I'm Going To Be There to Rear Your Child!!
Written: Jun 03 '07
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Product Rating:
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| Bang For The Buck |
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Pros: Direction/Script, Humor, Look, Music, Antics, Themes, & Cast, notably Rogen & Heigl.
Cons: None.
The Bottom Line: Knocked Up is So Far, 2007's Best Comedy from Judd Apatow Featuring Hilarious Performanced led by Seth Rogen & Katherine Heigl.
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| thevoid99's Full Review: Knocked Up |
In 2005 amidst the summer blockbuster of huge, action films, and superhero movies, rated R comedies came back with a vengeance thanks to the success of Wedding Crashers. Another rated R comedy that became a hit was The 40-Year-Old Virgin by Judd Apatow. The film was a surprise hit both with critics and moviegoers for its mix of raunchy humor and humanistic portrayal of characters. Apatow along with longtime cohort Seth Rogen were in after coming off two acclaimed but short-lived series in Freaks & Geeks and Undeclared. Following the success of The 40-Year-Old Virgin that made Steve Carell a star, Apatow and Rogen teamed up for another collaboration about bad one-night stands and unplanned pregnancy in their new comedy entitled Knocked Up.
Written and directed by Judd Apatow, Knocked Up tells the story of an E! News interviewer and a porn-webmaster/slacker who meet on a drunken one-night stand where months later, the woman is pregnant with his child. Realizing that their lives are about to change, the two make an attempt to do something for their child with a little help from their friends and family. In the same vein of The 40-Year-Old Virgin in terms of mix of raunchy and sweet humor, Apatow and company create an adult comedy that audiences can relate to. Starring Apatow regulars Seth Rogen, Leslie Mann, Paul Rudd, Jay Baruchel, Martin Starr, Jonah Hill, Jason Segal, and Loudon Wainwright III plus Katherine Heigl, Harold Ramis, Kristen Wiig, Charlyne Yi, Alan Tudyk, and Joanna Kerns. Knocked Up is a gloriously hilarious, heartfelt, and relatable comedy from the very talented Judd Apatow.
Ben Stone (Seth Rogen) is a slacker/stoner who is living off the remains of a $14,000 insurance from the British Columbia government after a truck ran over his foot. With his buddies Jason (Jason Segal), Jay (Jay Baruchel), Martin (Martin Starr), and Jonah (Jonah Hill), the stoner buddies hope to create a celebrity porno site that will make them a lot of money. Meanwhile, Alison Scott (Katherine Heigl) lives in a pool house nearby the home of her sister Debbie (Leslie Mann), her husband Pete (Paul Rudd), and their two daughters Charlotte (Iris Apatow) and Sadie (Maude Apatow). Alison works for E! News where she just learned from her superiors Jack (Alan Tudyk) and Jill (Kristen Wiig) that she's going to be promoted as an on-air interviewer.
The celebration of Alison's promotion is well-received by Debbie as the two ladies go out to a club where Alison bumps into Ben and his buddies. The two get drunk as a one-night stand occurs where everything goes wrong. The next morning, Ben and Alison wake up realizing that the two very different personalities aren't going to work out as they go their separate ways. Eight weeks later, during an interview with James Franco (James Franco), Alison gets sick as she and Debbie learn that she’s pregnant. Making things more horrifying is that the father could be Ben, whom she hadn't seen since that night. When Ben gets a call from Alison, they meet at a restaurant where Ben learns that she is carrying his child.
The two remain in disbelief until they meet Dr. Pellagrino (Tim Bagley) where they truth comes out. She is pregnant and with his child as the two have to face some decisions. Ben's pals aren't happy about the news either as it would wreck the stoner lifestyle the guys are living in. Alison turns to her mother (Joanna Kerns) for help while Ben turns to his dad (Harold Ramis) about this new ordeal. In the end, Ben and Alison give in and decide to try and make things work. Even as Ben has to buy baby books to understand while Alison is formally introduced to Ben's stoner pals that included Martin's girlfriend Jodi (Charlyne Yi). The two try to work things out, even in front of Pete and Debbie whose relationship is on shaky ground. Pete's frequent disappearances and cynical views on marriage and family begins to undermine whatever plans Ben and Alison are working on. Even with the right doctor in Dr. Howard (Loudon Wainwright III) as things seem to go fine.
