"Knocked Up" Review

Chad R · 05-05-2007, 07:50 PM

I saw this at a way early preview a little over a week ago. It's from Judd Apatow who last brought us "The 40-year Old Virgin," and stars a good portion of that film's cast. If Judd's anything, he's loyal.

The plot is simple, a young woman on the career fast track has a regretful one night stand with a total slacker which results in a pregnancy. They try to make a go at.

Much of the story doesn't quite work, many motivations for character choices are unclear or slightly off of what you would expect. It lacks a good portion of the sweetness of "Virgin" which does bog the film down. The main relationship never clicks.

But, this is a comedy and the biggest question is are the laughs plentiful and are they large. They are. Boy, are they ever. It's crude humor to be sure, but there's an honesty to the crudeness that's similar to the crudeness in "Virgin." Never once do you feel they're stretching to get a laugh, they get it out of the way people act and talk. Each person feels like someone you either know, or would know.

I don't want to give away any of the jokes, I'll just say the trailer can't have the best laughs because there's no way the MPAA would pass it. Even if it were a red-banded trailer, they couldn't get the best jokes in there because they need set-ups.

To just tease at a few of the better bits: pink-eye, Cirque du Soleil, crowning, "tighten", shrooms, Ryan Seacrest's cameo (yes, I said Ryan Seacrest), James Franco's cameo, "you look like your sister."

This film is meant to make Seth Rogen a star like "Virgin" did for Steve Carrell. I don't think this will happen because of the afforementioned sweetness Carrell had which Rogen does not. Rogen's not a lovable loser, he's a frustrating one. And the inevitable loser makes good montage happens far too late in the film.

But, then the birth scene happens and some more big laughs come. A few shots had a row of teenagers in front of me crawling out of their seats, but laughing through it.

Overall, I'd say go see it. When you do, see it with a big crowd for bigger laughs.

Shawn.F · 05-06-2007, 10:28 AM

I saw this at the beginning of last month in Boston and I was very, very pleased by it. I agree that you should try to see it with a big audience. I thought it was just a bit too long for its own good, but the performances were great and the laughs were pretty non-stop. A great date movie that is a welcome bit of counter programming to the sequel onslaught we are going to experience this summer.

Ray H · 06-01-2007, 05:00 PM

I saw this one earlier. I'm still taking a while to digest it, but at the moment, it's a funny and great movie, but I don't know whether I like it more than the 40 Year Old Virgin.

TwoKings · 06-01-2007, 10:34 PM

saw it today and it is very funny. Much better than I thought it would be

MikeRS · 06-02-2007, 04:32 AM

I think it's as funny as "40 Year Old Virgin", and for the same reasons. Extremely high concept executed with characters acting believably. Apatow is cognizant that strong comedies need to be anchored in reality. If there's a strong anchor, you can then stretch the material in many ways, and most importantly allow a dramatic layer to remain intact. There's a good 25 minute section in this film that is really not comedic at all - and that shift from believable comical (even hysterical) scenarios to the believable straight & dramatic, is actually pretty seamless. The reason? The "drama" level was always subtext.

I applaud in the little touches and character quirks in the piece. Many scenes seem to start from a familiar place, but become truly unpredictable due to the screenwriters seriously contemplating the scenarios (The bouncer scene late in the film is a good example).

I think the women in my theater were digging it even more than men. Should definitely have legs.

Oh yeah,

Katherine Heigl is beautiful and pretty great in this (Perhaps even star making). Seth Rogen reminded me of a less neurotic Albert Brooks. He came across as truly lovable and sweet without the film in any way diluting the dramatic impact of his pathetic loserdom.

**HTF Ads**

Joe Karlosi · 06-02-2007, 06:16 PM

Just got back from seeing this with my wife, and I'm glad she suggested it. It's about a young woman (Katherine Heigl) who has a drunken one night stand with a friendly but directionless geek (Seth Rogen) and soon discovers she's pregnant with his baby. This was very enjoyable and funny, from the same team who provided us with THE 40 YEAR OLD VIRGIN, and also featuring many of that film's actors. I couldn't keep my eyes off the gorgeous Katherine Heigl - she's beautiful! Seth Rogen is also immensely likable and his character is a sweet guy with a fun sense of humor who realizes his responsibility as the father and attempts to do the right thing. I also liked the way the film covered the complications of all sides of relationships - dating, being married, staying single, etc...
This left me in a good mood as I left the theater.

