Overall Rating
 Awesome: 46.08%
Worth A Look: 36.27%
Average: 7.84%
Pretty Bad: 1.96%
Total Crap: 7.84%
9 reviews, 48 user ratings
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| Knocked Up |
by William Goss
"Great Expectations"
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SCREENED AT THE 2007 SXSW FILM FESTIVAL: Running just over two hours yet genuinely hilarious and heartfelt throughout, writer-director Judd Apatow’s 'Knocked Up' proves to be just as funny as 'The 40-Year-Old Virgin,' if not a bit more cohesive in terms of narrative.Ben (Seth Rogen) is a consummate slacker. Career-minded Alison (Katherine Heigl) just got a promotion. They meet at a club, have a one-night stand, and – sure enough – find themselves confronted with an unexpected pregnancy.
Yes, it’s a simple story, one fit for many a TV movie, and yes, we know Ben will have to mature while Alison takes her career into consideration, yet, in spite of it all, Apatow makes the story work because he and the cast make the characters work. Rogen has been an Apatow staple for years, and thankfully, he finally gets his long-deserved shot to shine, and it’s his Ben that proves to be the heart of the story. His posse of equally unmotivated pals (Apatow alums Jonah Hill, Jay Baruchel, Jason Segel, and Martin Starr) do bring to mind the alpha-male antics of Virgin, with their scenes often making for amusing fits of improvisation and camaraderie, and Ben does spend some serious time bonding with brother-in-law-to-be Pete (a never-better Paul Rudd).
However, Knocked Up manages to be every bit for the girls as it is for the guys. Heigl makes for a surprisingly worthy comedic foil to Rogen, and yet as critical as she is to the proceedings, it is Debbie, Alison’s sister and Pete’s wife (played by Mrs. Apatow herself, Leslie Mann), that almost upstages Ben in terms of emotional growth. Here’s a woman, initially dominating and disconcerting, who turns out to be every bit as frustrated with her life as her husband is, yet without anyone to vent to. (Speaking of scene-stealing, out of a tremendous ensemble, it’s the note-perfect appearances of SNL cast member Kristen Wiig as the sardonic assistant to Alison’s boss that may have you seriously reconsidering just how long someone has to be on screen in order to earn some sort of nod.)
While the majority of the humor stems from Alison and Ben’s reluctant relationship, it wouldn’t be fair to label it Knocked Up as a romantic comedy. In love or not, they’re in it for the long haul, and it’s these multidimensional characters, all of them, and their interactions that make the proceedings so sublime. Sure, there’s plenty to laugh at – in fact, for a two-hour-plus comedy, there’s an impressive scarcity of dud gags or slack pacing to compromise it. There are some wisely pre-loaded Spider-Man 3 references (this film opens a month after), a few surprising and satisfying cameos, and a conversation concerning Munich, of all things, but for all its pop culture relevance, this is a film that has no need to fear feeling dated.
No, as constantly and effortlessly humorous as it all is, it’s ultimately the sincerity that lingers and surpasses its inevitable status as a DVD shelf staple. Having had weeks to mull it over, like any good home pregnancy test, I’m ninety-nine percent sure that this is destined to become a minor classic.Oops, not the dreaded c-word. Then again, when is it not too soon to say that Apatow might be the savior of character-based adult comedy, the next Woody Allen or Alexander Payne? When does it become reasonable to propose that this film might as cherished in the summer of 'Spider-Man 3' as it will be in the summer of 'Spider-Man 23'? Hyperbole can indeed be a dangerous thing, so while I might not go as far as to call it “one of the best comedies in years, and most certainly one of 2007’s best films,” I can assure you this: in its own way, 'Knocked Up' will most likely turn out to be the best family film of the year.
link directly to this review at https://www.efilmcritic.com/review.php?movie=15742&reviewer=409
originally posted: 04/06/07 07:59:07
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OFFICIAL SELECTION: 2007 South By Southwest Film Festival For more in the 2007 South By Southwest Film Festival series, click here.
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USA
01-Jun-2007 (R)
DVD: 25-Sep-2007
UK
N/A
Australia
N/A
![[trailer]](/images/icon/trailericon.gif) Trailer
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