Knocked Up
In the crude male-fantasy fairy tale “Knocked Up,” the prince is a bong-loving, T-shirt-wearing, ambition-challenged dude (Seth Rogen of “You, Me and Dupree”) with no focus and the princess is a career-obsessed, fashion-minded, forward-thinking lady (Katherine Heigl of “Gray’s Anatomy”) with a bright future. The two seem about as right for each other as Donald Trump and Rosie O’Donnell in this far-fetched but sometimes heartfelt R-rated tale.
It’s hard to believe for a minute that the main characters would ever be together for more than five minutes, but writer-director Judd Apatow (“The 40 Year-Old Virgin”) creates a landscape in which feelings very slowly bloom between two people whose only thing in common seems to be a pregnancy.
Apatow, who punctuates the script with constant four-letter words, drug gags and sex references, enjoys pushing the boundaries of good taste. There’s a graphic hospital delivery-room scene that may have some viewers shaking their heads as Stone watches his child coming into the world. (Nothing on the screen is real, since Apatow used state-of-the-art prosthetic effects to create the miracle of birth.)
In the story, a TV entertainment reporter, Alison Scott (Heigl), decides to celebrate a job promotion by going out on the town with her married sister, Debbie (Leslie Mann of “Orange County”). At a trendy club, Alison, whose usual code of behavior washes away due to hard drinking, starts talking to an ordinary-looking guy, Ben Stone (Rogen), goes home with him, falls into bed and wakes up pregnant.
Alison, whose life had seemed on a perfect fast track, gets detoured by the impending birth and attempts to forge some sort of relationship with Stone. The immature guy resides with a bunch of equally clueless (but often hilarious) buddies and lives off of an insurance settlement that’s almost gone.
Their total lack of common ground makes them seem completely incompatible.
To his credit, Apatow attempts to push beyond rude jokes and simplistic sight gags and wants to scratch beneath the surface of the characters played by Rogen and Heigl. The filmmaker also balances them with Alison’s age-obsessed sister and her frustrated husband, Pete (Paul Rudd of “Anchorman”), a guy who seems totally dazed and confused due to the demands of being a husband and father.
“Knocked Up,” which at more than two hours runs at least 20 minutes too long and suffers from some boring stretches, lacks the emotional jolt and romantic closure of “The 40 Year-Old Virgin,” but this beauty-and-the-least story still provides some hopeful – if not joyous – moments.
FILM REVIEW
“Knocked Up”
Grade: B-
Starring: Katherine Heigl, Seth Rogen, Leslie Mann and Paul Rudd; produced by Shauna Robertson and Clayton Townsend; written, directed and co-produced by Judd Apatow.
Running Time: 129 minutes.
Parental Guide: Strong sexual elements, nudity, drug use, non-stop harsh four-letter profanity.
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