Review
Culture
ROBERT SIEGEL, host:
The combination of raunchy humor and appealing characters made "The 40-Year-Old Virgin" a big hit at the box office. So it's not surprising that writer/director Judd Apatow decided to combine raunch and appeal again in his new comedy. It's called "Knocked Up" and Bob Mondello has a review.
BOB MONDELLO: Imagine a 20-something Wendy and Peter Pan - she is practical, he is flighty; she is mature, he's an overgrown kid; she's got family, he's living in a suburban clubhouse with a bunch of stoner-buddy lost boys. And like those buddies, he hasn't grown up. So one night, these two, named Allison and Ben, meet at a neighborhood bar.
(Soundbite of movie, "Knocked Up")
MONDELLO: And after a lot of alcohol and a whole night of partying, he makes a proposal and gets really lucky.
(Soundbite of movie, "Knocked Up")
Mr. SETH ROGEN (Actor): (As Ben Stone) You want to get out of here?
Ms. KATHERINE HEIGL (Actress): (As Alison Scott) Yeah, let's go. You want to come back and hang out at my place?
Mr. ROGEN: (As Ben) Yes.
MONDELLO: And she gets way less lucky, though she doesn't discover that until eight weeks later. At which point, she confides in her sister.
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Ms. HEIGL: (As Allison) I mean, I've been really stressed at work. I can't remember my last period.
Ms. LESLIE MANN (Actress): (As Debbie Scott) Are you the lady who doesn't realize she's pregnant until she's sitting on the toilet and the kid pops out?
Ms. HEIGL: (As Allison) Can you not joke right now? Don't joke right now. This is really serious.
Ms. MANN: (As Debbie) Did I meet him?
Ms. HEIGL: (As Allison) I have this thing of him on my phone. I Just watched it.
Mr. ROGEN: (As Ben) Hey. I live in your phone.
Ms. MANN: (As Debbie) Oh.
Mr. ROGEN: (As Ben) This is the best night of our lives.
Ms. MANN: (As Debbie) Oh, God. How did this happen?
MONDELLO: Doesn't really matter - it did. So Alison gets back in touch with Ben just to talk. Again, Ben feels lucky - at least before she tells him he's going to be a dad. And again, Alison feels less so as she learns among other things that he has no real job.
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Ms. HEIGL: (As Allison) So how do you...
Mr. ROGEN: (As Ben) How do I pay rent? When I was in high school, I got ran over by a postal truck.
Ms. HEIGL: (As Allison) Oh my God.
Mr. ROGEN: (As Ben) (Unintelligible). It was my foot, more than anything. But, I got like 14 grand from the British Columbia government, and that really lasted me. I mean, until now, it's been almost 10 years. I have, like, 900 bucks left, so that should last me for, like, I mean, I'm not a mathematician but, like, another two years.
MONDELLO: The crazy thing is he is trying to sound impressive. Now, writer/director Judd Apatow has been establishing himself lately as king of the dirty-minded-but-sweet relationship comedy. And he's worked some neat variations on it here, not just the Peter Pan thing upended by parenthood, but a whole theory about how men and women approach relationships and what that does to them when they get to marriage. Listen, for instance, to Alison's brother-in-law on the subject.
(Soundbite of movie, "Knocked Up")
Mr. PAUL RUDD (Actor): (As Pete) Marriage is like that show, "Everybody Loves Raymond" but it's not funny. All the problems are the same, but it's - you know, instead of all that funny, pithy dialogue, everybody is just really pissed off and tense. Marriage like an unfunny, tense version of "Everybody Loves Raymond." But it doesn't last 22 minutes. It lasts forever.
MONDELLO: Small wonder Ben doesn't want to leap right into fatherhood. The meanness linked with wistfulness in that passage is an Apatow trademark, delivered here by Paul Rudd, one of a bunch of very funny actors who are starting to seem like the director's personal repertory company. Seth Rogen, for instance, who plays Ben, has been pretty hilarious in Apatow comedies stretching back from "40-Year-Old Virgin" all the way back to TV's "Freaks and Geeks".
Finally given the lead here, he is scruffy and vulnerable and appealing enough to persuade you that Katherine Heigl's forthright Alison might conceivably give him a tumble after a drink. Or maybe 12.
Which is good, because despite its R rating, and its drug references, and its crude language, and its delivery-room shots of a baby crowning, which has to be a first in a mainstream movie - "Knocked Up" isn't as outrageous as it is human. It's a morality tale about the importance of growing up, not just growing older. And what sets it apart from these soulless laugh-fests that usually pass for comedy in Hollywood is that at heart, "Knocked Up" has heart.
I'm Bob Mondello.
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