Stuck in No Man's Land - A "half comedy" ?

Rating: 6/10 (25 June 2007)

After watching Knocked Up I left with a feeling that I wanted SOMETHING more. Yes, it sure had good bits of that 40 Year Old Virgin type humor, and it was also a lot sweeter and more serious than 40 YOV...but that is where I think it failed. The movie had no identity.
I wasn't sure how to handle the characters. Was I supposed to identify with them and take them seriously? Or was I supposed to laugh at how goofy they were? There was a little bit of both, but because of that I was never really able to get into the groove of it. In this case two halves did NOT make a whole.
Sure, it was good for a few laughs, the acting was fine (not outstanding), the production was fine (again, not outstanding)...but I don't think it was worth seeing in the theaters. It just left me in limbo...I couldn't really get into the comedy because these were SERIOUS issues they explored, and I also couldn't take the characters and their problems as seriously as I wanted to because of the wacky 40 YOV humor. Knocked Up tried to be two things at once, and because of that it lost lots of power on both sides of the coin.
Maybe people like this new kind of "half comedy"...but I couldn't really get into it. And it just seemed to drag ON AND ON. Especially because from what I heard there was supposed to be constant gut busting humor...but to be honest, I don't think this is nearly as good as 40 YOV, because it takes itself too seriously. You knew what 40 YOV was from the start, right up the goofy song ending...they kept you in that comedy mode. But Knocked Up seemed to get caught in no man's land to me...and just couldn't satisfy either my want for comedy or my want for romance/drama.
Overall it's not a bad film, but I'd wait for it on DVD and a lazy, rainy day :)