Katherine Heigl
stars as Alison Scott – a successful producer at E!
Entertainment Television (I
hope they paid a pretty penny for that product placement) who gets
promoted to
an on camera gig that will make her rich and famous (at least as rich and
famous
as you can get on basic cable, which sounds like a dream to this
wannabe rich
and famous broadcasting personality who is not so rich and famous). Anyway, she heads off to
celebrate with her
sister, Debbie (Leslie Mann), and one thing leads to another. “Another”
in this case is named Ben (Seth
Rogan) – a lackadaisical internet entrepreneur wannabe and
all around stoner
who happens to be Mr. Right Now. He
is
charming enough to pique Alison’s curiosity, especially after
a few adult
beverages, and let’s just say neither one is a 40-year old virgin
after this encounter. As
you can imagine
from the title, Alison gets pregnant, and Ben wants to do the right
thing by
helping out and taking responsibility for his fatherhood.
Can these complete
opposites get through the pregnancy without killing each other? Will they find out the one
night stand has
turned out to be a real relationship?
Knocked
Up is a
raunchy, vulgar R-rated comedy in the spirit of Wedding
Crashers and director
Judd Apatow’s classic masterpiece, The
40-Year Old Virgin, but not quite as
funny or heartfelt. Don’t
get me
wrong. Knocked
Up is hilarious. However,
it is trying to hit those same fun
and sweet moments those two aforementioned movies did, but never quite
gets there,
since Ben is not as lovable as Andy the Virgin.
It’s kind of like comparing Derek Jeter to
Babe Ruth. Jeter is
a great one, but The Babe is
immortal.
Rogan and Heigl
are perfect for the roles. Heigl
is the woman
parents hope and pray their sons will bring home as the classy,
beautiful and
accomplished professional woman, while Rogan is the man all parents
fear their
daughter will come home with as the guy who revels in his slackerhood,
rudeness,
crudeness, pot smoking and questionable career goals. The
two have good chemistry together as each
one adapts to the other, and each actor is smart enough to show how
their
character is changing in small, and some noticeable, ways. While we all know Rogan
can handle the
comedy, it was a treat to see Heigl’s timing and comedic
chops on display in
impressive fashion, while Rogan gets to prove he can handle the leading
man
role.
However, you
might find yourself wishing for more appearances by the
movie’s supporting
players like Leslie Mann, who practically steals the movie with her
appearance
as Alison’s foulmouthed shrew of a sister, Debbie. She gets the wickedest
lines, has a few
moments to win us over to support her, and proves to be one of the
funniest
people in movies today. Paul
Rudd, another
40-Year
Old Virgin co-star, plays the sister’s husband,
and makes the most of
his henpecked character who, along with Debbie, makes everyone in the
movie
reconsider marriage.
Knocked
Up is a
bit too long, and the ending seems to be crying out for a faster paced
madcap
explosion, but you can’t go wrong with Knocked
Up if you just want
to laugh,
and feel a bit dirty about it later.
3
½ Waffles (Out of 4)
Knocked
Up is
rated R for sexual content, drug use and language
Copyright
2007 - WaffleMovies.com