That other reviewer stole my "Get Knocked Up" idea
Written: Jun 02 '07 (Updated Jun 03 '09)
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Product Rating:
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| Bang For The Buck |
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Pros: Cast. Story. Humor. Characters.
Cons: Length.
The Bottom Line: is AS GOOD AS The 40 Year-Old Virgin.
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| updateghost's Full Review: Knocked Up |
Anyone who attacks Knocked Up for "only exploring the male's point of view" is missing out some of the film's best observations: take, for example, its jabs at suburban paranoia and Hollywood anorexia. Early on, female lead Alison Scott (Katherine Heigl) is exhorted to lose 20 pounds, despite the fact that she is already smoking hot. Later, her sister Debbie (Leslie Mann) obsesses over modern fears such as child molesters and stalkers. If that's not showing the female's side, it's hard to tell what is.
The film's title more or less sums up its plot: Ben Stone (Seth Rogen) has an extremely lucky one-night stand with Alison, and she gets pregnant-----then they try to work things out between themselves, despite being total strangers. If Adam Sandler's crew had handled this, it would have been a one-note physical comedy full of melodrama and predictability, but 40-Year Old Virgin director/co-writer Judd Apatow smartly provides us with deep characters that we care about-----the viewer wants Alison and Ben to work it out. In a Wayans brothers film, he or she would just want the credits to roll.
Furthermore, Apatow's cast, filled with all of his usual cronies, understand the characters on a level that allows the film's improvisations to work-----this is a movie that is funny for the sake of being funny, whereas The 40 Year-Old Virgin's gags were often purposeful and sensible. Thankfully, all of Ben's stoner friends lighten up the screen enough for us to not care.
Of course, the script's tangential nature allows for some pointless scenes-----one sequence where Ben and Alison's husband Pete (Paul Rudd) take a trip to Vegas is slightly funny, but makes the film feel elongated and somewhat tiresome. Additionally, Knocked Up's two-hour-plus running time might make you clench your fists in frustration and think, "Just have the baby, already!" toward the end-----the film often seems like a director's cut, given the high proportion of pointless (but hilarious) punchlines.
Apatow is a deft comedy director and storyteller, but he's also adept at evoking heartfelt emotions from some of the film's key scenes-----if it's not funny, it's still heart-warming, and if it's just plain sad, then it's not hokey or sentimental. That level of depth might allow for replay value where better comedies such as Hot Fuzz do not.
Rating: B
Recommended:
Yes
Movie Mood: Funny Movie
Worst Part of this Film: Duration
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updateghost
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