Unfortunately, the truth of Pete's disappearances and the different reactions only trouble Ben and Alison's relationship. Ben turns to Pete for advice as the two go to Las Vegas while Debbie contends with aging after she and Alison couldn't go into a club. The night in Vegas doesn't fare well for the two men as Ben begins to ponder his own life. Even with his porno site now having to contend with a more well-known celebrity-porn site, he's not sure what to do. Even with Alison now unsure of his capabilities, Ben attempts to make a change. With the birth of their child coming, Ben and Alison realize what they have to do in order for their child, with help from families and friends.
Films about one-night stands, unplanned pregnancies, marriage, and such are always either too cynical or often too lighthearted. Then there's Knocked Up which removes whatever cliches and expectations of these stories in order to explore deeper cracks into these subjects but with humor. Not light-hearted humor but the same kind of raunchy, uncompromised humor that was evident in Judd Apatow's previous film The 40-Year-Old Virgin. The film is also a movie about opposite attracts in the case of Ben and Alison, two very different people and personalities who eventually find more common ground with this new person coming into their lives.
The script Apatow definitely reveals the nightmare of one-night stands that leads to unplanned pregnancies. The subject of abortion is briefly mentioned but it's only because the protagonists have to face a choice that would impact their own lives. Since they decide to go with keeping the child, the film really begins as it explores the fear of parenthood, marriage, and responsibility. It's not just the character of Ben who is afraid of growing up into an adult. There's fear in Alison, and the rest of the supporting players. The reason Debbie and Ben are going through a crisis is because ever since they have children, their lives haven't been exciting with both of them, separately trying to regain their last amount of youth.
Now the film's plot and the themes Apatow explore might seem like some cautious dramatic film but once the dialogue and antics come to play. It becomes anything but a serious drama, though there are a few dramatic moments. The cleverness that Apatow does with comedy reveals everything that can go wrong with sarcasm and such. Even a scene where a very pregnant Alison is very angry with Ben as the two go into a curse-raging conversation that's very funny. The words that comes out of the characters mouths, even from Debbie and Pete's kids, are hilariously real. On paper, they may not sound funny but once they're uttered with comic timing, the laughs keep pouring in.
This is part of Apatow's genius in not just as a writer but as a director. He knows how to bring the laughs and keep it going throughout the film. It's not just one long joke or a series of little jokes but rather an ensemble where each funny line and moment clicks with its audience to huge laughter through and through. Even right through the end as some of the raunchiness maybe a bit shocking but it's all in good fun. There's no boundaries for what is being said about anything. Sex, marriage, children, drugs, pregnancies, and physicality. All of these things are mentioned with such delightful and very racy humor, it does what it intends to do. Keep the audience laughing while paying very good attention to the story. This is how Judd Apatow succeeds in his talents.
Helping Apatow's vision is cinematographer Eric Alan Edwards brings a wonderfully colorful style of camera work to some of the film's interior scenes like the club and most of all, the Las Vegas sequences. Production designer Jefferson Sage and art director Lauren E. Polizzi do a wonderful job in creating the different worlds of Alison with her clean pool house and the dirty, stoner-look of Ben's home. Costume designer Debra McGuire even shows the different personalities of the characters in the film. Editors Craig Alpert and Brent White create a nice, leisurely-paced style to the film. Even for a film with a running time of two hours and nine-minutes that might seem long but they pull a great trick in not making it feel very long at all. Sound mixer Peter Hansen does excellent work on the film's sound, notably a scene involving a big earthquake.
