Movie Review - Knocked Up

Judd Apatow served as Auteur on this movie. It's his baby. In fact, it has his babies in it. And his wife. In a somewhat creepy move, he cast his wife (Leslie Mann) as a wife in this movie and his kids as her kids. Wha? Ugh. They are, at least, refreshingly cute. Perhaps I read one too many articles about this movie before I saw it because I found it distracting. I'll have to watch it again to see if I can move past it.

That distraction aside, I found this movie uneven. Apatow, known on his own for beloved and short lived comedy series "Undeclared" and "Freaks and Geeks", has a vision for this movie that extends beyond the framework of a hollywood movie. Given the scope of what he tried, it might have fit better as a series or a mini-series. This gave the film an awkwardly fast pace.

The plot is very straight-forward. Lovable shiftless loser meets a girl who has it all together and knocks her up. They try to make it work as a relationship and have a baby. Still, those pieces don't quite fit together. Meeting slacker Ben Stone (Seth Rogan) and his gaggle of goofy cohabitants is fun enough. Alison (smokin hot Katherine Heigl) is predictably earnest and perkey. The Hookup is enjoyable. The "I'm Pregnant" scene is hilarious. It's everything after that which just didn't play. For whatever reason, I'm guessing running time, they launch themselves into not only having a baby, but having a relationship. I just didn't buy it. What seems like three minutes later, Alison is telling Ben that she loves him. Wha? Huh? Why the hell does she do that?

Maybe it's the fact that I've looked at those drug store pregnancy tests and felt the implications of the little blue line that made me wonder what the hell these people were doing. It was just so poorly developed that it all seemed so cavalier. That's why I think it a bigger idea that was wedged in to the already unwieldy (for a comedy) 2 hours and 9 minutes. Problem is, for a romantic comedy to work, you have to buy that they belong together and I just couldn't.

Still, my bitching aside, it's a pretty enjoyable film. There are hilarious bits with Ben and his friends, pregant sex and a great one being a bouncer at a night club with Daryl from The Office. For those alone, and Katherine Heigl hotness, check it out.

p.s. possibly funnier than the movie are this deleted scene talking about brokeback mountain and this truly inspired bit of viral marketing in which they pretend to fire Michael Cera from the set, presumably replaced by Rogen. It's fake though. Apatow and Cera have a high-school comedy coming out later this year.
Rating: 3 out of 5 possible couches.