Knocked Up

Plot synopsis:
Alison Scott (Katherine Heigl) is a career-minded woman who has just been given an on-air role with E! and is living in the pool house with her sister Debbie's (Leslie Mann) family. Ben Stone (Seth Rogen) is laid-back and sardonic. He lives off funds received in compensation for an injury and sporadically works on a celebrity porn website with his roommates (Jay Baruchel, Jonah Hill, Jason Segel and Martin Starr), in between smoking marijuana or going off with them at theme parks such as Knott's Berry Farm. While celebrating her promotion, Alison meets Ben at a local nightclub. After a night of drinking, they end up having sex. Due to a misunderstanding, they don't use protection: Alison uses the phrase "Just do it already" to encourage Ben to put the condom on, but he misinterprets this to mean to dispense with using one. The following morning, they quickly learn over breakfast that they have little in common and go their separate ways, which leaves Ben visibly upset.
Eight weeks later, Alison experiences morning sickness during an interview with James Franco and realizes she could be pregnant. She contacts Ben for the first time since their one-night stand to tell him. Although insensitive at first, Ben says he will be there to support Alison. While he is still unsure about being a parent, his father (Harold Ramis) is excited. Alison's mother (Joanna Kerns) tries to persuade her daughter to have an abortion, but Alison decides to keep the child. Later, Alison and Ben decide to give their relationship a chance. The couple's efforts include Ben making an awkward marriage proposal with an empty ring box, promising to get her one someday. Alison thinks it's too early to think about marriage, because she is more concerned with hiding the pregnancy from her bosses, believing that they will fire her if they ever found out. After a somewhat promising beginning, tensions surface in the relationship.
Alison is increasingly worried about Ben's lack of responsibility and commitment, and has doubts about the longevity of their relationship. These thoughts are due to her sister's unhappy marriage. Debbie's husband, Pete (Paul Rudd), works as a talent scout for rock bands, but he leaves at odd hours in the night, which makes her suspect he is having an affair. Upon investigating, she learns that he is actually part of a fantasy baseball draft, which he explains he participates in to be free from Debbie's controlling manner. This results in their separation, and when Ben expresses amusement at Pete's deception, it leads to a heated argument with Alison as they drive to her doctor. Angered, she ejects him from her car and abandons him in the middle of a busy street. He tracks her down to her appointment and they both start another argument, leading to their own breakup. Ben and Pete decide to go on a road trip to Las Vegas.
Under the heavy influence of psychedelic mushrooms, they realize their loss and decide to take responsibility for their relationships. Simultaneously, Debbie drags a timid Alison out partying with her, but they are refused admission to a nightclub by its apologetic bouncer (Craig Robinson) on account of Debbie's age and Alison's pregnancy, leading to Debbie's tearful laments about her life and her desire to have Pete back. They reconcile at their daughter's birthday party, but when Ben tries to work things out with Alison, she doesn't want to get back together. Alison's boss finds out about her pregnancy, and sees an opportunity to boost ratings with female viewers by having Alison interview pregnant celebrities. After a talk with his father, Ben decides to take responsibility and goes to great effort to change his ways, including moving out of his friends' house, getting an office job as a web designer, and creating a baby's room in his new apartment.
He also starts reading the pregnancy books that he had purchased early on. When Alison goes into labor and is unable to contact her doctor, she calls Ben, as Debbie and Pete are at Legoland. Ben discovers that the gynecologist they had been seeing (Loudon Wainwright) is out of town, despite having assured them that he never took vacations. Ben calls him and leaves a furious voicemail, threatening murder. During labor, Alison apologizes for doubting Ben's commitment and admits that she never thought the man who got her pregnant would be the right one for her. When Debbie and Pete arrive at the hospital, Ben adamantly refuses to allow her to be at Alison's side, insisting that it's his place. Debbie is both furious and impressed that Ben took charge of the situation and begins to change her formerly negative opinion about him. The couple welcomes a baby girl (a boy in the alternate ending) and settle down happily together in a new apartment in Los Angeles.

Tags: romantic, humor, psychedelic, adult comedy

Review:
Ben Stone (Seth Rogen) meets Alison Scott (Katherine Heigl) at a bar, they get drunk and have a little fun afterward, then they part ways.
This simple story makes up the hilarious film Knocked Up. I really enjoyed this, it has a lot of great laughs and it also has a lot of heart spread throughout.Seth Rogen does an excellent job, I'm glad he's been given the chance to be the lead in such a big film.
For me, 40 Year Old Virgin is a funnier movie, but Knocked Up is a better written film and it has more heart to it.
