A dream cast of the new generation of comedy

Rating: 8/10 (5 July 2007)

Comedy has basically fallen into three categories these days. There's the family friendly light comedies such as any of the crap Steve Martin and Eddie Murphy have done in the past 10 years, there's the moronic comedies with people like Adam Sandler and Rob Schneider, and there's the gross-out comedies. That's why it's so refreshing when a comedy comes along that is geared for adults. 40 Year-Old Virgin was a great recent example, and now the same team has returned with another success, Knocked Up.
Based on the subject matter, language, and content, it's definitely for adults, but it doesn't need to resort to gross-outs for cheap laughs. The film has some real laugh-out-loud moments and is consistently entertaining for all of its two-hour-plus running time. While the second hour doesn't quite live up to the first, as it started to remind me more of Nine Months than 40 year-Old Virgin - not just the subject, but its tone and plot as well - it was still thoroughly entertaining. It manages to be be funny in all the right (and wrong) ways, but still ends up being a sweet film with real heart.
The one thing that really makes the film work is the cast. Heck, even Ryan Seacrest made me laugh in his one scene. The group assembled here is like a dream team of the new generation of comedy - all very new up-and-coming talents (with the exception of Paul Rudd, who is only recently getting the attention and acclaim he deserves): Seth Rogen, Rudd, Jason Segal, Jonah Hill, Alan Tudyk, Kristen Wiig & Bill Hader (the only actually talented members of SNL these days), and several others from director Apatow's Freaks & Geeks and Undeclared. As a matter of fact, you could pretty much play the "One Degree of Judd Apatow" game with the whole cast. Practically everyone from the two fore-mentioned shows makes an appearance, as well as people from 40 Year-Old Virgin, and even the director's own wife and kids play substantial supporting roles in the film.
I really hope this group continues to churn out more films, as they are far superior to the "frat pack" that seems to be considered the top of comedy right now - Ben Stiller, the Wilson brothers, Will Ferrell, Vince Vaughn (though I like some of his stuff)... I know I'll be waiting to see whatever they choose to do next.