Finally, finally, finally a movie about the hilarity and humor of illegitimate pregnancy. How often is there a comedy that deals with anything deeper than the intricacy of same-sex figure skating?
It’s been a while. Now, from the creator of "The 40-Year-Old Virgin," the funniest movie to hit theaters this decade, comes "Knocked Up," a movie that blatantly and honestly takes on accidental pregnancy, marriage and, of course, relationships.
Judd Apatow, along with "Virgin" alums Seth Rogen and Paul Rudd, bring us the story of Ben Stone (Rogen), an admittedly lazy guy who has what should be the luckiest night of his life when he hooks up with Alison Scott (Katherine Heigl). Flash forward a few months and some hilarious scenes, and Alison is pregnant with Ben's baby and the stoner is thrust into being a responsible adult.
For a movie where even the marketing campaign is strikingly similar to "40-Year-Old Virgin" — did they just use left over posters? — "Knocked Up" is as refreshingly clever and insightful as its predecessor while far, far less vulgar. Apatow still knows when he has a good thing, and Rogen and Rudd together is one of them. The two’s banter as possible brothers-in-law makes for some of the funniest parts of the movie; their "Swingers"-like trip to Vegas is fall on the floor funny yet emotionally taut.
It’s too bad the entire film doesn’t share the balance, as the movie gets a little long and cuts between serious scenes and discussions on breasts a little too flippantly. Part of this problem comes from Alison being a bit underdeveloped and Ben’s slacker roommates being somewhat overdeveloped. While most of the roommate scenes are truly funny, they don’t always add to what the film is trying to do; a little more attention to what is going through the mind of Alison would have gone a long way, especially near the end when the film is dealing with some pretty big issues about what marriage and being a parent means.
This in no way should deter Apatow from making more comedies that broach sensitive subjects. His sense of humor in common, though trying, situations is incredibly refreshing in a world of comedic movies that would rather hide issues behind a fart joke than confront them with any sincerity.
Hooray for laughing hard at premarital sex, unplanned pregnancy, malfunctioning marriages and men who just won’t grow up. Thank goodness for it in fact: It’s not the only way to tackle these subjects, but it sure makes it more feel more human.
<1b>— Matthew Razak
WE