Knocked Up (2007)

Jun 05, 2007 23:31





The Cast
Seth Rogen ... Ben Stone
Katherine Heigl ... Alison Scott
Paul Rudd ... Pete
Leslie Mann ... Debbie
Jason Segel ... Jason
Jay Baruchel ... Jay
Jonah Hill ... Jonah
Martin Starr ... Martin
Iris Apatow ... Charlotte
Maude Apatow ... Sadie
Joanna Kerns ... Alison’s Mom
Harold Ramis ... Ben's Dad
Alan Tudyk ... Jack
Kristen Wiig ... Jill
Loudon Wainwright III ... Dr. Howard
B.J. Novak ... Young Doctor

I don't go out to see new movies that often anymore, so when I do, you know there absolutely postively must be a damn good reason why I spent far too much money to be (hopefully) entertained. After watching The 40-Year-Old Virgin, Freaks and Geeks and Undeclared, in my mind Judd Apatow can do no wrong when it comes to writing and directing. He has such a natural ear for dialogue and doesn't cram in semi-obscure pop culture references to be an elitist, just to be real to himself. Or it could be that he just surrounds himself with the same talented gang of actors that are improvisational geniuses so that everything feels real and fresh and hides all of Apatow's flaws as a filmmaker. Either way, I will always be happy to plunk down $11.95 to see a Judd Apatow movie.

Right off the bat I have to say that when you read the title of a Judd Apatow movie, you pretty much know exactly what you're going to get. The night that Alison Scott (Heigl) is promoted to an on-camera position with E! News, she goes to a club with her sister Debbie (Mann) and proceeds to get ripped with a nice stoner guy named Ben Stone (Rogen), who has the luckiest night of his life since he goes home with the way-out-of-his-league Alison. The morning after, Alison discovers she has absolutely nothing in common with Ben and they part ways. This is where the title of the film comes into play, as Alison later finds out that she's pregnant with Ben's kid.

In a terrible movie, that sort of plot twist would lead to all sorts of ridiculously contrived situations. Perhaps Ben's friends followed him to Alison's place and switched places when they were all drunk. Maybe Debbie's husband Pete (Rudd) snuck in and it was all wacky and shit. NO... bad screenwriters do that, Judd Apatow does not, Apatow keeps it real. Actually, I'm pretty much convinced that about 50% of the dialogue in the movie was improvised and then polished to perfection by the real life friends that make up the main and supporting cast. It's the witty back and forths, the vicious chop-busting and the one guy that just takes it all, those are qualities that make a movie feel more real. And when your romantic co-leads in a movie are Katherine Heigl and Seth Rogen, you need as much feeling real as possible.

There's so much to love and enjoy about this movie, from Joanna Kerns as a very un-Maggie Seavers-mom to Alison and Debbie, to the hilarious Vegas "trip" that Ron and Pete go on, to the awesomely underrated performance of Kristen Wiig. Maybe underrated isn't the word so much as overlooked may be the word, since everyone I've talked to (andythesaint) thought she was hilarious. Loudon Wainwright's fantastic score / soundtrack should not go without mention, particularly the two songs that play over the end credits, one of which perfectly encapsulates just how much heart the movie has.

There's not much more that I can say about this movie without just appearing to be gushing. It's not a perfect movie, as there are a few jarringly dramatic scenes throughout (not to mention some of the scenes in the last 20 minutes, hooo boy, wasn't ready for that) and the pacing of the film suffers just an eensy bit for it. It's probably the most fun you'll have at a movie theater this summer, and much more fresh than any of those three-quels will be.

4.5 / 5

bill_hader, jason_segel, leslie_mann, movies, jonah_hill, loudon_wainwright, jay_baruchel, steve_carell, judd_apatow, alan_tudyk, martin_starr, paul_rudd, harold_ramis, james_franco, katherine_heigl, seth_rogen

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