Boy meets girl. Boy and girl fall in love and everything’s perfect—but girl finds out she’s pregnant.
The Back-up Plan is a J-LO RomCom: but does it have something in it for new dads? Zoe (played by Jennifer Lopez) is single, and feeling that biological clock ticking, opts for single motherhood through artificial insemination. But then she meets the dashing Stan (Alex O'Loughlin) and they hook up just as she finds out she’s pregnant. Hilarious misunderstandings and kerfuffle ensue, and it all works out in the end.
While The Back-up Plan has all the warm-fuzzies of a typical romantic comedy, it does have something for dads or dads-to-be. It takes a light-hearted view on a couple of the realities of being a dad to be—like having to put up with a huge sausage-shaped pillow between you and your partner in your bed for six months (even after she's had the baby!). This is something Dr. Spock never tells you. The Back-up Plan also covers the bewildering array of buggy options in a really quite funny way.
But seriously, we at Dads Space also really love the sage-like dad in the park with three kids—and most of the best laughs came from his wary advice to Stan.
Yet because all of the single mums in the film were portrayed as weirdoes, many single mums would be justified in taking offence at this kind of stereotyping. We felt this was a serious failing of the film. Of course, there was never the real possibility of J-LO going it alone as an empowered single mum. Then again, it is a RomCom.
The Back-up Plan is in UK cinemas now!