Knocked Up (2007)

Directed By: Judd Apatow
Cast: Seth Rogen, Katherine Heigl, Paul Rudd, Leslie Mann, Jason Segel, Jay Baruchel, Jonah Hill, Martin Starr, Harold Ramis

From the creators of The Forty Year Old Virgin comes the funniest American comedy of the year. But what’s more than that, it’s also a strong drama about growing up and facing the responsibilities of adulthood. It also has some cracking performances from leads Seth Rogen and Katherine Heigl.
The story is a simple one, Alison (Heigl) is a successful employee behind the scenes at E! Television Network. After a promotion she goes out to celebrate with her older sister. Having drunk too much she ends up in bed with 23 year old slacker Ben Stone (Rogen). A misunderstanding later and suddenly Alison is pregnant.
It a genius premise and one wonders why it’s never been approached before. But what makes it so satisfying is that this is the best possible result of such a concept. Rogen, given his first leading role by director Apatow is superb as the layout stoner who, along with his mates, is setting up a website detailing when celebrities get naked in movies.
Where the film flourishes though is with its depiction of the opposite sex. Take a partner to see this movie and you’ll find yourself nodding enthusiastically when the opposite sex is criticised and scoffing when your sex is. Yet, wrapped in what could have been one long sex joke is some genuine insight into the opposite sex, subtly intermingled with a lot of sex jokes.
The supporting cast do their job admirably also. Ben’s flatmates are a cavalcade of comedy relief, with witty banter and hilarious interactions reminiscent of 40 Year Old Virgin and Anchorman. But the stand outs are Paul Rudd and Leslie Mann as Alison sister and husband. Together they hold up a mirror of what awaits the new couple in years to come. Paul Rudd in particular stands out, his pessimistic cynicism perfectly juxtaposed against Ben’s optimistic enthusiasm.
The jokes come thick and fast, and thankfully most of them are well though out and the writers clearly took time to look at relationships from both a male and female point of view before penning the script. One might argue that this is just a man’s idea of relationships; Seth Rogen certainly is the beauty Katherine Heigl is, but the point being that women are attracted to different things to men. Also both characters are mature enough, in general, to be attractive to each other. To criticise Rogen’s casting because he’s not your typical hunk is quibbling for the sack f quibbling. He is so witty and funny that he becomes hugely desirable in the way Alison is desirable because of her magnificent beauty as much as her strength and ability to compete with him on the humour. In fact Katherine Heigl, is a superb comedienne, with a real talent for delivering jokes.
The highlights are often involving Rudd, who after Anchorman and 40 Year Old Virgin surely deserves his own comedy hit. He is genuine comedy great delivering the biggest laughs, his timing is impeccable. A subplot which sees Rudd’s Pete and Ben go to Vegas on mushrooms stands out as the highlight. Pete collecting all the different chairs in the hotel as moment of sheer comedic genius.
Apatow and Rogen are slowly taking over American comedy with a high brow low brow comedy hits, Superbad is from the same guys, and if they can maintain this kind of form there’s nothing that can stop. The golden age of contemporary American comedy continues unabated.