Overrated but Still Pretty Damn Funny and Touching

Rating: 8/10 (21 November 2007)

Pete: Marriage is like a tense, unfunny version of Everybody Loves Raymond, only it doesn't last 22 minutes. It lasts forever.
Going into 'Knocked Up' I was expecting a lot. After seeing his last film, the side-split-tingly funny '40 Year Old Virgin', I noticed I was quickly becoming a big Judd Apatow fan. If I were to say 'Knocked Up' met my expectations, I'd be lying. Honestly, I loved it, but I was expecting so much more from it than great one-liners and a good story. I was expecting one of the funniest movies I've seen, and that's not what I got. 'Knocked Up' is very funny, but there's only one or two scenes where the funny level drifts into the 'hysterical' zone, so to speak.
The story is kind of familiar. Ben Stone (Seth Rogen) is an out-of-shape ambition-less pothead. In most cultures we'd call him a loser. He and his less classy but very entertaining friends; Jay, Jason, Jonah and Martin, run a website that tells you exactly how far into movies hot celebrities get naked. Too bad none of them ever heard of Mr. Skin.com, a revelation they have later in the movie and find disheartening. One night, Ben and his buddies are at a club getting sh__t-faced, and Ben meets Alison Scott (Katherine Heigl), an extremely attractive E! news anchor, and they have a drunken hook-up. Eight weeks later, Alison finds out she's pregnant due to Ben's condom mishap. Like anyone with a brain in their head could have predicted, Alison tells Ben, and Ben decides to take on the responsibilities of being a father. The two slowly start to fall in love with each other during the ordeal.
As far as the acting goes, I was pleasantly surprised. Seth Rogen surprised the hell out of me in his capability as a leading man. His acting isn't half-bad and he's very convincing in his role consistently through-out the film. Rogen is also hilarious for the most part, in both his dialogue and screen presence. Katherine Heigl also gives a merit-able performance. She's not nearly as funny as Rogen, but she's not over-the-top like most female leads in these kinda movies (like Jennifer Aniston in 'The Break-Up' -- pbbt!) I've heard from many people Heigl is good in 'Grey's Anatomy', but I wouldn't know, I don't watch that stupid friggin' show. Leslie Mann is humorous as Alison's annoying sister, and Paul Rudd is excellent in his role as Alison's sister's husband who compares marriage to a very long and unfunny episode of 'Everybody Loves Raymond'. Rudd, whose proved himself with commendable work in 'The Shape of Things' and 'The Cider House Rules', is without question the best actor in the film and his performance adds a lot to it. 'Knocked Up' also has a number of interesting cameos from people like Ryan Seacrest, Jessica Alba, Steve Carrell, and my personal favorite, Mo Collins as a gynecologist.
Judd Apatow and Seth Rogen's writing is perhaps the strongest aspect of the movie in most cases. Apatow and Rogen provide some ingenious one-liners that in more ways than one are the saving grace of the movie when it gets kinda boring towards the final 20 minutes. But that's the thing -- 'Knocked Up' relies on one-liners instead of big extravagant physical comedy sequences to make it funny. This is where one of the biggest problems of the film lies. This would be fine if the one-liners were more prolific than they are here. There's just too many dull blocks of time in 'Knocked Up' to make this type of comedic approach work as successfully as it could.
You may think by reading my review, I hated the film, when in fact I really quite enjoyed it. I was just sorely disappointed in it. There are many parts in the film that are genuinely funny and the film isn't sappy in it's dramatic moments, it's just such a let-down from '40 Year-Old Virgin', 'Borat', or some of the other REALLY good comedies that have been released in the last two years. But there is a lot more to like about the movie, than there is to dislike about it. I recommend it to anyone looking to have a fun time at the movie theater in a year where movies just flat-out suck. In a summer where the god-awful 'Spider-Man 3' and sleep-inducing 'Pirates 3' lead the box office, 'Knocked Up' is a freakin' godsend. Grade: B+