With a 90-minute running time, Unexpected would fit comfortably, with room for commercial breaks, in a two-hour network time slot. How did it ever find a theatrical release?

| Original Score: 0/5 | Aug 20, 2015

Smulders gives one of the most natural performances of her career, and Bean's subtle, strong work announces her as a young actress to watch.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/4 | Jul 24, 2015

A well-intentioned snooze. ... The script's high point for adrenaline is when Samantha and Jasmine make the impulsive decision to - wait for it - litter.

| Original Score: 50/100 | Jul 24, 2015

Except for a bit of contrived conflict that arises toward the end, the connection between these two expectant mothers-who are at vastly different points in their lives-rings with a mutual kindness and compassion.

| Original Score: 3/4 | Jul 24, 2015

Thanks to an intelligent script and the performances of Cobie Smulders, Gail Bean and Elizabeth McGovern, the minutiae of everyday life in this small, lovely film will capture your interest.

| Original Score: 3.5/5 | Jul 23, 2015

Unexpected features fine performances from both women and I'd love to see more from newcomer Bean, showing grace and maturity onscreen.

| Original Score: 2/4 | Jul 23, 2015

If their story feels more like a dramatized argument than an involving drama, that's no fault of the lovely, unforced performances by Cobie Smulders and newcomer Gail Bean.

| Jul 23, 2015

Smulders and Bean, with gentle and honest performances, sell it beautifully, and the tone is both warmhearted and realistic.

| Original Score: 3/4 | Jul 23, 2015

The chemistry between Smulders and Bean is simply terrific. Their performances almost save the film from its earnest, if bumbling, attempts to make a statement about the social, economic, and racial differences that divide the two characters.

| Original Score: 2.5/4 | Jul 23, 2015

"Unexpected" offers the satisfactions of a very good made-for-television movie. For all the unexpectedness endured by the characters, it studiously plays it safe.

| Jul 23, 2015

This is modest and gentle but seldom sentimental; Swanberg and conscreenwriter Megan Mercier depict the challenges these characters face but take care not to let those challenges define them.

| Jul 23, 2015

Swanberg has crafted a universal story observed through small details.

| Original Score: 3/4 | Jul 23, 2015

[A] lovely, minor-key indie.

| Original Score: B+ | Jul 23, 2015

It's the same warmth and kindness that makes us care about these two characters that smothers the film's fire before it can ever get roaring.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Jul 23, 2015

"Unexpected" would have been enriched by a more generous balance between the two characters' worlds. But Swanberg shows a sure, sensitive hand in limning the upshots and downsides of life's most blessed events.

| Original Score: 2/4 | Jul 23, 2015

It's a little diagrammatic in its plotting. But there's an easy fluency in the way Swanberg empathizes with everybody on screen.

| Original Score: 3/4 | Jul 23, 2015

Not that these things don't matter, but they don't exactly make for riveting cinema.

| Original Score: C+ | Jul 23, 2015

The movie's radiance comes from [Gail Bean].

| Jul 22, 2015

The story is rooted in real world concerns and practical issues.

| Original Score: B+ | Jul 22, 2015

For a movie about surprises ... there really aren't many.

| Original Score: 2/5 | Jul 22, 2015