound ham for nine months. Forget it even being in your body – just have it in a bag that you can’t put down – and you’ve got to sleep with that ham and swim with the ham and take a bath with the ham.  No matter where you go, you’ve got to carry this ham.  So, you know what? You’re allowed to complain.”