Capsule reviews of 'John Carter,' other new movies

Jennifer Westfeldt seems interested in exploring the complications that come with pondering parenthood with a mix of candor and heart. She touches on the stages so many of us find ourselves going through in our 30s: steadfast reluctance, vaguely nagging interest, strong yearning and, eventually, the what-the-hell-have-we-done? realism of it all. Unfortunately, as writer, producer, star and (for the first time) director, Westfeldt takes a topic full of complex emotional shadings and turns it into something that is, for the most part, reductive, cliched and even sitcommy. You want to believe that she means well, that perhaps she has experienced some of these stages herself. She's so adorably neurotic here (as she was in her acclaimed screenwriting debut "Kissing Jessica Stein"), and she's amassed such a strong supporting cast, including her real-life romantic partner Jon Hamm, that you wish "Friends With Kids" were better, truer. Westfeldt and Adam Scott co-star as Julie and Jason, best friends since college who decide to have a baby together to avoid the romantic baggage that burdens their married friends (Maya Rudolph, Chris O'Dowd, Hamm and Kristen Wiig). R for sexual content and language. 102 minutes. Two stars out of four.