Judd Apatow: The Man of Fun

Rating: 9/10 (21 November 2007)

Picture a passionate sceneA guy and a girl are about to have sex and he's having troubles with his condom; he can't seem to be able to put it on. The girl says: "Just do it already". Maybe a normal guy would interpret the phrase as what it means, but not Ben Stone (Seth Rogen): he throws the condom to the floorAnd he gets Alison (Katherine Heigl) pregnant.
I haven't laughed so hard with a movie since I don't know when. "Knocked Up" is a romantic comedy unlike any romantic comedy and better than the average romantic comedy. The reason? I would have to say Judd Apatow: the guy who gave "Fun with Dick and Jane" its few laughs, the writer/director of "The 40 Year Old Virgin" and the mastermind behind this. Apatow really knows how to have fun. Characters the same names as the actors who play them, freshness in each scene, unexpected comedic resolutions during typical moments; that is all Apatow.
Take this for example, continuing with what I wrote in the first paragraph. Alison and Ben wake up after having sex and leave the house for breakfast. They encounter Alison's sister Debbie (a brilliant Leslie Mann) and his husband Pete (a brilliant Paul Rudd) with their two little kids. "Don't ever do what they just did", Pete tells his four-year-old daughter. "I'm gonna do it", she answers. Or another scene where Debbie thinks Pete is cheating on her; finds an address and goes there with Ben and Alison to check it out. She's angry, and as soon as she leaves the car, Ben asks Alison: "Is she carrying a gun?".
The audience doesn't expect these lines and the laughs flow naturally. If they are improvised or not is unimportant; what matters is that Apatow is directing them and allows their inclusion in the film. If there's one problem with "Knocked Up" is that it runs a little bit long, but it doesn't make it worse than the wonder it is.
It is a wonder because in its long duration, it manages to combine comedy, drama and romance in an enviable way. It's not always the most active movie, but it doesn't have to be; it's not always funny and sometimes it is when it's not supposed to; it's romantic in the most classic way and it's helped by a classic plot line with zero surprises. However, in all this predictable plot line, "Knocked Up" has a quality that only few comedies achieve: it knows its time(s).
Besides, it creates its own language and it makes us part of it very quickly; it takes the chance to be critical about the Hollywood Business with intelligent humor. But most importantly (and this was also palpable in "The 40 Yea Old Virgin"), and as another rare characteristic, it truly cares for its characters who are interesting, flawed and real human beings.
Seth Rogen constructs a lovable creature, like one of those big bears you want to hug, surpassing the promise he showed in 'Virgin'; while Katherine Heigl looks more beautiful than in "Grey's Anatomy" and creates a completely different and believable character from her Izzie Stevens. When I wrote about 'Virgin' I said Apatow was more a planner than a directorHe still is, if we consider Eric Edward's cinematography, with very little creativity.
But the directing side of Apatow comes to light from another side: from the double sense of names (Ben Stone; you'll see once you're inside the movie), from little posters in rooms and books in bookstores and photographs and references that seem to declare his inspirations. Then, we can see him through these things. We can see the man behind the camera, and let me tell you it's a good place the one where he comes from.