Knocked Up Review

Knocked Up has been getting some of the best reviews I have ever seen a comedy get. Kyle Smith of the New York Post even referred to the movie as an “era defining comedy”. I did not need great reviews to get me excited for a movie that basically features the same cast and crew as the great 40 Year Old Virgin. Something unfortunate happened to me, at least, during this movie. This great comedy; and trust me it’s really, really good, got a tad bit over hyped.

The fact that I feel Knocked Up was over hyped may give the impression that I thought it was not that good. This is untrue; it’s really good and will have, like most Judd Apatow movies, incredible re-watchibility factor. The movie manages to be consistently funny for the entire length of this rather long, two hours and ten minutes, comedy.

The movie follows Ben Stone (Seth Rogan) and Allison Scott (Katherine Heigl) as they hook up during one drunken night and end up having to deal with an oncoming pregnancy. We also meet Ben’s crazy stoner friends and Allison’s sister Debbie and her husband Pete (played by 40 Year Old Virgin alums Leslie Mann and Paul Rudd). Paul Rudd’s character does not come to play during the 1st half of the movie, but when he finally gets to start doing his thing he becomes incredibly funny. Paul Rudd and Seth Rogan are always great together and they could make an entire movie based off their improve alone (case in point, the famous “You know how I know you’re gay?” scene in Virgin. The entire scene was improved). They manage to improve an entire scene about Back to the Future, which just may be my favorite scene in movie history.

There is a lot of comedic talent in this movie, besides Rogan and Rudd the movie also futures Jonah Hill (from Accepted), Jason Segel (How I Met Your Mother), Jay Baruchel (Undeclared), Harold Ramis, Alan Tudyk (Dodgeball, Serenity), and current SNL cast members Kristen Wiig and Bill Hader. (All these talented comedic actors seem always be characters in any movie Apatow produces, which is a good thing). The movie is long for a comedy, but never drags and scores on every single one liner it dishes out. Knocked Up will deliver a good night at the movies; just don’t blow it out of proportion with hype and expectations like I did.
Grade: B+