Knocked Up
Knocked Up is Judd Apatow’s (The 40-Year-Old Virgin) latest romantic-comedy. A lot of writers/director’s suffer from a sophomore slump after a huge hit. It is hard to forget Kevin Smith’s rise and fall and rise again with his “Jersey Trilogy.” Clerks was witty sprayed with brilliant, comical dialogue. Mallrats was not the hit everyone expected only to be outdone by Chasing Amy, which was borderline brilliant when dealing directly with its character’s relationship issues. Apatow is different from Smith in many ways, but both deal with real life situations very effectively. Knocked Up takes a worn out formula and makes it special, much like Smith’s curve ball with Chasing Amy. This movie isn’t Maid in Manhattan or Hitch. It is something that is much more personal. It is about marriage, pregnancy, friendship, and ultimately an unlikely coming of age story. The brilliance of the movie is it appeals to everyone. It is part a male-bonding buddy movie and a chick-flick rolled into one. The plot of this movie is simple, a man out punts his coverage and lands a hottie in which he impregnates. This where comedy hijinks should ensue, but what we get is much more
Ben Stone played by Seth Rogan (The 40-Year-Old Virgin) doesn’t play by the rules of a romantic-comedy. He isn’t the sweet protagonist who is love sick and looking to give his good intentions to the right woman. No, Ben is a selfish and at times, an unlikable twit, with his head buried in his rear-end. He is unemployed, and has exactly 117 dollars in his bank account. He is not ready for life, but life is ready for him. This is where Apatow shows us his brilliance. He gives us a touching scene between Ben and his father (played by Harold Ramis) where it clearly shows how scared Ben is at the possibilities of being a father. His dad has no profound advice, but supports his son without judgment. This is where the movie switches gears a bit and we begin to see just how poignant the story really is. How many times in our lives are we not ready to change who we are, but “life” forces us to do so? This becomes Ben’s dilemma throughout the movie and at times it takes him a while to change his ways.
Katherine Heigl plays a completely different character in Alison. Alison is career motivated, has a bank account and is not ready to be pregnant. Apatow again shows us his true talent and his actually able to make us see things from the female perspective. This isn’t the movie where the man has to rescue the women. In most ways, it is the woman rescuing the man. I liked this aspect of the film. There are a few very touching scenes between Alison and her sister Debbie. What is wonderful about each of those scenes is that they are set upon comedic back-drop and as a viewer you are forced to take in what is said while smiling.
The most refreshing characters of Knocked Up are Pete (Paul Rudd) and Debbie (Leslie Mann) who play Alison’s sister and brother-in-law. Is their marriage perfect? No, not by a long shot. Again, it is not formulaic where the perfect married couple has all the answers for the two love sick kids. These two characters are stressed with life as parents and life as a married couple. Pete probably has the funniest lines in the movie. His view on marriage is “… it is like an Episode of Everybody Loves Raymond, just not funny.” I loved Pete and Debbie as a character study. Many of you reading this will probably relate to Pete’s reasons for wanting to leave the house at certain times, which leads to his wife suspecting him of cheating.
Pete and Ben almost immediately become friends and as a guy I could certainly relate to their friendship. Rudd and Rogan pick up right where they left off in their previous efforts in The 40-Year-Old Virgin. They play off each other so naturally. It is my hope that these two actors do more movies together because there is something special there. Their trip to Las Vegas in this film is something to behold. It is especially funny because it involves psychedelic mushrooms and Cirques De Oles.
Knocked Up isn’t what I expected. It was much more. It was poignant, funny, heart breaking and heart warming. Apatow is now two for two. A real challenge will be for him to create something different, something away from romance. I am now curious to see just what he has in store for us. Until then, I may tried to get Knocked Up again.
Knocked Up is Judd Apatow’s (The 40-Year-Old Virgin) latest romantic-comedy. A lot of writers/director’s suffer from a sophomore slump after a huge hit. It is hard to forget Kevin Smith’s rise and fall and rise again with his “Jersey Trilogy.” Clerks was witty sprayed with brilliant, comical dialogue. Mallrats was not the hit everyone expected only to be outdone by Chasing Amy, which was borderline brilliant when dealing directly with its character’s relationship issues. Apatow is different from Smith in many ways, but both deal with real life situations very effectively. Knocked Up takes a worn out formula and makes it special, much like Smith’s curve ball with Chasing Amy. This movie isn’t Maid in Manhattan or Hitch. It is something that is much more personal. It is about marriage, pregnancy, friendship, and ultimately an unlikely coming of age story. The brilliance of the movie is it appeals to everyone. It is part a male-bonding buddy movie and a chick-flick rolled into one. The plot of this movie is simple, a man out punts his coverage and lands a hottie in which he impregnates. This where comedy hijinks should ensue, but what we get is much more
Ben Stone played by Seth Rogan (The 40-Year-Old Virgin) doesn’t play by the rules of a romantic-comedy. He isn’t the sweet protagonist who is love sick and looking to give his good intentions to the right woman. No, Ben is a selfish and at times, an unlikable twit, with his head buried in his rear-end. He is unemployed, and has exactly 117 dollars in his bank account. He is not ready for life, but life is ready for him. This is where Apatow shows us his brilliance. He gives us a touching scene between Ben and his father (played by Harold Ramis) where it clearly shows how scared Ben is at the possibilities of being a father. His dad has no profound advice, but supports his son without judgment. This is where the movie switches gears a bit and we begin to see just how poignant the story really is. How many times in our lives are we not ready to change who we are, but “life” forces us to do so? This becomes Ben’s dilemma throughout the movie and at times it takes him a while to change his ways.
Katherine Heigl plays a completely different character in Alison. Alison is career motivated, has a bank account and is not ready to be pregnant. Apatow again shows us his true talent and his actually able to make us see things from the female perspective. This isn’t the movie where the man has to rescue the women. In most ways, it is the woman rescuing the man. I liked this aspect of the film. There are a few very touching scenes between Alison and her sister Debbie. What is wonderful about each of those scenes is that they are set upon comedic back-drop and as a viewer you are forced to take in what is said while smiling.
The most refreshing characters of Knocked Up are Pete (Paul Rudd) and Debbie (Leslie Mann) who play Alison’s sister and brother-in-law. Is their marriage perfect? No, not by a long shot. Again, it is not formulaic where the perfect married couple has all the answers for the two love sick kids. These two characters are stressed with life as parents and life as a married couple. Pete probably has the funniest lines in the movie. His view on marriage is “… it is like an Episode of Everybody Loves Raymond, just not funny.” I loved Pete and Debbie as a character study. Many of you reading this will probably relate to Pete’s reasons for wanting to leave the house at certain times, which leads to his wife suspecting him of cheating.
Pete and Ben almost immediately become friends and as a guy I could certainly relate to their friendship. Rudd and Rogan pick up right where they left off in their previous efforts in The 40-Year-Old Virgin. They play off each other so naturally. It is my hope that these two actors do more movies together because there is something special there. Their trip to Las Vegas in this film is something to behold. It is especially funny because it involves psychedelic mushrooms and Cirques De Oles.
Knocked Up isn’t what I expected. It was much more. It was poignant, funny, heart breaking and heart warming. Apatow is now two for two. A real challenge will be for him to create something different, something away from romance. I am now curious to see just what he has in store for us. Until then, I may tried to get Knocked Up again.
1 comment:
Awesome Review
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