Both films based their story on a simple premise (a nerdy 40 year old hasn't had sex, a guy has a one night stand and gets the woman pregnant), but it seems like 40 Year Old Virgin used its idea to just get laughs.
I went into the theater not knowing what to expect, not having seen the trailer, and two hours later I felt I had seen a decent movie, quite funny at times, but I couldn't figure out what everyone was making such a big deal about.
To be sure, Rogen is a funny guy - he handled the jump from second-tier supporting actor (a la 40 Year Old Virgin) to leading man surprisingly well, appearing confident and charismatic.
Rogen doesn't have enough in him at this point to carry an entire film on his shoulders, but often he is forced into that role, providing the only humor in many scenes (especially in the second half of the movie).
Paul Rudd manages to break this up, taking some of the burden off Rogen, but Katherine Heigl and Leslie Mann's unfunny and quasi-sympathetic characters drag them down.To be sure, the first half of Knocked Up is great, but by the second half the script becomes mired in slow, cliché drama.
As the film trudges past the 90-minute mark, it is sometimes humorous, sometimes dour, often clichéd, all resulting in an awkward mix of styles.Overall, Knocked Up was a good effort, but a little more editing of the script would have helped a lot.
Probably because there is something fundamentally poignant about watching people you deem hopeless stumbling toward responsibility, this movie reminds me of the old Natalie Wood/Steve McQueen dramedy, 1963's "Love With the Proper Stranger", about a Macy's salesgirl who gets impregnated by a ne'er-do-well jazz musician during a one-night stand and then tracks what happens afterward.
However, this is the 21st century, and the girl is now an interviewer on E!, and the guy is a very non-McQueen-like slacker in this uproarious and quite humane 2007 comedy, the latest work from writer/director Judd Apatow ("The 40-Year-Old Virgin").
You really feel you want to know what happens to them after the film ends.The story looks at the outset like your standard Hollywood opposites-attract rom-com as it centers on the burgeoning relationship between Ben Stone, the perfectly named definition of a slacker, and Alison Scott, the beautiful entertainment reporter.
Their story intertwines nicely with the main plot line to the point where each makes the other more resonant.Familiar faces from "The 40-Year-Old Virgin" return in this movie beginning with Seth Rogen, who proves he can carry a movie as Ben. Despite outward appearances to the contrary, his shaggy-dog demeanor and sometimes piercing self-deprecation provide much of the heart in the picture.
Apatow has a brilliant way of letting the audience get to know all of the characters(anyone who has seen his stuff will know that it is a lot and usually the same people)which gives you the feeling that you are a part of what's going on, and makes you interested.
I liked Judd Apatow's first comedy,'The 40-Year Old Virgin'.When it comes to comedy,Judd knows exactly how to make people laugh until they beg him to make another movie.'Knocked Up'isn't just funny.It's a smart and refreshing movie that actually teaches a lesson:make sure you wear a condom when you have sex with a woman.But if you want a child,then do whatever that floats in your mind.The one thing that I probably dislike about the movie is it's running time.Even you probably wouldn't want to watch a really funny movie that lasts 129 minutes.But its definitely worth it when it comes to 'Knocked Up' and Judd Apatow.Grab some popcorn,get some friends,and laugh your butt off at this funny and brilliant comedy if you haven't already..
Alison (Heigl) has just been promoted at E!, and when she heads out to celebrate, their worlds collide with disastrous and of course hilarious consequences.The comedy is clever and insightful, loaded with little self-referential moments and pop culture references (the Munich one is particularly awesome), and while it occasionally veers toward the puerile, the movie's subject matter ensures that the humour remains considered and intelligent for the most part.
While their conflict-ridden marriage doesn't make them the greatest of role models for Ben and Alison, it certainly provides lots of laughs, and the clashes between Mann's overly paranoid Debbie and Rudd's laid-back Pete provide an interesting projection of how Ben & Alison's relationship could turn out.The Rudd & Rogen moments make for some of the movie's better lines, but their humour is finely balanced with that emotional depth that I mentioned before, making the characters far more than punchline machines, which benefits the movie immeasurably.
Even the serious, emotional scenes are laced with a sort of ironic, bittersweet humour, which again gives the characters a sense of realism but also makes the movie that bit more comfortable and reassuring.A subject that could have been treated with a crass touch, Apatow remains in tune with his previous effort, The 40 Year Old Virgin, and chooses to focus on the impact the pregnancy has on the lives of the characters, allowing their actions and interactions to create the comedy as they come to terms with their new situation.
