Posted: 05/31/2007

Knocked Up

(2007)

by Hank Yuloff

I saw the trailers for Knocked Up and had that sinking feeling that I was seeing the funniest parts of it right there. It happens all the time, right? And with these “cute” little romantic comedies, it’s more frequent. After seeing the movie, I am wondering how they limited themselves to a two-minute trailer.

Knocked Up is clearly the funniest movie to hit the screens this year.

Katherine Heigl (Grey’s Anatomy) and Seth Rogen (Undeclared, The 40-Year Old Virgin) play Alison Scott and Ben Stone, two 20-somethings out for a good time at a bar. One drink leads to another which leads to one thing leading to another and Alison and Ben spend the night together.

The result is expected: Alison is pregnant. Like the film Waitress from earlier this month, the film is now given a nine-month window to take its course, as Alison goes through her pregnancy. We get to see how Alison and Ben’s relationship goes from “I am never seeing him again—I made such a big, big mistake in even kissing him” to “I kind of like you” to… Well, see the movie to see if they end up together.

The two of them could not be more different. Alison is an up-and-coming television reporter for E!, who has just been given her first on camera assignment. Ben and his four stoner friends spend their days putting together content for a website that lets us know at what point in a given movie we see naked actresses. In this case, “putting together content” is code for “watching R-rated movies and smoking lots and lots and lots of pot.” The website has not been launched yet, so Ben has no real form of income. For the record, there is one flash of breast in the film, and it is about an hour into the 129-minute movie.

The movie was written and directed by Judd Apatow (Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy, The 40-Year Old Virgin), who seems to be developing a cast and crew to his liking as he hits his creative stride. He also produced the hit Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby, and has seven movies in the pipeline between now and the end of 2008.

I admire Apatow’s style in this film. His language is salty, to say the least, and true to life, to put it mildly. I do not believe I have seen the word “fuck” used more in any movie that did not have Jay and Silent Bob in the title. We saw it used as a noun, verb, adverb and every other form of English grammar. Especially by Leslie Mann (The 40-Year Old Virgin), who plays Alison’s sister. My God, what a fucking mouth on this fucking chick (you see where this is going). Okay, early request, which won’t go anywhere, to the Academy: supporting actress nod to a woman who swears more then most fraternity brothers? Anyone? Bueller?

There are a few negatives I can give you. The first is the makeup job they do on Heigl to make her look pregnant. It is the worst fake stomach you could ever imagine. There is one plot twist that never goes anywhere and makes the movie come to a complete halt. Just before the aforementioned naked breast sighting, there is an earthquake of pretty decent proportion. We are never given any other references to it. It just kind of sits there, like a bunch of film ended up being cut. This was rather odd, since other small details, like referencing the characters going to the currently running Spider-Man 3, are very well placed.

I think this film should do well in that prime movie demographic of 18-28. But I think that anyone who has survived those years would enjoy it as well. Add this to your “Must See” list.

Hank Yuloff is a film critic living in Los Angeles.

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