Depressing, Disturbing Movie

Rating: 4/10 (27 August 2007)

This is the second of the Judd Apatow movie's I've seen, the first being "40 Year Old Virgin"; of the two, this was the more depressing and gut-wrenching of the two. Above all, this movie symbolizes the loss of individuality and freedom for the conformity of married life. The movie was full of too many dramatic, serious moments, and not nearly goofy enough. The raunchy toilet humor was totally out of place in what was an otherwise tragic story.
This movie presents a very grim view of married life and interpersonal relationships between men and women. One feels very sorry for the brother-in-law of the pregnant woman, who only desires some alone time from his nagging, unbearable shrew of a wife; and yet, we're supposed to buy the fact that he's going to crawl back to her as a devoted husband? What's more, Heigl's character is willing to go through with pregnancy with Rogen's irresponsible shlub? The pairing in the movie is one of a cycle of bickering and forgiveness, with no end in sight. The bickering isn't even funny, like the kind you see in "Married With Children" or "War of the Roses"; it's rather creepy, especially with the fact that Rogen's character takes it all in stride and responds with fawning affection. One can smell the train wreck of a relationship that's coming, and it won't be funny in the least.
One can criticize this movie for its theme of a libertine man trading in his life for responsibility and domestic bliss. He is forced into a politically correct mold which gives this film a flavor of the generic and mainstream. Apatow does not seem interested in going against the grain; he is content to please mainstream America with a happily-ever-after of a sappy love story of a fawning husband and his demanding wife. This is not a goofy parody or tongue-in-cheek approach: Apatow is content to shove the idea of Rogen being a "changed man" down our gullets, until we see him as following the straight-and-narrow path to pleasing his rather demanding girlfriend.
This movie follows the formula of using toilet humor paradoxically interspliced with mainstream morality. Sure, we may chuckle at stoners giving each other "pink eye", or playing murderball in wheelchairs; but that's a given in any mainstream comedy nowadays. This movie dares not even mention the word "abortion" by name; even if one is morally opposed to the idea of an abortion, and sees it as evil, the word can at least be mentioned. This seems like an act of cowardice in the scriptwriter's part.
In short, the movie is not goofy or silly enough to warrant a recommendation. It takes its message far too seriously, and presents a view of life between men and women which will make one pine for a bachelor's life forever.