Beim ersten Mal

Knocked Up is a comedy about pregnancy, love, and marriage, that has far more intelligence and emotional depth to it than somewhat its flippant title would suggest. Ben (Rogen) is a layabout bum who lives with his stoner friends, "working" on a celebrity porn movie website. Alison (Heigl) has just been promoted at E!, and when she heads out to celebrate, their worlds collide with disastrous and of course hilarious consequences.

The comedy is clever and insightful, loaded with little self-referential moments and pop culture references (the Munich one is particularly awesome), and while it occasionally veers toward the puerile, the movie's subject matter ensures that the humour remains considered and intelligent for the most part. The performances are outstanding, but not just in terms of comic timing. Rogen appears built for this sort of balanced role as he realises that he has to grow up to meet the challenges of relationships and parenthood, and Heigl is just as effective as she learns to accommodate Ben's lifestyle and releases her grip on her career. The support from Paul Rudd and Leslie Mann is also brilliant. While their conflict-ridden marriage doesn't make them the greatest of role models for Ben and Alison, it certainly provides lots of laughs, and the clashes between Mann's overly paranoid Debbie and Rudd's laid-back Pete provide an interesting projection of how Ben & Alison's relationship could turn out.

The Rudd & Rogen moments make for some of the movie's better lines, but their humour is finely balanced with that emotional depth that I mentioned before, making the characters far more than punchline machines, which benefits the movie immeasurably. The awkward intimacy of Ben & Alison's almost-forced relationship also provides touching and comic moments, as Apatow examines what happens "when life doesn't care about your plan". Even the serious, emotional scenes are laced with a sort of ironic, bittersweet humour, which again gives the characters a sense of realism but also makes the movie that bit more comfortable and reassuring.

A subject that could have been treated with a crass touch, Apatow remains in tune with his previous effort, The 40 Year Old Virgin, and chooses to focus on the impact the pregnancy has on the lives of the characters, allowing their actions and interactions to create the comedy as they come to terms with their new situation. His light touch makes Knocked Up touching, insightful, and very, very, funny.

Although the subject matter wasn't really appealing to me, the critics and general audience reviews are right: this is a very well made movie. The acting is great, the plot fast-paced, the characters believable and the dialog witty and clever. It reminds me of Superbad - another movie that I would never normally see, but one which wins you over by it's sheer (albeit crude) brilliance.

The basic premise is simple: a young TV reporter celebrates a promotion by getting drunk and inadvertently pregnant. The father-to-be is a good natured, pot-head slacker who has no money. When she decides to have the baby, she's not sure what her relationship with the father should be... and the movie progresses from there.

It's a simple plot but the dialog is what makes this movie shine. No matter the scene, it was always fun to hear what the characters were going to say. Even though most of them were one-dimensional, the dialog made them seem human and easy to relate to. A fast-movie plot also kept the movie moving along - something was always happening and there was never a dull moment.

While there is a certain level of crudity throughout, the movie is generally lighthearted and innocent. It's a fun movie to see.

I've noticed a lot of the negative comments about this title tend to focus on this movie's vulgar, 'stupid' humor. Now let's get one thing straight. Knocked Up is vulgar, absolutely it is, but is is not stupid. Stupid humor is crap like "Mr. Woodcock" and "Good Luck Chuck," movies with no real craft to any of their jokes.

"Jessica Alba fell down!!! Ahahahahahaha!"

"He yelled 'sex' really loud!!! Pssshhahahahahaaheheheheeee!"

No. Die.

Knocked Up, on the other hand, is actually pretty clever most of the time. And even the movie's vulgarity isn't done in an over-the-top, simply-for-gross-out way (cite the fat bitch from Good Luck Chuck). It's what I guess you could call 'relevant vulgarity.' Anyway, the movie is extremely funny. Every joke is naturalistic, but not expected. The movie's characters are all convincing and multi-dimensional, and above all likable. Seth Rogan really does make the movie, though. He is hilarious, but he comes off more like a real nice, frank, down-to-Earth guy. Just the kind of guy you'd like to sit down and have a beer with. The kind of guy you'd more than like to get smashed with. The kind of guy you'd really like to have ill advised unprotected sex with. The kind of guy you'd love to raise a bastard child with. Needless to say, he's the reason the movie works.

"Knocked Up" is a well-made, enjoyable comedy about the consequences of an unprotected one-night stand. It has dual lessons for its lead characters: Seth Rogen has to learn to grow up and accept responsibility and Katherine Heigl has to choose between a professional life as a television interviewer or a possibly less rewarding (as she sees it) life as a stay-at-home mom.

And because it's Judd Apatow, he handles the sex gags carefully and with enough maturity that it doesn't become another stale sex comedy. But I think some people jumping on the Apatow bandwagon are so eager to praise him as the "Savior" of the sex-comedy genre that they are overlooking some of the film's flaws.

First of all, if we're going to be picky, the comedy isn't very consistent. Which is OK - I'd prefer it that way - but when you see reviews touting it as "the funniest movie of the year," expectations can't help but build.

I didn't think the acting was as good as in "The 40-Year-Old Virgin." Seth Rogen is a great supporting actor - but I find him rather irritating as a lead character. His revelation at the end of the film, too, isn't very believable - they spend so much time focusing on his life as a slacker that the transition between him being a man-child and accepting responsibility is as realistic as a "Rocky" training montage; he has a heartfelt talk with his dad (Harold Ramis) and suddenly he's 100% willing to become committed. Okay.

I'm not a big Heigl fan, but she fit the role well here. Paul Rudd was the real scene-stealer, though. But he's thrown off-balance by the casting of Apatow's wife - can he PLEASE stop putting her in all his movies? She can't act.

Overall, this is an OK comedy - better than most of its genre - and the drama is more realistic than most sex comedies, but some people were so willing to jump on it as a "masterpiece" of its genre before it even came out that the hype just killed it for me.

This film is about a successful TV presenter who gets pregnant after a drunken one night stand.

"Knocked Up" tells a story that a lot of people fear, and a lot of people can relate to. The two individuals in the spotlight are very incompatible with each other, and yet they try to be in a relationship for the sake of the unborn baby. The film s funny at times, but most of the time the five pot heads are far too annoying to be entertaining. Watching them acting irresponsibly like spoiled teenagers is not my idea of comedy.

I cannot help compare "Knocked Up" with "This Is 40", which is the sequel of this. I found "This Is 40" funny but fragmented; "Knocked Up" is cohesive but not so funny. I think it is over-hyped. If it wasn't for Katherine Heigl's charm and Leslie Mann's attitude, "Knocked Up" would have been a bore.