Unexpected, packed with indie cred, but is slow and formulaic

Unexpected stars Colbie Smulders as a high school teacher who discovers that she’s pregnant.  At the same time one of her students discovers that she is pregnant also. Unexpected is a pleasant film that tried hard to succeed, never does offend or is bad on any level, but is slow and packed with clichés.

The school that Samantha (Smulders) teaches at is closing. Her inner city students are typical high schoolers. They tease each other, almost get into fights in class and just after a pep talk about going to college find out that one of their most promising is pregnant.  Samantha is confused and unsure what to do about her life, as is Jasmine (Gail Bean). The two form a friendship and realize just how much they have in common.

Unexpected had a documentary feel to it due to the camera work that is constantly moving to provide realism. There is a sparse soundtrack that makes an appearance from time to time, but for the most part it’s people talking, yelling, giving birth or trading positive, uplifting words.

In theory, this sounds awesome. I’m a positive guy, am OK with dramas and am a dad-I get parenting and babies. However, Unexpected was slow and the humor that I read about in the blurbs was placed too far between the conversations about single mothers, stay at home mothers and working mothers for me to get it, if it was there.

Even my wife, who was listening to the film from the other side of the room, asked what I was watching. “It’s slow”, she said. “It sounds boring”, she followed that up with. The target audience for Unexpected would seem to be soon to be unemployed teachers, pregnant teens or people that have an undying love for all things independent film, even the ones that are just above average.

Unexpected is Rated R for language and available to view streaming or in select theaters.