After young up and coming TV reporter Allison Scott
(Katherine Heigl) gets promoted she heads out to celebrate with her sister
Debbie (Leslie Mann). She ends up having a drunken one night stand with an
unemployed, pot smoking; man child called Ben (Seth Rogan) and a few weeks
later discovers that she is pregnant. Knocked
Up follows the nine months of pregnancy and the difficulties faced by
unprepared soon to be parents Ben and Allison and married couple Debbie and
Pete (Paul Rudd).
I saw Knocked Up
on a transatlantic flight a few years ago and remembered enjoying it but
remembered little of it. With a sort of sequel This is 40 released this month I thought I’d go back and give the
film a second watch. For me it is average in terms of laughs for a Judd Apatow
produced film but considering his films can be very hit and miss this is one of
the most entertaining and also sweetest.
There is a lot of comedy in Knocked Up but I rarely found it funny. Rather, it just washed over
me. It wasn’t unfunny either, it was just happening. I only laughed out loud
twice and this happened when Allison tells Ben she is pregnant (“I’m pregnant”
“Fuck off”.) and when Ben and Pete are high on mushrooms. The rest of the time
I just watched with an occasional smile on my face. I enjoyed spending time
with the characters and seeing Ben and his friends sit around, watching movies
and smoke pot all day made me wish that I could get away with doing that. They
had pretty much the perfect life. Their making fun of each other and general
joking around was fun to watch but luckily it didn’t become overbearing. I also
really liked the relationship between Rudd’s Pete and Rogan’s Ben. They made a
great team and the Vegas scenes are amongst the funniest.
The friendship type of relationships were typical Apatow
territory but when it came to the man/woman relationships it seemed like Apatow
was more out of his depth. There are good moments and some decent drama but it
always feels as though the Director is simply riding the comic waves and
waiting until he can get back to the guys. The female characters also suffer
from being stereotyped as angry, grumpy etc whereas the guys are happy, funny,
layabouts. Despite the problems though and the fact that you know things will
work out in the end, the final birthing scenes made me broody and were very
sweet and dare I say it, a bit emotional.
The writing might not be brilliant but there are some good
lines and the movie makes use of some great comic actors. The likes of Jason
Segel, Jonah Hill, Jay Baruchel and Bill Hader are usually fun to watch and are
all good here. Seth Rogan plays the Seth Rogan character well and is the sort
of guy you’d want as a friend. Katherine Heigl is fine but always looks to be
on the outside of an in joke and Leslie Mann has some good moments. The stand
out though is Paul Rudd who has one of the best character arcs and is usually
great, even when he’s in terrible films (see Wanderlust). It’s not surprising that Rudd and Mann have got a spin
off in This is 40, I felt as though
there was more that could be rung out of their characters and they made a
decent screen duo.
Overall Knocked Up
is a more than adequate film. I found more drama than comedy but liked the time
I spent with the characters and considering some of Apatow’s recent output it
didn’t make me want to hurt people so I’d call that a success.
7/10
Titbits
- Since "knocked up" doesn't mean anything in most languages, the film's translation in Russia is "A little bit pregnant." In Brazil it's "Slightly Pregnant". In Italy it's 'Very Pregnant' ('Molto Incinta'). In Portugal it's "Bloody Bad Luck".
- Katherine Heigl has stated on the record that she believes the film is sexist.
- Anne Hathaway was originally cast as Alison Scott but left due to 'creative differences'. Juliette Lewis, Drew Barrymore, Cameron Diaz, Claire Danes, Uma Therman and Rene Zellweger all dropped out subsequently.
Good review Tom. Heigl really screwed the pooch with this movie because as much shit as she may talk on it, she still will never, ever be in another movie as good as this. Unless we're all counting the Ugly Truth as a cinematic masterpiece.
ReplyDeleteYeah, to be honest I wasn't sure I'd seen her in anything else and then Googling her filmography I realised she'd been in pretty much every film I've tried to avoid in the last five years.
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