Knocked Up (2006)

Had I not had tickets for a preview of this movie, I very much doubt that I would have been in any rush to see a flick about a sexy gal who meets a dorky guy at a club, drinks too much, and ends up pregnant after the one-night stand.  Would you?  I understand that this has been a smash hit Stateside, but I am obviously so far outside the zeitgeist that I do not understand what the fuss is about.  In its way it's a pleasant enough film with some occasional good jokes and situations, but it is so over-padded with unnecessary business that its two-hour plus running time is ridiculous for what would have been fine in 90 minutes.

Then again I didn't think that the writer/director Judd Apatow's first big-screen success "The 40-year Old Virgin" was as wonderful as it was cracked up to be.  The couple here are played by busty blonde Katherine Heigl as an up-and-coming TV presenter and by rotund slacker Seth Rogen (not really known to me) who lives with his equally unsavory mates planning a semi-porn website.  When she discovers that she is in the club, I honestly thought that she might seek an abortion rather than involve the obviously unsuitable father-to-be in every stage of her pregnancy.  There was, it is true, a certain sweetness to Rogen's character and one could foresee the eventual happy ending to come, even if it did strain one's credulity.  Heigl lives with her married sister Leslie Mann (the director's wife) and her brother-in-law Paul Ruud and much of the film focuses on the difficulties of their relationship as well.  All four actors had good comic timing and kept things moving, albeit somewhat sluggishly at times.  However I very much doubt that any viewer needed the rather phony-looking explicit shots during the eventual birth scene and I'll be damned if I know why they were included.

Tags: Knocked Up, Judd Apatow