Rating of
3.5/4
Knocked Up Scores a Knock Out
Chris Kavan - wrote on 08/26/07
Judd Apatow has somehow figured out the golden ratio: make a comedy that has enough sick jokes and f-bombs to appeal to a male-oriented crowd, yet deliver enough of the relationship and romance angle to appeal to the female-oriented crowd.
You have poor shlub Ben Stone, played to perfection by Seth Rogen, an apathetic lump wanting nothing more than to smoke weed, hang with his friends and watch movies. His polar opposite is career driven Alison Scott, whose on the fast-track at E! TV, promoted to on-air status. A chance meeting at a club, one wild night and 8 weeks later - and well, you get the picture.
The real meat of the film is about the relationship between Ben and Alison, from strangers, to friends, to a couple and also the relationship of Pete and Debbie (Paul Rudd and Leslie Mann), the married couple with children who are trying to keep things together.
Don't let all this talk of relationships scare you away. The rest of the cast is rounded out by Ben's stoner friends who also seem to be living for nothing more than to take it easy all day. How they survive is beyond me, but they manage to provide some great comic relief - especially the bearded Martin (Martin Starr) whose bushy appendage is a running gag throughout the film.
There is plenty of rauchy fun, but like the 40-Year-Old Virgin before it, Knocked Up manages to strike the perfect balance between the jokes and the serious matter and makes for an entertaining film.
