Knocked Up is the kind of movie that justifies the existence of film critics. I would have never seen this movie, marketed as a dumb comedy for the Adam Sandler crowd, had I not been aware of the rave reviews. One critic called Knocked Up the best movie released so far this year, others have named the funniest movie the summer, the funniest of the year, or funniest film in many years. Kyle Smith said it was "An era defining comedy classic to rank with Little Miss Sunshine…" but I'll set that opinion aside.
So I went to the theatre despite my misgiving and was surprised at how much this movie grew on me. It begins as expected, with lots of sex and bodily function jokes, but gets oddly compelling and real as the movie continuous, reminding me of Woody Allen at his best. By the movie's end, I was genuinely moved.
As you can tell from the trailer, the movie is built on a simple, high concept premise that in most hands would have proved cloying and insipid. A drunken one night stand leads to a not-too-attractive guy named Ben Stone (Seth Rogen) getting Allison Scott (Katherine Heigl), a woman with much more class in nearly every sense of the word, pregnant. Ben is the kind of guy that dads across America pray their daughter doesn't bring home, an unemployed stoner whose "job" is trying to open a quasi-pornographic website with his equally socially troubled friends. Allison, too though, has her own problems. She's stuck up and somewhat arrogant, though unlike Ben, she does function as an adult. Despite his immaturity, Ben means well, and genuinely tries to support the mother of his child, but as the movie shows us, relationships are tenuous thing.
Few movies are as intelligent about the ways men and women relate to each other. There is a scene between Allison's sister Debbie (Lesley Mann) and her husband Pete (Paul Rudd) that is telling. (Spoiler). Pete has snuck out for long periods of time and lied about where he is going. It appears that Pete is having an affair, but he's really just spending time by himself or playing fantasy baseball. His wife is appalled and says it's worse than affair. Every man in the audience will know why Pete is doing what he does, and I suspect that every woman will agree with Debbie that it's inappropriate.
I don't think the movie is quite the classic many are making it out to be, primarily because it doesn't reach the Spinal Tap level of hilarity that many have claimed it has. Knocked Up is certainly funny, and there is a great comic montage when Ben and Pete see Cirque du Soleil on mushrooms, but you are not going to be falling out of your seat laughing. And there are rare moments when the movie does veer too far into gross out humor or bathroom comedy, which really doesn't belong in a movie as smart as this.
But I can't complain too much. Knocked Up is a long movie, but it feels short, by the end you will have gotten more involved in the characters than you ever expected. So many comedies these days are either ass-stupid Adam Sandler crap or hipster Clever Comedy crap. This movie doesn't detach itself from the characters and laugh at them, and its treats the audience as if it has some intelligence. It's the real deal, and announces the arrival of Judd Atapow as a real filmmaker.
Knocked Up (2007)