Adam Sztykiel’s feature directorial debut, Let’s Have Kids!, is a breezy, R-rated comedy that takes a simple, high-concept premise and wrings from it both broad laughs and surprisingly sharp observations about adult friendship. Lifelong best friends Emma (Karen Gillan) and Phoebe (Zoë Chao) make a pact to get pregnant at the same time so they can navigate the chaos of first-time motherhood together. When only one of them conceives, the milestone that was supposed to cement their bond instead exposes the fault lines that appear when life stages diverge.
The setup is familiar territory for some contemporary buddy comedies—think the friendship strains in Babes or the ensemble pregnancy anxiety of What to Expect When You’re Expecting—but Sztykiel and co-writer Ellie Knaus (the married couple behind the project, themselves parents of two) keep the focus tightly on the central relationship rather than scattering attention across a large ensemble of expectant couples. Gillan and Chao share an easy, lived-in chemistry that sells years of shared history. Gillan’s Emma brings a dry, slightly neurotic edge that plays well against Chao’s warmer, more grounded Phoebe; their banter feels specific rather than generic, full of the shorthand and affectionate ribbing that real long-term friendships develop.
Supporting players fill out the world without stealing the movie. Sam Richardson, Max Greenfield, and KJ Apa as the partners (and occasional comic obstacles) land their jokes cleanly, while veterans Mary Steenburgen and Ed Begley Jr. provide reliable dry humor as parental figures and medical professionals.
Sztykiel, previously known for writing credits on bigger studio fare (Black Adam, Scoob!), directs with a light, efficient hand. The Portland locations give the film a lived-in Pacific Northwest texture, and the editing keeps the pace brisk even when the plot hits the expected beats of jealousy, confrontation, and reconciliation. The comedy is more sitcom-adjacent than boundary-pushing, but it rarely feels mean-spirited; the movie is ultimately more interested in how friendship survives mismatched timing than in milking humiliation for its own sake.
Let’s Have Kids! doesn’t reinvent the form, and some of its resolutions arrive a little too neatly. Yet it earns its laughs and its quieter moments through the strength of its two leads and a clear-eyed understanding that the decision to have children (or the inability to do so on the same schedule) can rearrange even the closest relationships. For audiences who enjoy warm, slightly raunchy comedies about women figuring out the next chapter of life, it is a solid, amiable outing—one that understands the joke of synchronized plans while still treating the underlying feelings with respect.
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