Knocked Up

Knocked Up is the next comedy from Judd Apatow, the director of The 40-Year-Old Virgin, but you knew that because you read the poster. This is a comedy designed for the twenty-to-thirtysomething set and deals with issues of responsibility, family and greeting the challenges of adult life – specifically pregnancy and more specifically an unplanned pregnancy – by making the appropriate changes. Apatow gives us real situations and real characters and allows the script to speak for itself without relying on goofy formulaic slapstick or other comedic elements that would be misplaced here.

Knocked Up follows the story of slacker Ben Stone (Seth Rogen) and Alison Scott (Katherine Heigl). Scott is an ambitious career woman with a prime gig on a television entertainment show, whereas Stone and his stoner buddies are pursuing their goal of setting up an adult-oriented website on which browsers can locate the nude scenes of their favourite stars and starlets. Scott and Stone get together one night at a club and have unprotected sex as a result of some miscommunication. Months later, Scott is pregnant and Stone is greeted with how to handle the situation. The relationship between the two go through several ups and downs throughout the course of the film’s two-hour runtime, giving us a glimpse into how things change when responsibility suddenly becomes a priority.

The film serves as a social commentary of sorts, allowing us to sit in on the moments that make life worth living and get a glimpse of the ways that different people handle responsibility. Stone and Scott form a good on-screen couple as they flounder through the various aspects of their relationship, from meeting one another’s friends to picking out baby stuff. Knocked Up runs the gamut of the relationship here in relatively short order, leaving ample opportunity for jokes and humour along the way.

Knocked Up is a good film, but not a great film. It does involve some rather poignant moments, but the writers really only toy with most of the truly great ideas in the film. Like The 40-Year-Old Virgin, I found that this film got bogged down around the middle portion and was almost swamped with subplots that contributed very little to the actual story. Apatow seems to like his comedies a bit on the longer side than most, as both The 40-Year-Old Version and Knocked Up tend to pack in more details and tangents than needed. The subplot with the possible infidelity and subsequent “awakening” trip to Vegas, for example, wasn’t really needed and didn’t add much for comic value.

Knocked Up purposefully sets the tone for a good foundation of adult responsibility, often serving as a moral tale of how to handle responsibility. The “A-word”, abortion, isn’t realistically considered by Scott or Stone in the film and there is no hackneyed question as to whether or not they’ll keep the kid. Instead, Apatow sets a moral tone and instantaneously gives us characters that will do the “right thing”. This, coupled with the brief scenes of parental advice, shows us the real heart of the film. Apatow, in both of his films now, has shown us that he is a director with heart that wears his intentions on his sleeve. I look forward to more from him and I think the best is yet to come from this fresh talent.

All in all, Knocked Up is a very gentle comedy peppered with profanity and a touch of raunchiness. Always packed with wit and smart dialogue, the film only bogs down near the middle portion or so and is a touch too long. Nonetheless, it’s a sweet comedy with heart and delivers a nice moral message about responsibility and growing up to take on the realities of the world as an adult without giving up your soul in the process.

Trailer: