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Knocked
Up
(2007)
I had my reservations. I wasn't sure Seth Rogen
could carry the lead. I doubted. I was wrong. Categorically
wrong. I can't believe I doubted the man who created Freaks
and Geeks (a show whose cancellation was nothing less
than a tragedy). How could I do that after the extremely funny
and enjoyable The 40 Year-Old Virgin? Never again.
I'm swayed. Knocked Up is proof that writer/director
Judd Apatow not only knows what he's doing, but is officially
the master of the American comedy.
Knocked Up is exceedingly funny. At one point in the theater near my home in Brooklyn, I observed six ushers shirking their duties to sit in the aisles and watch the movie. For a moment I wondered how their manager hadn't noticed all of his ushers had stepped away until I spotted him too. It's that funny.
Knocked Up is the story of Ben (Seth Rogen) and Alison (Katherine Heigl), two opposites linked together by the events of one drunken hook-up, trying to do the right thing and make it work. Ben is an affable, scruffy, twenty-something who spends his days smoking weed with his equally scruffy, equally affable best friends. Ben and his companions aspire to be internet porn moguls but mainly suffer from a severe case of Peter Pan Syndrome. Alison, meanwhile, is a producer for E! Entertainment Television whose just been tapped to become an on-camera personality. The two initially seem completely incompatible but, as is the case in romantic comedies, good natured sweetness and perseverance eventually win out.
When Apatow wrote The 40 Year-old Virgin he came upon a winning (though I hesitate to use the word) formula—bawdy humor with a positive message—which he successfully revisits in Knocked Up. In Virgin the message, if there was one, was not to get caught up in what other people think and to be yourself, be genuine and move at your own pace. Similarly, Knocked Up centers around two characters who try to turn a mistake into a happily-ever-after life for the two them. Ben realizes its time to grow up and comes into his own while Alison changes her priorities and becomes more accepting of Ben's faults and appreciative of his efforts. But what really makes the movie is, like Virgin, that it's consistently hilarious.
Rogen is likable. Rogen is funny. Anyone who had seen him in any of the other Apatow projects he's worked on (Virgin, Freaks and Geeks, Undeclared) already knew that, but his able to play romantic lead was surprising. He's able to pull off that all too frequently elusive common-man appeal well enough to play opposite the beautiful Heigl and, although clearly mismatched, not seem out of his depth.
Several Apatow regulars are fantastic filling out the supporting cast. Paul Rudd has shown an amazing flair for comedy over the course of his career, including this movie as Pete, Alison's brother-in-law, who's initially put off by Ben but eventually bonds with him. Alison's sister Debbie (Leslie Mann) is more reluctant to come around to Ben. Mann plays Debbie, Pete's uptight counterpart, with a mixture of dry and explosive humor. She, like Rudd, has an excellent comedic track-record and though more understated than her roll in Virgin, she has several great moments.
Apatow has reached a point in his career that anything anyone can do for him, they do. James Franco, Steve Carell, Alan Tudyk, Harold Ramis, and Kristen Wig all make cameos or play small parts that are both extremely funny and memorable (particularly Wig and Tudyk). It may be because Apatow, for his part, returns that loyalty. He sticks with people that work. Jay Baruchel, Jason Segel and Maritin Starr have all worked extensively with Apatow in the past and all return in Knocked Up as Ben's shiftless though well meaning stoner roommates (along with newcomer Jonah Hill). They all work together so seamlessly it's almost as if they're playing themselves (a prospect that feels infinitely more likely as their characters' names are their own).
I can't praise Apatow enough so I guess I'll have to praise his little girls. They play the daughters of Debbie and Pete and are remarkably natural in front of the camera. I guess it helps when Daddy's standing behind it.
Two word of warning though. First, beware the birth scene. It contains three
shots of minor crowning. Feel free to blink. And secondly, bringing a date may
induce a strong desire in them to have children. Immediately. Luckily for me
I bumped into a friend on the way home because, I tell you, I wasn't comfortable
with the glint in my fiancée's eye.
Then again, as Knocked Up shows, it might not be such a bad thing.
-Scott
Kline
Other
Thoughts: Mark Moreland 
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All contents ©
2004-2009 Thoughtsonfilm.com |
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Director:
Judd
Apatow
Writer: Judd
Apatow
Starring: Seth
Rogen, Katherine Heigl, Paul Rudd, Leslie Mann, Jason Segel, Jay Baruchel, Jonah Hill
Distributor: Universal
Pictures
Runtime: 129
min
Rating: R
Release Date: June
1, 2007
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