One of the funnier films of the year

Rating: 7/10 (6 June 2007)

There's nothing funny about getting someone pregnant after a one night stand.
Or is there? Knocked Up, the new comedy from the creative mind of Judd Apatow who brought us the very funny The 40-Year-Old Virgin just over a year ago, is funny, touching, hilarious and in one scene  gross, all culminating in what is the funniest movie since.well, since The 40-Year-Old Virgin.
The premise is summed up in the two word title, but let me try and expand on it just a little bit. It all starts when the beautiful Alison Scott (Katherine Heigl) meets the Shrek-ish Ben Stone (Seth Rogan) at a bar where she is out with sister Debbie (Leslie Mann) looking for nothing more than a good time and a few laughs. The good time and good laughs come alright, but so does copious amounts of alcohol that eventually lead the two opposites back at Alison's house and where a miscommunication regarding the usage of a condom leads in a revelation some eight weeks later.
The movie drifts between high emotional drama and belly laughs as the beauty and beast try and get to know each other while friend and family influences on both sides of the argument voice opinions and trade quips leading to the eventual birthing scene in the films final reel.
There is so much to like about Knocked Up that it is hard to know where to start. Like The 40-Year-Old Virgin, Apatow is able to make the audience genuinely care for the characters and their plights while surrounding them with a supporting cast that adds to much of the humor quotient of the film.
What I liked best about the film was the dialogue between the characters. There is joy, confusion, anger and happiness all scattered in and around situations that every day folk like ourselves can relate to (as opposed to say, Ocean's 13). For instance, the sheer shock of hearing that Alison is pregnant, Ben retorts, "With a baby?" Sure, it may sound stupid, but think of what the first unsuspecting words might be coming out of your mouth if slapped in the face with a life changing occurrence.
And if I liked the dialogue I really really appreciated the supporting team, in particular Leslie Mann and Paul Rudd who play sister-in-law-to-Alison Debbie and her husband Pete. Mann is a quick witted, sharp, tongue spearing pessimist that thinks her husband is cheating on her. Her biting words remind me of a young Elizabeth Perkins and Paul Rudd does a fantastic job of giving us a character that is vulnerable and trapped in a family of children and responsibility.
For all my praise, there are a few drawbacks which keep the film from accepting a 4+ star review rating. A sequence including magic mushrooms at a performance of Cirque in Vegas could have fell to the cutting room floor without much impact and at two hours and twenty nine minutes, it is hard for the comedic punches to maintain their open wounds.
But, if you get through the roller-coaster ride and find yourself still invested in interest by the time the crowning scene rolls along, you will undoubtedly have enjoyed yourself and in the mix of explosions and car chases this summer, that is a definite good thing.
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