The film features a wonderfully melodic score from Loudon Wainwright III and Joe Henry where the two create a folky, melodic score that plays throughout the film during its moments of humor and drama. The film's soundtrack consists of tracks from acts like the B-52s, Britney Spears, Bright Eyes, the Scorpions, Traveling Wilburys, Wu-Tang Clan, the Clash, Sublime, Lily Allen, and many more. The film's music reveals not just a club atmosphere but also is used with great humor to reveal where the characters are.
Then we have the film's wonderful ensemble where everyone gets to have a moment of laughs. Cameos that include Apatow associates James Franco and Steve Carell as themselves are funny along with another Apatow associate in porn actress Stormy Daniels as a Vegas stripper. Ryan Seacrest of E! News and American Idol fame even pokes fun at himself by ranting on the current wave of young stars who he claims are very talentless. Saturday Night Live star Kristen Wiig and Firefly/Serenity star Alan Tudyk are very funny as Alison's superiors who expect Alison to make some physical changes to herself. Bill Hader is funny as Alison's editor who has great scene making crude comments about a few of Alison's interviews. Loudon Wainwright has a nice, small role as the normal Dr. Howard while Tim Bagley and Ken Jeong play respective roles as creepy doctors. Charlyne Yi is very funny in her small role as fellow stoner Jodi while the real-life daughters of Judd Apatow and Leslie Mann in Charlotte and Maude Apatow have very funny moments in the film.
Joanna Kerns makes a wonderful, brief appearance as Alison's mom whose advice doesn't seem to be helpful while Harold Ramis is very funny as Ben's dad whose own advice is more helpful. The team of Jason Segal, Martin Starr, Jay Baruchel, and Jonah Hill are clearly four of the funniest guys in the film. Even with their individual moments and one-liners like Segal hitting on Leslie Mann, Baruchel saying "I'm going to rear your child", Hill with his creepiness towards hospitals, and Starr making a bet to grow his hair and beard very long. Apatow's wife Leslie Mann is great as Debbie who tries to be the adult in her relationship while dealing with the fact that her marriage isn't working while trying to relive her own youth and such. Mann is great as she too, has some hilarious one-liners. Paul Rudd is funny as the more cynical, melancholic Pete who feels lost in his marriage and family life while forcing himself to try and get over things while finding a new ally in Ben.
In a role originally given to Anne Hathaway only to drop out that was followed by auditions from Jennifer Love Hewitt and Kate Bosworth, Grey's Anatomy star Katherine Heigl gives a phenomenal performance as Alison. Heigl proves to be the right choice with her winning charm and good looks while proving herself to be a fantastic, comedy actress. The lines Heigl gets are very funny and realistic while she shows more of her range in some of her own physical flaws in her character as well as her emotional needs. It's a great performance from the actress. Seth Rogen is also in winning form playing an unconventional lead character without the conventional leading man looks. Rogen proves himself to be consistently funny and sensitive while showing some range as a dramatic actor. Rogen brings the right touch to his character who starts off as irresponsible only to make attempts to be responsible in the right way. The chemistry between Rogen and Heigl are very spot-on as the two both have sweet moments and extremely funny moments.
Knocked Up is sweet yet very funny masterpiece from Judd Apatow and company. Fans who loved The 40-Year-Old Virgin will no doubt be surprised by the consistent amount of laughs that is brought on into this film. Even with great leading performances from Seth Rogen and Katherine Heigl along with a great supporting cast of Apatow players. It's a film that definitely has replay value with one-liners and gags that will make anyone laugh. In the end, Knocked Up proves to be another surprise hit from Judd Apatow, who is really now the King of Comedy.
The 40-Year-Old Virgin (2005):
http://www.epinions.com/content_221894250116
Recommended:
Yes
Movie Mood: Funny Movie
Viewing Method: Studio Screening/Premiere
Film Completeness: Looked complete to me.
Worst Part of this Film: Nothing
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Epinions.com ID:
thevoid99
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 - Top 100 |
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Member: Steven Flores
Location: Smyrna, Georgia
Reviews written: 1543
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