Knock-Out (Knocked Up (DVD))

Member Name: mummy2harry

Product:	Knocked Up (DVD)
Date:	01/01/08 (189 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Funny in places, quite touching towards the end

Disadvantages: Some gags were crude, went on a bit long

This film has been billed as "THE comedy of the year". I love the comedy genre so that pretty much determined the fact that I had to see this film. I didn't get a chance to see it at the cinema, or on the aeroplane to Mauritius so good old Amazon DVD rentals once again came in handy for me and finally my partner and I sat down to watch this tonight. And lets just say we were both plesasantly surprised with what we saw!

Knocked Up tells us the story of Allison Scott, a successful presenter and producer of E! News, an American Entertainment gossip programme. Allison goes on a night out with her older sister Debbie to a club, and a chance meeting introduces her to Ben Stone. Ben isn't the sort of guy Allison would normally go for. He's a bit chubby, has enormous curly hair and is a computer geek. But Allison has a little too much to drink and the pair end up in bed together...and 8 weeks later, Allison is indeed Knocked Up with Ben's baby. The rest of the film tells us about Allison's pregnancy and the complicated relationship between Ben and Allison, and also her sister Debbie and husband Pete.

Although this film is said to be a hugely funny comedy, I didn't think that it was as funny as I thought that it would be. There are several films I have found a lot funnier than this, but maybe because a lot of the "jokes" in this film are quite crude and that isn't really my humour. The scenes with Ben and his friends Jay, Jonah, Martin and Jason were typical "men-behaving-badly" scenes, lots of swearing, pot-smoking and toilet humour. I did giggle a few times but it was more cringey giggling than a humourous giggle. The men did a good job in their roles but I didn't really warm to any of them, especially Ben when he was with his friends.

Allison on the other hand is a real professional, who having recently been promoted, is reluctant to tell her bosses at E! that she is with child. Her relationship with sister Debbie is quite an important one throughout the film, but god did Debbie get on my wick. She has an irritating voice, her personality was so bossy it was unbelievably annoying, yet Allison and Debbie were great characters who show the closeness of sisters when they take about 20 pregnancy tests together and pick each other up when times get bad...it made me think I wanted a sister to go through that stuff with!

Katherine Heigl takes the lead role of Allison in this film. I have only seen Heigl in the hit show Grey's Anatomy prior to this film, but I know she is a pretty successful actress having won a Golden Globe recently. I really admired her for taking on this role, as it is hard to portray childbirth and pregnancy when you haven't been through it yourself. She is very convincing throughout the movie, and especially during the labour scenes, and the birth. She puts her heart and soul into the acting and it really pays off during these parts of the film. Also, her prosthetic bump is amazing, it looks so real especially when during the labour scenes she is just wearing a bra and trousers and you can see how the bump is moulded to her real body!

Seth Rogen, someone I have never seen on screen before, plays the funny drug-loving father to be Ben Stone. I didn't like his character at first, but Rogen did a really good job of helping me to warm to his character as the film progressed, and I think this was a real talent of Rogen's. He did a brilliant job of playing the emotions, denial and final acceptance that a father to be goes through, and by the end I just wanted to give him a big hug! Ben really does go through the biggest change in the film, and you do feel a respect for how he changes during the movie. Leslie Mann plays the incredibly annoying Debbie, and does a good job of being a mum who is feeling rejected by her husband, but so supportive of her newly pregnant sister, it could be seen as smothering her!

But I think for me the best actor award for this film has to go to the delightful Paul Rudd. Rudd has a deadpan knack for comedy which first came to my attention when he played the role of Mike Hannigan in the superb TV show Friends. And he brings this deadpan comic acting back again in this film, playing the husband of Debbie, Pete. Pete is struggling with his wife Debbie being so demanding, and forms a friendship with Ben. The scenes between these two, particularly in Vegas, are hilarious and did make me laugh out loud. But he somehow showed a real emotional and vunerable to his character through the comedy, and I think his character went on a huge journey of acceptance and realisation he had everything he wanted. Rudd really deserves more credit for this film, he is brilliant.

I think above all, although this is a comedy, it really is a film about the changing relationships between people, and how you can find love in the person you would have least expected. Heigl's character Allison doesn't seem to mind that Ben isn't the usual guy she would go for, and falls for him as a person, not just his look. The relationship between Pete and Debbie will be familiar to a lot of parents out there who are craving time on their own, but are stuck in the routine of family life and don't know how to change the rut they are stuck in. It is quite inspiring to see the changes in the couple and how they overcome the obstacles they face, and unite once again, in love more than ever! And there is a real life element to it, where you can believe that people really can have a one-night stand, get pregnant but still fall in love at the end of it, and that is what makes the film believable and enjoyable.

The film is very enjoyable, with some of the most amazing birth scenes I have ever seen in a movie. I couldn't believe it, and nor could my partner, when they showed the baby crowning (obviously not a real baby crowning in a real vagina!) but I have never seen it in film before, it was superb and a real insight into birth for those who haven't yet experienced it! Both Heigl and Rogen do a great job in their roles, bringing their unlikely characters together with their great acting and a good script which brings things together nicely but not too perfectly. The film went on for just over 2 hours, which made it a tad too long, there were a few scenes they could have cut out but overall, a good funny film, a few silly bits here and there with a little romance weaved throughout.

It has a certificate of 15 in the UK, as there are quite a few sex scenes, a bit of nudity and drug references. Runtime is 133 minutes and you can currently buy the DVD on Play.com for £12.99. Directed and Written by Judd Apatow. Oh, and look out for Ryan Seacrest's parody of himself, its hilarious!

Cast:
Seth Rogen ... Ben Stone
Katherine Heigl ... Alison Scott
Paul Rudd ... Pete
Leslie Mann ... Debbie
Jason Segel ... Jason
Jay Baruchel ... Jay
Jonah Hill ... Jonah
Martin Starr ... Martin

Thank you for reading.

Summary: Funny movie, but not as great as I thought