Patrick Sun · 06-02-2007, 07:22 PM

I wanted to really like this film, but it's probably a double, not a home run.

I think there were more f-bombs dropped in this film than in The Departed (but I could be wrong). Sure, people do talk like that in real life, but after awhile it just got tiresome in spots. Its heart is in the right place, but the execution of its themes just isn't as crisp as it could have been.

The film is too long, and you could tell that Judd Apatow wrote some wordy scenes for his wife Leslie Mann, which went on a little too long as well.

I liked Apatow's last film (The 40 Year Old Virgin) more than this one.

I give it 3 stars or a grade of B.

Robert Anthony · 06-02-2007, 10:35 PM

I think this film asks for a bit more complexity than most romantic comedies, but it doesn't really make it apparent that it's asking for that complexity, and it tosses enough gags in there that a lot of the (plentiful) subtexts and subplots go flying past.

In a genre that seems very content to stick with a straight up and down "Underdog gets girl and kisses off villain trying to impede him) the fact this movie really HAS no villains, has no meanness to it, has the balls to make every one of the characters totally understandable even WHEN they're screwing up and then not tie it up in a pretty bow when a normal comedy would call for it? That's impressive. What makes it triply impressive is how damned FUNNY the thing is.

This is better than 40 Year Old virgin because it's more real. It's not as cartoonish and the story is more propulsive. The conflicts aren't contrived and the solutions aren't simpleminded and emotionally insipid as your typical romcom. The characterizations are solid and well thought out and brilliantly acted, so that even when you RECOGNIZE a character is screwing up (Rogen's, Rudd's) you almost want to forgive them their emotional stupidity while at the same time rooting for them to get their shit together. I imagine this will work for a lot more people because a lot more people can see themselves in these characters.

And again, it's ridiculously funny. I think there are more HUGE laughs in this flick than in 40 Year Old Virgin. The marriage of that comedic gold to such insightful and honest storytelling makes this a better movie. And I LOVED 40 Year Old Virgin.

ScottR · 06-03-2007, 01:10 AM

***1/2 out of ****

Knocked Up is a refreshing change from the Summer of the Sequel. It's laugh out loud funny with a lot of heart. Seth Rogan is poised to become the next comedy star. Heigl is glowing a proves to be a very good big screen actress. Loved every minute of it!!! Vulgar, but with brains.

Chris · 06-03-2007, 10:26 AM

I kept hearing how wild and raunchy this film was. And yes, the F-bomb is used far too often. But at it's heart, this is a film that is almost PG (not PG-13) in nature. The storyline is a pretty honest telling of things, and it has something gross out comedies lost: heart. The audience I was with didn't have a lot of giant laughs, but I think anyone who has had a child can completely sympathize with several of the onscreen moments.

My wife & I went Saturday night and some of the sequences just make you cringe because you have to remember when you were there. Buying the baby books. OB-GYNs who are jerks.

And yes, a lot of it is seemingly within the "formula" wheelhouse, that it's been done on screen before. But just because something has been done before doesn't mean that it can't be done again better.

I think a lot of people will go into this thinking gross-out comedy, and it isn't that at all. My wife said it reminded her a lot of "Parenthood". Me too.

I heard people saying stuff like "oh could be NC-17" for what? I guess the crowning scene, but watch Discover channel sometime or see the real thing, the crowning scene was a weak moment for me, because it was so fake

But the joke went over well.

This is a cute date move with a lot of heart. That's what I really like about Apatow's film. In 40 Year Old Virgin, it wasn't a gross out film aimed to make fun of the characters, it was a pretty sympathetic story about a guy finding love in the end. In Knocked Up, it's a story about a young couple falling in love.

This film ran long with a few sequences that didn't work (it was obvious there was some joke about getting an IV that got cut, and the Vegas scene could have been way shorter) but it was a good night out, I enjoyed it a lot

1/2 /

Todd H · 06-03-2007, 07:24 PM

Wife and I just got back from seeing this. We both enjoyed it immensely, especially as we are about to have our first child. Our experience was made less enjoyable however by th