For fun-loving party animal Ben Stone, the last thing he ever expected was for his one-night stand to show up on his doorstep eight weeks later to tell him she's pregnant with his child.For fun-loving party animal Ben Stone, the last thing he ever expected was for his one-night stand to show up on his doorstep eight weeks later to tell him she's pregnant with his child.For fun-loving party animal Ben Stone, the last thing he ever expected was for his one-night stand to show up on his doorstep eight weeks later to tell him she's pregnant with his child.
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Featured reviews
"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.
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.
"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.
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.
Did you know
- GoofsWhen Ben and Pete are in the Las Vegas hotel room, the Sands Hotel is seen out the window. The Sands was imploded in 1996 to make way for the Venetian.
- Quotes
Debbie: I'm not gonna go to the end of the fucking line, who the fuck are you? I have just as much of a right to be here as any of these little skanky girls. What, am I not skanky enough for you, you want me to hike up my fucking skirt? What the fuck is your problem? I'm not going anywhere, you're just some roided out freak with a fucking clipboard. And your stupid little fucking rope! You know what, you may have power now but you are not god. You're a doorman, okay. You're a doorman, doorman, doorman, doorman, doorman, so... Fuck You! You fucking fag with your fucking little faggy gloves.
Doorman: I know... you're right. I'm so sorry, I fuckin' hate this job. I don't want to be the one to pass judgement, decide who gets in. Shit makes me sick to my stomach, I get the runs from the stress. It's not cause you're not hot, I would love to tap that ass. I would tear that ass up. I can't let you in cause you're old as fuck. For this club, you know, not for the earth.
Debbie: What?
Doorman: You old, she pregnant. Can't have a bunch of old pregnant bitches running around. That's crazy, I'm only allowed to let in five percent black people. He said that, that means if there's 25 people here I get to let in one and a quarter black people. So I gotta hope there's a black midget in the crowd.
- Crazy creditsBaby photos of the cast and crew are shown during the closing credits.
- Alternate versionsIn the UK theatrical release, during the first scene where the guys work on their website, the material regarding Short Cuts was replaced by a skit on Total Recall and the three breasted lady, containing Jason's impression of Arnie saying "damn it Cohaagen, give dem di ayer". This scene is absent from both region 1 and 2 DVDs, and only the Short Cuts is included. The Total Recall bit doesn't even appear in deleted scenes, meaning it seems to have vanished.
- SoundtracksAll Night
Written by Stephen Marley, Damian Marley (as Damian Robert Nesta Marley),
Coxsone Dodd, Jackie Mittoo
Performed by Damian Marley featuring Stephen Marley
Courtesy of Universal Records
Under license from Universal Music Enterprises
Details
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- Also known as
- Ligeramente embarazada
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Box office
- Budget
- $30,000,000 (estimated)
- Gross US & Canada
- $148,768,917
- Opening weekend US & Canada
- $30,690,990
- Jun 3, 2007
- Gross worldwide
- $219,922,417
- Runtime
- 2h 9m(129 min)
- Color
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 1.85 : 1