Knocked Up Review
by Clint Morris
Click Here for our interview with Judd Apatow, Seth Rogen & Paul Rudd
Is Judd Apatow trying to tell us something? He kicks off his cinematic filmmaking career with a film called The 40-Year-Old Virgin and follows it up with the curiously titled Knocked Up
– sounds like someone’s trying to channel a message about the
repercussions of sex via cinema, hey? If that’s the case, ask your sex
education teacher to encompass both films into the curriculum – because
these ones, you might actually watch. And though you’ll laugh at both
I’m sure, this you might actually learn something from.
That’s
the thing with Apatow’s films – they’re as funny as watching a fat
mouse ride a toothpick motorcycle, but they’re informative to
boot. Knocked Up, for
example, informs us about the repercussions of the customary one-night
stand, but at the same time throws in a few slices of advice in terms
of fine tuning your relationship too (not only that, but as someone
that’s actually smack-bang in the middle of impending fatherhood, it
‘tells it how it is’ – talking about the birth, of course.)
And like 40-year-old Virgin – laugh all you like, but you know they’re out there – Knocked Up
is keepin’ it real. Sometimes ugly guys do get the chicks; smart chicks
can be coaxed into one-night stands when they’ve had a few, and
relationships; they’re not as easy as they make them out to be in the
Nicholas Sparks novels.
Knocked Up
features a storyline we’ve all seen before – slacker has to change his
ways and finally grow up – but it’s the writing and performances that
skyrocket this one into another stratosphere.
Seth Rogen (last seen in Apatow’s 40-year-old-Virgin)
plays Ben, a scruffy unemployed loser (though he’s hoping that will all
change with a website – nude scenes of the stars – he and his friends
are developing) that gets a wake up call and-a-half. Eight
weeks after a one-night stand with a pretty (then drunk) girl, Alison
(Katherine Heigl), he receives ‘that’ phone call. Yep, he’s about to
become a dad.
Writer/director Judd Apatow seems to be quietly
thieving the crown of the Farrelly Brothers. Like the filmmaking duo’s
landmark gross-out comedy Something About Mary, both 40-year-old Virgin and Knocked Up
find the laugh in real situations – any real situation. Sometimes
you’ll laugh till you puke, but in the case of this one you’ll also
learn [near] just as much about child rearing (there’s a great line in
the film referring to someone wanting to ‘rear’ the other’s baby) as
you would from “What to expect when you’re expecting”. In some
respects, it’s an out-and-out comedy meets a chick flick by way of a
Dr. Ruth documentary.
The writing is the star of the show. It’s
flawless. From sidesplitting pop culture references to some of the
filthiest argument silage you’ve ever heard, it’ll keep your gut busted
for the duration.
Credit though to the fine cast. Seth Rogen –
great to see the lead isn’t being played by a guy who looks like he
gets more pussy than a cattery – proves himself the likeable leading
man with his rob as the slobbish make-over man, whilst beautiful
Katherine Heigl (best known for her role on TVs Grey’s Anatomy) splits sides and breaks hearts as the all-too-real expectant one.
The
supporting cast here are gold, too. Paul Rudd is fantastic, again
proving what great comic ability he has when let off the chain; Leslie
Mann (Apatow’s real-life wife) has some great moments as his slightly
overbearing wife; whilst Jay Baruchel, Jonah Hill, Jason Segel and
Martin Starr get oodles of laughs as Rogen’s stoner buddies.
Outrageously
funny (I don’t think I’ve enjoyed a comedy this much since the 80s!),
Terribly Sweet, Very unhollywood real (some things in the last five
minutes of the film have never been on film!) and superbly cast, Knocked Up is this year’s must see-movie. No, not Spider-Man 3, not Pirates of the Caribbean, not Shrek the Third…. A little movie about a couple of parents to be is where it’s all at in 2007. 4 out
of 5 Knocked Up
Australian
release: 5th July,
2007
Cast: Seth Rogen, Paul Rudd, Leslie Mann, Katherine Heigl, Jason Segel
Director: Judd Apatow
Website: Click
here.
| 
