Knocked Up

All of you know how I feel about "Freaks and Geeks." Simply the smartest, funniest, and most realistic television series I've ever seen. So naturally when I heard that "Knocked Up" starred Seth Rogen, Jason Segel, and Martin Starr (all "F&G" alum) and was written and directed by former show runner Judd Apatow, I was pretty excited. It was one of the best trailers I'd seen in a long time and all of the early buzz was that this movie was something special. Pretty soon buzz gave way to hype and that's when I started to worry. I also reminded myself that Apatow had directed "The 40-Year Old Virgin," which, while good, felt like a marathon. It wasn't the length itself (right around 2 hours), it was the pacing that dragged that movie down. When I heard "Knocked Up" was even longer I really started to worry. But then, I finally got to see it, and you know something, it more than lives up to the hype and the pacing is perfect. It truly is an excellent movie, and one that will be remembered as a classic twenty years down the road. Of course you ask, "How can you know that?" Watch it and then think of the comedies that came out twenty years ago that people still remember. "Knocked Up" is better than most of those.
It opens showing us Ben Stone (Rogen) and Alison Scott (Katherine Heigl), living not just separate lives, but in separate worlds. Two people with absolutely nothing in common. Ben is a Canadian slacker living illegally in the United States with no money and no prospects. He shares a house with four friends (Segel, Starr, "Undeclared's" Jay Baruchel, and Jonah Hill). Their "job" is creating a website that tells you the exact amount of time into movies that actresses are naked. Alison on the other hand is working her way up at the E! Channel and she just got a promotion to work on air. She excitedly goes out with her sister Debbie (Leslie Mann) to celebrate. They happen to go to the same club that Ben and his buddies go to that evening. Ben and Alison cross paths and the next thing they know they're drunk beyond belief and all over each other. The fact that the movie is called "Knocked Up" should tell you what happens next.
When Alison realizes she's pregnant she is shocked and horrified, not only that she's going to have a baby, but that only Ben could be the father. Ben just sees it as a complete catastrophe. His "vision" for his life is now gone. But the pair decide that they need to get to know each other and see if there's any chance that they can raise the baby as a couple. Debbie thinks that the two ought to get married, even though she's not a fan of Ben's. Her husband Pete (Paul Rudd) however, warns Ben that marriage is misery. Ben and Alison go through a series of ups and downs (as do Pete and Debbie), which would seem predictable, but nothing is this movie comes across as contrived. It all works. We see these characters at their best and worst, and Apatow gives us a movie that dares to say that people are irrational, selfish jerks. Not men, not women. People. But in spite of their irrationality or selfishness we're still people. We're all in this mess together and we have to find a way to make things work. Apatow's script gives us dialogue and characters which are hilariously funny, but are totally realistic, just as he and Paul Feig (who makes a cameo) did with "Freaks and Geeks."
What makes "Knocked Up" different from that show however, is how incredibly raunchy much of it is. In spite of that however, it never feels crass. It's often tasteless, but never crass. And it blows "The 40-Year Old Virgin" out of the water. In what is shaping up to be a year of outstanding comedies, "Knocked Up" is a close second to "Hot Fuzz." Go see this movie and tell the film industry that smart movies for adults can make money too! 10/10