A surprisingly effective mix of sweetness and crudity

Rating: 8/10 (17 August 2007)

On paper, Knocked Up didn't sound like a great project. The finished product, on the other hand, manages, similarly to director Judd Apatow's previous film, The 40-Year Old Virgin, to transcend its puerile concept and become a comedy that entertains and moves in equal measure.
The leading role is played by Seth Rogen, who famously said to Steve Carell (who appears as himself in a very irreverent, amusing scene) in Virgin: "I am ugly as f*ck by traditional standards, but, I get with women.". His character in Knocked Up, Ben Stone, might agree with the first part of the statement, but certainly not with the second: in fact, he's been so obsessed with fulfilling his dream (he and his pals are working on a website which can tell you exactly at what point and for how long a famous actor or actress is naked in a movie) he hasn't even seen a woman in ages. Imagine his surprise, then, when he goes out for a drink and runs into Alison Scott (Katherine Heigl), a TV camerawoman who is about to get a promotion, and she accepts to spend the night with him. Only problem is, Ben's excessive eagerness leads him to misinterpret his partner's instructions about a condom, meaning that eight weeks later he gets a phone call from Alison who is in the titular condition and forces him to face his responsibilities.
So far, so typical. But just like Kevin Smith, Apatow has a rare gift: he can alternate moments of pure crudity and reflections on deeper subjects without making the picture seem uneven. For every scene where Ben and his friends discuss things using extremely colorful expressions, there is a touching glimpse of the crisis that is going on between Alison's sister, played by the director's real-life wife Leslie Mann, and brother-in-law (Paul Rudd), whose bleak description of his feelings is worthy of Woody Allen: "Marriage is like a tense, unfunny version of Everybody Loves Raymond, only it doesn't last 22 minutes. It lasts forever.". Beyond the American Pie-style premise (albeit a more realistic one than that of Virgin) lies a daring, but also very funny, analysis of love, commitment, aging and the fear of remaining alone. Not bad for a filmmaker whose breakthrough feature had a tag-line that said "The longer you wait, the harder it gets" (Knocked Up's is even cheekier: "A one-night stand to end all others").
As with The 40-Year Old Virgin, much of the fun derives from the cast: though it is unlikely he will be cast in more serious or mature roles, as was the case with Carell (Little Miss Sunshine), Rogen is a valuable addition to the new wave of emerging American comedians; Rudd develops the darker side he started showing in Virgin, confirming his status as a reliable dramatic counterpoint to the slapstick in Apatow's films, and his chemistry with Mann adds to their scenes' poignancy; and Heigl, best known for Grey's Anatomy, could easily become the new Cameron Diaz, using her looks but not depending on them (something that was actually discussed in an episode of Grey's) and proving, much more effectively than Reese Witherspoon, that not all blondes necessarily have to be stupid on camera, her performance being one of the smartest ever given by a female lead in a mainstream comedy.
Ironically, the movie's only weakness is also shared with its predecessor: the running time. The film is never actually boring, but 129 minutes is a little too much even for something as funny as this, and there are a few scenes (the Vegas bit and the celebrity cameo montage most of all) that would have been better had they been shortened a bit. Overall, though, Knocked Up is the year's best US comedy so far, and further confirmation of the fact that Judd Apatow is a name that deserves to be mentioned in the same breath as Mel Brooks or Kevin Smith.