Great movie, hits all the targets brilliantly

Rating: 10/10 (27 June 2008)

Normal guys are not constantly serious. Men have hopes, dreams, fears, the need to relax, and lots of illusions of how things might be. Watching "Knocked Up" really makes me see the Judd Apatow was not the cause of "Don't Mess With the Zohan" being an unfunny unentertaining bore-fest. Judd Apatow's writing and direction in this movie keeps the scene pacing clean and the movie flows smoothly to each plot point. Judd makes each character believable with interesting complexities. Judd Apatow has a highly introspective mind which can detail the personalities of a person so that the viewer relates to the unspoken thoughts reflected in the faces of the brilliant actors & actresses.
The characters were a bit generic in design, but perfectly fit this movie pitched to an audience of men deciding whether to commit to a marriage and raising an unexpected child.
Seth Rogen plays the non-serious guy wanting a life of easy pleasure and no responsibility. Katherine Heigl plays the funny sexy idealized wonderful girlfriend (bizarrely ignorant of popular entertainment) who is okay with the non-serious guy, but starts needing a guy who can be reliable and trustworthy when the baby is due. Paul Rudd plays the pussy-whipped husband who is highly reliable and has a good-paying job, but is slowly dying inside from his over-bearing snippy constantly judgmental nightmare wife. Leslie Mann has the hardest role here as "The Nightmare Wife" in that she plays the shrew wife which unforgivably picks at constant irrelevant flaws because she is scared and bored and unhappy and unable to deny she is getting older as well as slightly less attractive. However, Leslie Mann's character is also highly supportive of her sister and she is serious and focused about dealing with life's difficulties and is thusly a highly desirable woman of character to have around even if she is an unreasonable highly demanding witch for 90% of her life. Leslie Mann has the hardest character to play because she will be the one that everyone is programmed to hate (note that she is ACTING and this character should not be considered to be the real life Leslie Mann in the same way that Ron Perlman is not a superhero demon or an alien or a circus strongman).
The only flaw I can find with the movie is the problem of people doing whatever they desire and then dealing with the consequences haphazardly afterward (as this was the punchline to the movie "Idiocracy"). However, life happens that way and this movie sells the idea that even though the circumstances are not ideal, they are tolerable and common and workable no matter how much they do not mesh with your dreams and plans.
I highly recommend this movie for viewing even though it is a sales pitch.