| Product: |
Knocked Up (DVD) |
| Date: |
28/09/07 (146 review reads) |
| Rating: |
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Advantages: Pretty believable, good comedy, cute script, fun, nicely acted, good small parts
Disadvantages: Slightly imature, nothing totally unique or special
When Alison Scott (Catherine Heigl) gets promoted to an on-screen position at E! TV, she decides to celebrate with her sister at her favourite bar. There she meets Ben Stone (Seth Rogan) and, despite his nurdy appearance, ends up having a one-night stand with him. Unfortunately, this ends up in her getting pregnant. The rest of the movie "Knocked Up" is about how Alison and Ben deal with the pregnancy as well as their friends, families and each other.
If this isn't the stupidest premise for a film, I haven't a clue what is. Why would any woman who has just gotten the best break of her career take the chance to ruin that with pregnancy and motherhood? Well, in today's right-wing-leaning USA, abortion isn't politically correct, nor is it funny. Adoption, while PC, also isn't laughable. But keeping the baby from a one-night stand, letting him know about it, and even letting him into her life can be pretty amusing, under the proper circumstances. The biggest question is why exquisite Alison would give bland-looking Ben a second look, let alone sleep with him. Of course, that's part of the absurdity, but as for motivation, if you guess "desperation", that one doesn't really fit. You'd be closer if you said "he made her laugh", which (as we learned from Roger Rabbit's ultra-sexy wife, Jessica) many women find to be a huge turn-on, no matter how physically mis-matched a couple might seem.
Still, that doesn't seem enough to make a movie work, does it? Moreover, the stars of this movie, are equally mis-matched. Heigl's had some outstanding parts, including supporting roles in two successful multi-season TV drama series ("Roswell" and "Gray's Anatomy"), as well as staring roles in TV and cinematic movies, including versions of "Wuthering Heights", and Shakespeare's "The Tempest". She's won an Emmy, was nominated for a Golden Globe, and has been working steadily since the age of 14. On the other hand, Rogen's biggest role since he got his start at age 18, was a supporting one in "The 40 Year Old Virgin". He seems to be one of Judd Apatow's favourites and got a couple of supporting roles in the producer's relatively unknown, single-season TV series, but his only award nominations were shared with other artists. Mind you, Apatow's mentoring is helping Rogen's career, but despite his staring role in Apatow's newest film, "Superbad", he'll never match Heigl's achievement of reaching the #19 spot on FHM magazine's "100 Sexiest Women in the World 2006".
So far, we've got an ‘iffy' premise, completely mis-matched leads, and 130 minutes of screen time to fill. Sounds pretty dismal, I know, but this movie actually works, for the most part. How on earth could this be? Well, firstly a clever script helps. I know that Judd Apatow is best known for his juvenile movies and infantile TV comedies, but somehow here he seems to have gotten it right. The characters seem real, and act mostly realistically, despite the unfortunate situations they're in. We never feel like we can second guess what they'll do next, which is certainly a plus. The best part is, that although Ben is basically immature he's also sweet and charming. In fact, the way he bonds with Alison's brother-in-law, Pete (Paul Rudd) and lets him get back in touch with his boyish side, is actually endearing. There's also Alison's sister, Debbie (Leslie Mann) who's cynical outlook is a perfect counter-point to the very forgiving Alison.
But what really makes this movie work more than anything else, is the fact that Catherine Heigl, despite her unbelievably perfectly natural beauty, is able to pull off acting a totally non-egotistical girl who is innocent enough to believe that looks don't really matter. Based on this, the movie pivots and allows everything else to fall swiftly into place and we are swept up with watching this relationship develop, against all Hollywood odds. We can even accept this when Heigl's character works for E! Television - the station that earns its bread and butter on showcasing the rich, famous and drop-dead gorgeous. Of course, it helps when her boss discovers that ‘pregnant is in' despite his overall wish that she ‘tighten up' her (already perfect) body, and will insist upon it again, after she ‘pops'.
Cringe-worthy sounding? Perhaps, but while no one is going to win any Oscars for this film, the comedy is exactingly timed, carefully subtle and just understated enough to keep the grimaces away. There are also some nice cameo roles here, for example Kristen Wiig (of "Saturday Night Live") playing an E! Exec whose jealousy of Alison's every move is thinly veiled by her dead-pan half-hearted sucking up and back-handed compliments to her and her boss, which I found hilariously done. In fact, the addition of many of the smaller parts are what make this movie as enjoyable as it is. Plus, there's just enough character development on both the parts of Alison and Ben to help inject the possibility of a romantic relationship aside from the biological one.
But if you're looking for a mature romantic movie, this isn't it. If you want more of the pure stupidity that Rogan and Apatow are famous for, this also won't fit the bill. However, if you're in the mood for a slightly silly comedy with a touch of romance thrown in, that doesn't totally suspend belief, then this might very well be your medicine. I'll recommend it and give it four out of five stars (although it probably deserves only 3.5 stars, but I'll round up in this case).
Thanks for reading!
Davida Chazan © September, 2007
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Technical Stuff:
The official web page for this movie can be found at http://www.knockedupmovie.com/ and the IMDb page can be found at http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0478311/
The DVD isn't yet available in the UK, but the NTSC version is available from Amazon.co.uk's marketplace starting from £11.35, and I'm sure will soon be available on PAL as well as for rent from them.
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Summary: What happens when beautiful Alison gets pregnant from a nurdy one-night stand with Ben
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