It has dual lessons for its lead characters: Seth Rogen has to learn to grow up and accept responsibility and Katherine Heigl has to choose between a professional life as a television interviewer or a possibly less rewarding (as she sees it) life as a stay-at-home mom.And because it's Judd Apatow, he handles the sex gags carefully and with enough maturity that it doesn't become another stale sex comedy.
Which is OK - I'd prefer it that way - but when you see reviews touting it as "the funniest movie of the year," expectations can't help but build.I didn't think the acting was as good as in "The 40-Year-Old Virgin." Seth Rogen is a great supporting actor - but I find him rather irritating as a lead character.
Doesn't their lexicon demand the noun F--- or the adjective F-----G in every sentence?The gist of this mess is that a guy who needs a shave throughout the entire torture--a guy who doesn't work but instead hangs out with a group of potheads working on developing a raunchy website--a guy named Ben Stone played by Seth Rogen is lucky enough to have a one night stand with a most attractive TV personality called Alison Scott played by Katherine Heigl and an ACCIDENTAL pregnancy develops.
Based on it's rating I was expecting to see a good movie, if not a brilliant one.Unfortunately the movie was awful...The story is simple yet it lacks credibility on some points, the main characters have no chemistry, and to top it all up it doesn't have any really funny moments.The actors seemed fit for this movie but they didn't pull it off.
After seeing his last film, the side-split-tingly funny '40 Year Old Virgin', I noticed I was quickly becoming a big Judd Apatow fan.
She's not nearly as funny as Rogen, but she's not over-the-top like most female leads in these kinda movies (like Jennifer Aniston in 'The Break-Up' -- pbbt!) I've heard from many people Heigl is good in 'Grey's Anatomy', but I wouldn't know, I don't watch that stupid friggin' show.
I don't know what star system these characters live in, but I have been to many bars and have never seen a girl that looks like Kathryn Heigl go home with a guy who looks like Seth Rogen after just meeting him at a bar no matter how drunk or how much tic she has snorted previously that evening to have unprotected sex on a one night stand.
I caught myself laughing only a few times in the movie, and the overall message the film sends to it's viewers is irresponsible to say the least.There is no plot development or cleverness in the story and the constant bantering between Seth Rogan and Katherine Heigl is the equivalent to third grade dialogue.
The only saving grace to the movie was that of Seth Green and Paul Rudd's ability to play off each other in what seemed to me to be natural chemistry, but still wasn't as good as how the tandem performed in 40 Year Old Virgin.Finally, the believability of Katherine Haigl's character choosing to have the baby with such a loser as Seth Rogan's character is laughable to say the least.
Anyone who uses language like he does would not last 5 minutes in the presence of a woman with any sort of self-worth.Pink-eye is not funny, except to the lowest of low-brows.How hard is it for an expectant father to figure out that he needs a job and a place of his own?If the DVD I saw hadn't come from the local library, I'd throw it in the trash where it belongs.
While the Stone character is a nice guy I can't see Heigl falling in love with him because he's sweet...and the premise that falling preggers and the guy will do the right thing is not really based in this day and age.I don't know who did the marketing on this one but they were worth every penny...because the movie certainly doesn't deliver.If you haven't seen this wait for it to be on TV...it's not worth buying the DVD..
Seth Rogen and the gorgeous Katherine Heigl show a perfect chemistry with their charismatic characters, very well supported by Leslie Mann and Paul Rudd, and I laughed a lot with the most hilarious situations.
What I thought was funny is that all of the: "This movie is Spectacular" "The Best Comedy in Years" reviews were all coming from guys below the age of 30 or at least 35.
Is it me or is it a new trend in movies that men cannot be funny or comical unless they are making raunchy sex jokes, getting wasted and looking like complete buffoons?
And it didn't make sense that Allison would fall in love with Ben. Yeah, the script can say they fell in love and the actor's can mouth the words at the right time but they sure didn't convince us.The movie employed bad actors.
With such high reviews on the web and so much word of mouth hype going around about this movie I expected it to be nothing short of brilliant and was I disappointed.Being a movie from Judd Apatow (the director of the 40 year old virgin) I put this DVD into my Aphex DVD player with high hopes for something funny and expected the end to get very serious as most comedies tend to do these days (for reasons unknown to me).If you actually think about it, a lot of comedies these days have the same formula- insert dick/fart/pot jokes for the first hour then make the audience cry on the last hour with "I almost lost my family!" Yes, I'm looking at you Adam Sandler (Click).While I somewhat enjoyed the first hour of the movie and by the movie I mean all the beard jokes and the one with "red beard!
Men and women issues come out on the screen with a great sense of frustration each sex feels for the other but KNOCKED UP delivers these issues in an amusing fashion.The audience in Westwood (Los Angeles) really enjoyed the film and the laughs kept rolling along with the picture.
