Hilarious Knocked Up Pregnant Winner

Alison Scott (Katherine Heigl) has just been promoted to being an on-air reporter for the E! Television Network. For the sexy, driven and intellectual twenty-something this new job is a dream come true and she can hardly believe her good fortune. Something like this is worthy of celebrating, Alison hitting the town with her married-with-children older sister Debbie (Leslie Mann) like two party-hardy coeds cruising for a good time.

Ben Stone (Seth Rogan) isn’t in quite the same league as Alison. Living in a dilapidated mosquito-filled house with a gaggle of slacker roommates the overweight lazybones looks like he’s 34 not 24, personal hygiene not exactly high on his list of priorities. His life mainly consists of video games and marijuana, the rest of his time spent trying to create a movie website dedicated to major female stars taking off their clothes.

These two have nothing in common and, not surprisingly, should never even meet. But meet they do, and thanks to some witty banter, a few cool dance moves and copious amounts of alcohol Alison and Ben are well on their way to an unforgettable one night stand. Problem is, one half of this twosome finds herself shockingly knocked up, and suddenly these two strangers with heretofore no reason to make a connection are staring face-first at the one thing neither is prepared for: Parenthood.

Knocked Up, the sophomore effort from the creator of The 40-Year-Old Virgin Judd Apatow, is about as good a comedic breath of fresh air as I am likely to see this year. Smart, insightful and brutally hysterical, not only is this a perfectly winning vehicle for Grey’s Anatomy bombshell Heigl it is also the magnificent arrival of a brand new star in the form of Rogan. They just don’t make crude, laugh-out-loud comedies as wonderful as this one, the film a sensation virtually guaranteed to play throughout the summer and maybe even beyond.

In other words, this thing is great. This, come to think of it, is really a rare thing for me to say about a comedy, especially one which can revel in crudely obnoxious humor like this one can. As much as I liked The 40-Year-Old Virgin, there were more than a few moments where the gross-out nature of the first half really turned my stomach. It is not a thing I am usually a fan of, and knowing this was brought to me by the same team who made that one didn’t exactly make me jump up and down like an excited little schoolgirl.

But that’s pretty much how I acted coming out of the theater. Aptow’s script is absolutely one of a kind. Smarter than you’d think it would be, sweeter than you’d expect and more emotionally pure than I was remotely prepared for, this movie is about as close to perfect as there is. Sure it is crude, but crude only in a naturalistic way mirroring real life. Not only does the film treat its characters with respect and without condescension, it does so even when their actions border on the indefensible.

There are a couple of minor annoyances. As good as Apatow’s script is, he’s still learning as a director. At over 130 minutes, Knocked Up tends to move at a glacial pace, the first third particularly sluggish. I also thought Stone’s ragtag group of friends grew more than a bit tiresome, their constant bantering – while funny – not near as welcome or needed as the filmmaker apparently thinks it is.

But these are relatively insignificant problems. The central quartet, Heigl, Rogan, Mann and Paul Rudd (playing Debbie’s henpecked husband Pete), are wonderful, their easy-going and frequently hysterical performances virtually mesmerizing. They are all more, much more, then their simplistic character descriptions. These are real people, flesh and blood, so complicated and full-bodied I almost felt I knew each and every one of them.

Heigl is terrific. She runs the gamut of emotions, Alison a wholly believable woman faced with a decision she never even fathomed before it actually happens to her.  The actress makes her sympathetic, nut never so much so she makes us willing to excuse her mistakes. Instead she asks us to forgive them, the moment this career woman finds the strength to do so for herself about the same point I blissfully found I was doing the same.

It is Rogan, however, who is the star here. This is as dynamic a show-stopping comedic performance as any I’ve seen in ages. I’d never really fallen for the guy before, his turn in The 40-Year-Old Virgin more annoying then anything else. Just the opposite takes place here. I couldn’t take my eyes off the guy, his tour de force portrayal so astonishing by the time the credits rolled I was ready to stand up and cheer.

And why not? Few movies are as dynamically self-assured as this one, while even fewer comedies can boast being even a smidgen as funny. Apatow doesn’t just get a hit, he belts the thing straight out of the comedic ballpark, Knocked Up a hilarious entertainment home run that’s certainly a one night stand few will ever admit to regretting.

Film Rating:  êêê1/2  (out of 4)