Very funny, as well as touching. But it has some problems.

Rating: 8/10 (3 June 2007)

Sweet-natured romantic comedy about a one-night stand that results in pregnancy. The two reluctant parents are Ben (Seth Rogan), an unemployed stoner, and Alison (Katherine Heigl), a newly hired reporter for the E! cable network. The film follows their experiences and their rocky relationship. We also spend a lot of time with Alison's sister and brother-in-law (Leslie Mann and Paul Rudd), as well as Ben's roommates (too many to mention, but is Jonah Hill Chris Penn's love child or what?). The film runs a tad over two hours long, and with all these characters, it feels rushed. I liked the characters, but wanted to know them better. I think Alison especially gets short-changed. Writer/director Apatow's experience surely lies with Ben, and it feels like we spend a lot more time with him. I didn't feel like I understood Alison's choices. A career-minded 20-something Los Angelina gets knocked up by a chubby, pot-smoking under-construction porn site running loser. Yeah. I honestly never believed that this character would have a baby. The film addresses the abortion issue, but in a flippant manner. Joanna Kerns pops up in one scene as Alison's mother, and advises her to get an abortion. It's clearly just there so a conservative audience can hiss at her. Sorry, folks, but people like Alison have abortions every day of the week and twice on Sundays. Without a little more background, I don't buy it. I'm also left perplexed at the absolute plethora of pop culture references. What purpose do they serve other than to date the film immediately? They talk about going to see Spider-Man 3, for Christ's sake! Despite those grumbles, the film is quite enjoyable. I liked Apatow's previous film, The 40 Year-Old Virgin, but felt it could have been funnier. Knocked Up succeeds a lot better in its comedy. It does rely a bit too much on the stoner roommates, and a scene where Rogan and Rudd take mushrooms during Cirque de Soleil is not nearly as funny as Apatow seems to think it is. But, heck, I laughed a lot during the film. And I was touched to a certain extent. Very worthwhile, though I'd definitely recommend Waitress over this.