knuckled under

Rating: 1/10 (8 June 2007)

I was uncomfortable through out this film, having to watch stereotype after stereotype, mean-spirited "jokes" and juvenile toilet humour. Let's look at the good:
Leslie Mann: Her shallow, annoying character was played very well by Ms. Mann; and by the end, she was even somewhat sympathetic. Harold Ramis: His two-minute scene was the ONLY truly likable character in this entire film. I loved him. Paul Rudd: Despite his woe-begone fatalistically brow-beaten character, Rudd was genuinely good. Too bad his character was "resigned" to what looked like a life not worth living.
The Bad:
The jab at a guy like Stephen Hawking. Yeah; this film sinks that low. The stereotype that "pot-heads" are all unemployed, long-haired dopes with prurient life goals; think again... Heigl with Rogen's character? No way. This is a guy who grabbed his BONG during an earthquake without a thought to her safety. I could relate to her exasperation with Ben and his friends...but ending up with him? Sure....
The conversations about Munich were very insensitive; but then, this entire film was, so at least it was consistent. Endorsing De Beers?? The toilet humour..really. The reference to a woman's anatomy using the C-word, more than once, is misogynistic and really dumb. The kids, played by Apatows daughters, were cute; but I felt like they were being exploited. "I googled murder" today? Lovely. That list with the Canadian Beavers, headed by Pamela Anderson, Lolita Davidovich, Natasha Henstridge, and another woman, wasn't funny for me.
Even the second bar scene, where Mann and Heigl, who had previously pushed their way to the front of the line without a thought to "the ugly people" waiting in line, didn't play out as sympathetic at all. We are suppose to laugh at a situation where, they are now barred from line-jumping because Heigl is pregnant and Mann is "too old"? And the 5% quota for certain races? I felt sick.
This film wasn't completely unfunny. Some of the scenes with the Hollywood execs. played quite well by Kristin Wiig and Alan Tudyk, were humorous. "This is Hollywood. We don't like liars here...".
Even the title of this film is offensive to me. I went because I loved The 40-yr Old Virgin, and because it was reviewing very very well across the board. Instead, what I saw was a crass piece of work that has been done many times before, by a director who is capable of much much better. If I were ever trapped with these characters, I would smile feebly and back out of the room asap.
What scares me is how popular this film is. What does that say about us? Maybe, this film isn't that influential in the long run. But it definitely reflects the taste rampant in the throngs of people lining up to see this horrible film, for a SECOND time, and declaring it the funniest "comedy" they've ever seen.
I don't think so.