It was written by Shauna Cross and Heather Hach and is based on Heidi Murkoff's 1984 pregnancy guide of the same name.

It stars Cameron Diaz, Jennifer Lopez, Elizabeth Banks, Chace Crawford, Brooklyn Decker, Ben Falcone, Anna Kendrick, Matthew Morrison, Dennis Quaid, Chris Rock and Rodrigo Santoro.

She is chosen to speak at a convention about the miracle of childbirth, but breaks down in the middle of her presentation and instead begins to rant about the hardships of pregnancy.

Her outburst is filmed and becomes a viral hit on YouTube, generating a record number of sales for her boutique.

However, after Skyler gives birth to twin daughters named Aila and Nila, she and Ramsey struggle to manage the fussy babies.

Epilogue At different points in the film, certain characters meet others - many of the characters are fans of Jules' TV series, Gary was on Jules' weight loss program and is a regular customer of Marco's food truck, Skyler is Rosie's cousin, and Holly is Wendy and Skyler's photographer.

Heather Hach, who was nine months pregnant at the time, was hired to write the film's screenplay "based on her pitch", which would follow the story of seven couples who experience the "ups and downs" of preparing for parenthood.

Alli Shearmur, Lionsgate's President of Motion Picture Productions, said the book is "a brand that knows no boundaries" and they were "excited about this film as the first in a potential franchise".

Medavoy, Messer and Thwaites felt that the book provides the "perfect launching point" to tell a funny story.

Although puzzled at first, he recalled his pregnancy experience as "funny, tragic, exciting" and "hilarious", and thought combining these elements would make for a "really interesting" film.

[28] Additionally, the film contains cameos by various celebrities including, Dwyane Wade, Whitney Port,[16] and Megan Mullally.

[30] On July 26, production filmed in Midtown on Peachtree Street near High Museum and in Piedmont Park.

[35] Cara Nash of the Australian film magazine Filmink gave the film a mixed review, criticizing the storyline as not having "complexity" or "genuine conflict", but praised Lopez and Banks who "manage to find the humanity in their clichéd roles but they can't transcend all the surface-level schmaltz on display here".

[36] Peter Travers of Rolling Stone gave the film a negative review, stating that "the movie itself triggered the vomiting", but appreciated Rock, Kendrick and Crawford's performances "if you dramatically drop your expectations".

[37] Simon Miraudo of Quickflix called it "ill-conceived" and gave the film a mixed review while stating: "Despite an immensely appealing cast and a few funny moments, I would only recommend What to Expect at a 'push'.