She didn't leave him over the ultrasound, that was just the straw that broke the camel's back. Of course it's normal for anyone, especially men to have doubts and fears about first time parenthood, especially if it's unplanned, but Samuel's behavior was not reasonable for the situation. Ok, he was freaked upon finding out Rebecca was pregnant, understandable. But there comes a point you have to say, "Ok we didn't plan for this, but it's happening and we have to make the best of it." That's what adults do.
Samuel was unwilling to do that. He didn't even make a real effort to be supportive of Rebecca during her pregnancy or help figure out the best ways to make this new life work for them. All he did was throw a tantrum and feel sorry for himself every time he realized the changes to come. Life takes turns we don't expect, it's called reality and you can't just act like a selfish child every time you realize your life isn't going to turn out exactly as you expected.
I agree the controversy over the cat was completely stupid, plenty of pregnant women and people with kids have cats, they're not deadly, but the car was a different story. Obviously, when you have a child, a two seater car isn't going to work. You mention "why not get a second car?".
Samuel DID suggest that to Rebecca, and I believe the way he put it was "Maybe YOU could get YOUR OWN car."
Not, "WE will get a second car so I don't have to get rid of this one."
What stopped him from suggesting that? And when Rebecca pointed out a car was not affordable on her salary, he made it known he wasn't getting rid of his car and had no suggestion past that. It came across as though he thought Rebecca should just be on her own with this in any respect that involved a change or sacrifice from him.
Sorry, but that's not going to work if you're to be a family, there's no yours and mine, you have to get used to working together as a unit. Between the two of them, a psychotherapist and a dance instructor, who do you think brought in most of the household income? Are we really to believe a guy who lives in a beautiful San Fransisco apartment, drives a Porsche, and belongs to a country club can't afford a second car? It's not like it had to be fancy or brand new. So that was really more Samuel being unreasonable than Rebecca. It all just came across as a sign of things to come.
And when Samuel conveniently forgot about the ultrasound appointment, something he promised he wouldn't forget yet did, not because he was working or doing something important, but because he was once again wallowing in self concern and pity and needed to de-stress by playing some tennis, that just iced the cake.
So yeah, Rebecca was right to be upset. If it had been this one incident, it would have been different, but Samuel did not show any sign that his attitude was going to change. Sure, fathers often do tend to take more time to become involved and optimistic about a new child than mothers, but if you're not even showing any sign that you're committed to the life change that lies ahead of both of you, your partner is right to be concerned.
I don't know if you have kids but pregnancy is the easy part in comparison. If a man can't show an earnest willingness to be there for his child and his child's mother before the baby's even here, there's not much reason to suspect he'll be different after the fact. Learning a sense of selflessness is what parenting is all about. Once you make a baby, life isn't all about you anymore.
The premise of the movie was that a man who was very self involved had to learn how to put his own issues aside for someone who was very soon going to need him more than anything he needed or wanted for himself. It didn't make Samuel a bad guy, and I don't think he was portrayed as such, it just made him someone who needed to grow up. Once he was able to see that, Rebecca happily took him back.
So I don't see how the whole thing is ridiculous at all or painted the characters in a bad light. It just showed the real struggles some couples have to work out when life takes those unexpected turns.
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