After surviving weeks of bloated franchise sequels, movie audiences are being treated to one of the freshest, funniest movies of the summer. Picking up where its spiritual predecessor The 40 Year-Old Virgin left of, Knocked Up is another successful romp through sexual raunchiness and touching human truth.
This time instead of focusing on the novelty of a lead character living his entire adult life without sexual intercourse, writer/director Judd Apatow and his regular company of actors turn their attention on the somewhat common interpersonal mishap – the one night stand that goes horribly... right?
An unplanned pregnancy brings Katherine Heigl and Seth Rogen together as one of cinema's most unlikely "Beauty and the Beast"-type of couples. Once the pair agrees to keeping the baby and start dating to see if their compatible, the movie begins to swerve into previously mined territory. There probably isn't a joke in the movie about pregnancy, childbirth, buying clothes or picking an obstetrician that hasn't been covered by a hundred different sitcoms before it.
But the pregnancy isn't the core of the movie. In fact, it feels almost incidental as the movie focuses more on Rogen's character coming to grips with his impending responsibility and what it might mean for his freedom. The reluctance of fathers-to-be has also been mined for comedy before. But what Knocked Up smartly does is pair up Heigl and Rogen's characters with Heigl's sister and brother-in-law played with smartly by the indispensable Leslie Mann and Paul Rudd. Through them, Apatow delivers some of his best lines and biting commentary about gender relations.
Settled into the rut of their own hapless marriage, Mann and Rudd's characters have two children of their own and provide a raw look into the future for Heigl and Rudd. Both of them seem unhappy and are just going through the motions. Mann suspects Rudd of cheating on her when it turns out he's sneaking out of the house for fantasy baseball meetings. Rudd compares marriage to an unfunny episode of Everybody Loves Raymond. "Except it doesn't last for 22 minutes," he warns. "It's for life."
The aforementioned fantasy baseball scene cuts particularly close when Rudd's wife discovers his deception. His need for independence and male comradely versus Mann's deep hurt that her husband would rather see Spider-Man 3 without her is cringe-inducing. But this is where Knocked Up most effectively deviates from the norm.
It's easy for a film to make fun of a guy with cold feet. But very few incisively tackle the balancing act most men feel they need to maintain between their responsibilities and their basic need for autonomy. Or how (in some cases) that tightrope walk leaves them feeling trapped. In this way, Knocked Up is unlike most romantic comedies. It's told primarily from the perspective of men and their insecurities.
This probably seems like heady stuff for a film that most would consider piffle. Fortunately, Knocked Up doesn't knock you over the head with its message and effectively blends the reality of the situation with crude and outrageous side conversations. Rogen's slacker roommates, for example, are probably the filthiest characters committed to celluloid both in terms of dialogue and general hygiene.
Kudos to Apatow who has a keen ear for this kind of conversation. 10 years ago, it was Kevin Smith who was earning accolades for bringing characters to screen who seemed to talk like everyday people talked - warts and all. Apatow does the same thing, but narrows his focus to the ball-busting, pop culture reference laden smack talk of the twenty-something set. To his credit, all the while you are being repulsed by these burnouts, you kind of want to spend a Saturday afternoon with them. They seem like a lot of fun.
The ultimate success of Knocked Up is the way it elevates universal topics up a level by ditching the notion that the audience doesn't need the complexities of Rogen's confusion or Heigl's uncertainty spoon-fed to them. While the elements of the story are commonplace, their delivery is not. What's left is a refreshingly honest portrayal of impending adulthood cushioned with a great deal of heart.
