Scott Says

“Knocked Up”
Starring Seth Rogen, Katherine Heigl, Paul Rudd and Leslie Mann
Written and Directed by Judd Apatow

Perhaps the biggest problem facing “Knocked Up” is that it had “The 40-Year-Old Virgin” to live up to. Writer/Director Judd Apatow’s last sentimental comedy tour-de-force was the pleasant surprise of the summer of 2005. Moviegoers walked into theaters with low expectations and happily learned that “Virgin” wasn’t the low-brow cheap-laugh-fest the trailers seemed to promise.

“Knocked Up” did not have this element of surprise. Rogen stars as Ben Stone, a 23-year-old pothead living with his four pothead friends in an apartment that is magically paid for, somehow. Ben has never had a job in his life; he has lived for years on a $14,000 settlement after a vehicle ran over his foot when he was a teenager. One night, Ben and his friends are first in line to get into a nightclub when Alison Scott (Heigl) and her sister, Debbie (Mann), are allowed right in. This annoys Ben’s posse, but not so much that Ben doesn’t hit on Alison while both wait for a busy bartender to fill their drink orders.

This being a movie, Alison, who is a very cute doppelganger of Jessica Simpson, flirts back harder than any actual hot woman would with a curly-haired schlub like Ben. The movie’s lame explanation for her drop in standards is that she is excited about her promotion to be on-air talent for E! Network, although more realistically such a hookup should occur after a depressing event, like a break-up or noticing a wrinkle or not realizing until too late that a tub of ice cream was not, in fact, fat free. Nonetheless, Alison and Ben get very drunk and walk back to the house Alison shares with Debbie, Debbie’s husband Pete (Rudd), and their two kids, where a misunderstanding worthy of the Supreme Court’s interpretation results in unprotected intercourse.

The next morning Ben doesn’t remember much of anything from the night before, including whether or not he and Alison actually had sex, although later in the movie he conveniently has total recall of the instant he discarded the condom. They have a very awkward breakfast and part ways, never expecting to see each other again. Apparently they don’t know the title of the movie, because of course Alison has received Ben’s seed and her uterus has converted into a full-time nursery.

For some unexplained reason, Alison opts not to abort the baby (a decision that needed elaboration, since not many new new TV talents would actually risk their job by keeping a baby in that situation) and begins spending time getting to know the father of her child. Although they seemed wholly incompatible the morning after their tryst, somehow they are able to fall into genuine love - and not the shallow we’re-both-attractive-so-why-not love of most movies, but genuine having-great-times-together-perfectly-compatible love.

The plot here takes all the traditional cinema turns in a very forced, stacatto way. Gasp - Alison wants Ben to change! Gasp - it appears he has changed, until he is caught doing misbehaving! Gasp - things fall apart! Gasp - Ben realizes the error of his ways and genuinely seeks to redeem himself! Gasp - Alison takes him back! Wow, I never would have figured that out from the trailers. These plot points feel like they are occurring because they for some reason have to, not because they are the natural results of the characters’ interactions and decisions.

Likewise, a lot of the jokes were so predictable even Miss Cleo could have seen them coming. For instance, late in the movie one of Ben’s friends runs into the delivery room, gets a brief peek of the scene within, and darts back to the waiting area, terrified. A million monkeys on a million typewriters, randomly typing away, would each have come up with this schtick. There is also a sex scene midway through the movie that is uncomfortably gratuitous and out-of-place in a movie that derives almost all the rest of its humor legitimately, through character and situations instead of cheap gross-outs.

But Rogen an
d Heigl have surprisingly good chemistry, even if it is nowhere near as good as the chemistry between Rogen and Rudd. The odd actor out is Mann, who doesn’t have good chemistry with anyone. Does anyone believe her reaction when Ben lays down the law in a crucial scene? As in “The 40-Year-Old Virgin,” Apatow does a very good job developing his characters - it doesn’t take very long before they become people everybody knows from real life: the pothead with a heart of gold, the insecure controlling bitch, the husband who gets cold feet but doesn’t want to, the woman tossed blindly into a terrifying and new situation. Ben’s friends are also good in their limited role, with the exception of Ben Affleck-looking Jason Segal, who we are not really given a reason to like (he just seems an asshole, the way he hits on Debbie even after learning she is married with kids).

Alison’s job at E! allowed a good chance to poke at Hollywood, although much of that seemed a big plug for “Spiderman 3.” (Gee, I hadn’t heard such a movie existed.) It also allowed the film to bring in celebrities playing themselves. Ryan Seacrest was hilarious having a conniption fit. Steve Carell’s cameo, also as himself, was a wasted opportunity. Carell would have been a perfect choice as, say, the gynecologist delivering the baby, perhaps unbilled like Will Ferrell’s turn in “Wedding Crashers.” But other cameos worked well: SNL’s Kristen Wiig was funny as a pessimist network higher-up, and Harold Ramis was at his subtle best as Ben’s father.

The plot aside, the movie was extremely funny. I spent two hours laughing with occassional breaks to breathe and ponder with sentimentality the scenario of an unwanted pregnancy as presented onscreen. Maybe that’s just because I’m the same age as Ben, and many of my friends have children, and it’s not such a wild leap of faith to imagine myself in his situation. But whatever the reason, and despite a slight dissatisfacton with the status of the characters as the end credits began to roll (I would have liked another 90 or 120 seconds of dialogue, set maybe a month or two later), I walked out of the theater pleased overall with the film. What “Knocked Up” lacks in realistic plot points, it makes up for with real emotion and genuine dialogue. Now Apatow’s really going to have to hit it out of the park on his next project. B+