Most Helpful Customer Reviews
|
|
20 of 20 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Apatow does it again - funny, thoughtful and sweet, 27 Dec 2007
For those of us who saw The 40 Year Old Virgin and came away wishing that they'd given 'that funny guy with the beard' roles that could have saved Bruce Almighty and suchlike fro mediocrity, Knocked Up is like our prayers getting answered. Rogen is on fantastic form as Ben - a waster seemingly locked in a happy stasis of living off court reparations with a house of similar stoners, playing duel and table tennis, gtting high, and watching movies for nude bits in the hope of setting up an internet lexion of film nudity - the man who has a drunken liason with TV presenter and career gal Alison (Katherine Heigl) and gets her pregnant. The movie's story could be summed up with the phrase 'deal with it' - it is the story of how these two work out their fundamental differences and prepare for the birth.
The film works because Judd Apatow, much like in his movie debut, manages to juggle the vulgar and the sweet, the crass and the romantic, without ever seeming to side to heavily on either side. An 'eurgh' is never too far away from an 'aww' and vice versa. For critics of the film who have suggested that this wouldn't happen - that they'd just go their separate ways - you have to say that had that happened it would have been a pretty short film: guy knocks up girl, girl deals with it on own. The End. No. Instead Apatow looks at the conflict as they struggle to make it work. Unlike most romcom heroes, Ben is a highly flawed character: yes he does have genuine goodwill and yes he does foolish American bumbling very well and comes across as endearing, but he is also a lazy guy who is incredibly scared of growing up and leaving behind his childhood. Again, much like the 40YOV, Apatow has created a field where his central protagonist is a clueless and afraid, and has to make tentative (often hilarious, sometimes tragic) steps into an area that is unknown. Heigl is excellent as Alison, exuding the same sense of comfortability in her role that fans of Grey's Anatomy will be instantly at home with. Her comic timing is perfectly equal to Rogen's and the chemistry between the two is wonderfully awkward. Again it has irritated me that there are those that have criticised the (alleged) lack of chemistry between the two leads. Rogen and Heigl, from their (importantly) drunken encounter, lurch from faux-responsible businesslike brusqueness about the whole thing, to being alternately scared, disappointed in one another, proud, earnest, optimistic, pessimistic - in short every nuance of the rollercoaster of emotion one would expect over those crucial nine months. They are backed up with wonderfully understated turns from Paul Rudd and Leslie Mann.
In short Knocked Up is another Apatow success. It is by turns funny, dramatic, romantic, rude, crude and thought provoking. But it is a romantic comedy - there is no reason to make it the most gritty piece of realism - and so the sugar sweet ending may be forgiven at least if not endorsed. After all, most of Shakespeare's comedies ended up with the 'happily ever after' and he still managed to say a few things about relationships and society. If Judd Apatow is taking a couple of pages out of the Bard's textbook (eve if indirectly) in can hardly be a bad thing can it.
|
|
|
10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
more than you can expect, 26 Mar 2008
This not your average silly comedy with cheap humour and laughs , it tackles a very relevant problem , unwanted pregnancy , when the easiest thing is to have a termination Alison decodes to have a baby. The problem is that the future father is a complete misfit and is the opposite of the career minded and clean cut Alison.
There are some very real moments of authentic comedy and unexpected and good jokes. the movie is nearly 2 hours long.
Perhaps this movie will appeal more to young men who will enjoy the laughs more than women as there is not much romance in themovie.
Most of the secondary characters are priceless from the bitchy TV assisstant to the gyneacologist.
The extras in the DVD are good fun.
|
|
|
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
People in relationships will relate to this..., 13 Dec 2008
People watching this sort of film out of the blue may not be familiar with Seth Rogan, many people would presume he's fresh on the scene and new to this business but look harder at his face and you will recognise him from bit parts in older classics such as 40 year old Virgin, You me and Dupree and the legendary Anchorman. This is not to mention his writing credentials like Drillbit Taylor, Superbad and it may surprise people but farther back than that, Ali G in da USA. No, seriously.
Now this should go somewhere to explain where this little gem came from.
He is one of those actors who lets face it, isn't going to really fluctuate from role to role, but what he does give is characters that has a quality that most people (and I don't just mean stoners) can relate to. Which is half the battle in creating a central character that audiences care about.
In Knocked up he plays the lovable loser who by a string of pure luck, hooks up with a beauty in a nightclub (Katherine Heigl) who's at a bit of a low and goes home with him. So far so good - Katherine by the way was in that Gerard Depardieu film `My Father the Hero' from the 90's can you believe it?
If the title didn't give it away, the birds and the bee's do what they do and from here on is a series of hilarious events that play out....but all heartfelt enough to make you really hold an interest to how things are going to play out.
There are some really funny parts to this movie that different people will relate to. The whole impregnation dilemma and months that follow was probably a close reflection of somebody the writers knew, it's that accurate and funny I challenge anyone who watches this to not have the `what if talk' about what they would do if it happened to them - it's one of those, and lets face it, if a movie gets you talking about it after you've switched it off, it cant be bad right?
Another scene to note is when the boys go to Vegas that is hilarious, add to this a few others I wont mention, that push this rom-com a little bit ahead of the rest.
As for the DVD, not even standard deleted scenes, commentary or even the always advertised on this genre of movie DVD's the tag of `extreme/uncorked/uncut edition' or in this case 'Extended And Unprotected Special Edition' which honestly I never can tell the difference from the original but still, it makes you feel like you're getting something extra...not here. Shame, go for the 2-discer instead!
|
|
|
Most Recent Customer Reviews
|
![Knocked Up [DVD] [2007]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51lwvvfuFaL._SL75_SS50_.jpg)
![Step Brothers [DVD] [2008]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51L3%2BW2FSRL._SL75_SS50_.jpg)
![Forgetting Sarah Marshall [DVD] [2008]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51m6rk0Te1L._SL75_SS50_.jpg)
![Superbad (2 Disc Extended Edition) [2007] [DVD]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51HShnByGEL._SL75_SS50_.jpg)
![Superbad (2 Disc Extended Edition) [2007] [DVD]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51HShnByGEL._SL500_SS90_.jpg)
DVD ~ Christopher Mintz-Plasse
![40 Year Old Virgin (XXL Version) [DVD] [2005]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51WQBQAJEDL._SL500_SS90_.jpg)
DVD ~ Steve Carell
![Superbad (Theatrical Cut) [DVD] [2007]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51w0j8igsqL._SL500_SS90_.jpg)
DVD ~ Michael Cera
![Forgetting Sarah Marshall [DVD] [2008]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51m6rk0Te1L._SL500_SS90_.jpg)
DVD ~ Kristen Bell
![Juno [DVD] [2007]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51IEUiNa4WL._SL500_SS90_.jpg)
DVD ~ Ellen Page