The story really doesn't matter because we'll be laughing too hard to keep up with any annoying details, plot points or nuance that could make this anywhere near an "intelligent comedy." And this, Hollywood informs us, makes for a great night at the movies and is, after all, what we want.
And, for those who think that things are only funny when you're drunk or stoned and like their characters that way, Hollywood is right on the mark.Well, this one couldn't be more formulaic and touches all the bases.
Our female lead, is a smart, beautiful career woman who is quickly rendered incredible by actually falling for this loser who gets her (yes, you guessed it!) "knocked up." She soon looses her job and spends her time helping her boyfriend "review" adult movies proving, once again, that comedy is best when everybody gets stupid.And, you know what?
Other than that, it would take a mentally and emotionally arrested eleven-year-old to appreciate the "humor" (which, come to think of it, is a redundant description when talking about Howard).This movie gives me another reason to complain about the fact that IMDb doesn't have a "zero" or "minus 1 (or -2 or -9)" rating we can apply when we evaluate one of the all-time stinkers -- like "Knocked UP." I didn't want to give it even a 1, but IMDb doesn't allow us to go any lower.
The story takes absolutely no time to be a drawn-out flick where you go, "Make it stop!" This movie is non-stop hilarity, a bit crude, but something that you can truly connect with and hits home with a heartwarming story of love and life.The movie has a simple premise: two people who are seemingly "living the dream"--Alison, an E!
As the movie proceeds we find ourselves riding through the radically changing lives of Ben and Alison from the moment that she breaks the news to him that he's the father to when they fall for each other to the "irreconcilable differences" and finally to the painful and slow phase of "growing up" and facing each other's, as well as their own, fears to accept and uncover the joys of giving life and becoming parents.Seth Rogen and Katherine Heigl do a wondrous job of being the two people that "life came straight at, not caring about their plans".
Great Fun. Knocked Up (2007) *** 1/2 (out of 4) Hilarious and often times touching story of a slacker man (Ben Stone) who knocks up a woman (Katherine Heigl) after a one night stand and the downfall that follows.
The plot is not very believable: Guys that get stoned all day do exist but I just don't find them funny and I don't think a girl would even try to have a family with them if she got pregnant on a silly one night stand...
PLEASE if u have a good movie taste n looking for some good comedy watch 40-year old virgin AGAIN Don't waste your both money and time on it..
Mindlessly vulgar film like The 40-Year Old Virgin and not even funny.
go buy a playboy for gods sake and spare the females in the audience (there are women that like to watch movies too) waste of time and money.
Seth Rogen, was absolutely hilarious as Ben Stone a fun loving party animal who meets successful career girl Alison (Heigl) at a bar they have a drunken one night stand.
You have a loser and porn loving movie and internet slob named Ben(Seth Rogen)who does plenty of pot smoking and childish things, but finally he gets a break when he meets a young and beautiful career-girl named Alison(Katherine Heigl) who's a studio worker at E!
I went expecting a hilarious comedy since everyone raved at how funny it was (according to my friends that work at the movie theater).
I couldn't wait to see knocked up, from the trailer, this looked like such a fun movie that anyone could laugh at.
They have sex and Alison gets pregnant, she tells Ben, and they now are trying to get to know each other and pushing themselves to even love each other for the sake of this child.Knocked Up has great jokes that anyone I'm sure sometime in your life could relate too.
Knocked Up - A fun-loving slacker Ben Stone (Seth Rogen) has a one night stand with Alison Scott (Katherine Heigl) and they decide to keep the baby and strike up a relationship from there.The acting in this is solid, the stand-outs being the two 40 Year Old Virgin veterans Rogen and Paul Rudd, who looked like they had a blast making this film.
My one real complaint would be that at times the comraderie between the Seth and his buddies felt a little forced, unlike thhe group in Virgin.Judd Apatow is quickly rising through the ranks as one of my favorite comedy directors (Up there under Edgar Wright) and like The 40 Year Old Virgin, this film takes a long-shot premise (In reality, w/e your views on choice or not, this would easily end in an abortion) and runs with it in a more or less serious fashion, though there'd be less hilarity and far fewer movie references in a truly straight-forward version of this tale.
Movie Mom gave this film a B- so I cannot make any claims as to whether the women like this film or not, but this film is one I'd definitely recommend to the guys.Comedies are hard for me to give a final judgment on because the mark of a very good one is how many times you watch it afterward.
Once again, the cast is just so good together that it just seems like you are watching someone's home movie, just filming their friends running around doing goofy things.