Think of the worst first date you ever had. Maybe he showed up an hour late without dinner reservations, and then lined up a post-date booty call in your car right in front of you. We’ve all been there—the first date so horrific it made us swear off the dating scene for weeks after. Now picture being stuck with that guy, raising a baby with him in a house you both had to live in. Hell, right? Directed by Greg Berlanti, and written by Ian Deitchman and Kristin Rusk Robinson, Life As We Know It explores this very premise.

Holly Berenson (Katherine Heigl) is the owner of a food store in Atlanta, serving up lavish desserts and maintaining a smile despite the “single guilt” she feels around couples. Eric Messer (Josh Duhamel), known to all as Messer, is a cocky, self-proclaimed bachelor. He directs live basketball games on television and calls marriage a “slow march to death.” After a disastrous first date arranged by their mutual best friends (Christina Hendricks and Hayes MacArthur), the loathing between them grows, as they continue to see each other at social functions and are named godparents to Sophie, their friends’ baby daughter.

After a tragic car crash, Holly and Messer are forced together as co-guardians of orphaned Sophie. Thus begins what Messer calls a “compelling psyche experiment.” The pair has to live together in a picturesque house with a baby they have no idea how to raise, slowly giving up their single lives for dirty diapers, messy feedings and crying wake-up calls in the middle of the night. Inevitably, Holly and Messer start bonding until Sam (Josh Lucas), the handsome doctor, enters the picture. Holly is then faced with the typical chick flick dilemma: Does she choose dull, perfect guy or rougher-around-the-edges hunk offering more excitement?

Life As We Know It has the same cliché elements that exist in most rom coms Hollywood has churned out in the past few years: the uptight woman with a successful business who still manages to obsess over finding Mr. Right; Mr. Quite-Not-Right who slowly falls for her quirkiness; and the mutual dislike between them that somehow manifests into love and a happily-ever-after. Add a cute baby and some poop jokes, and you pretty much know what you’re working with here.

The movie does visibly put in more effort than its mindless movie counterparts, primarily in Holly and Messer’s characterization. Viewers get a more in-depth look into their lives, from their career aspirations to why they’ve stayed single to their senses of humor. This makes the interactions between the faux parents and baby quite endearing at times. Despite this however, most of the roles are flat and unbelievable due to actors staying behind an emotional barrier far short of what the situation needs. In fact, the only actor to pull off convincing tears is the baby, played by triplets.

Another redeeming quality about Life As We Know It is the presence of old-fashioned couple fighting, not just forced “conflict” put in place solely to drive the man and woman together. Holly and Messer fight about real issues—high bills, babysitting schedules, and major life decisions affecting the future of their artificial family. This alone, plus the adorable kid, puts it a notch higher than the average rom com.

Life As We Know It opens Friday, October 8.