Knocked Up (2007) Reviews

• Vulgar, Sure, But Certainly Not Stupid.

  RabidED9902007-10-22

  I've noticed a lot of the negative comments about this title tend to focus on this movie's vulgar, 'stupid' humor. Now let's get one thing straight. Knocked Up is vulgar, absolutely it is, but is is not stupid. Stupid humor is crap like "Mr. Woodcock" and "Good Luck Chuck," movies with no real craft to any of their jokes. "Jessica Alba fell down!!! Ahahahahahaha!" "He yelled 'sex' really loud!!! Pssshhahahahahaaheheheheeee!" No. Die. Knocked Up, on the other hand, is actually pretty clever most of the time. And even the movie's vulgarity isn't done in an over-the-top, simply-for-gross-out way (cite the fat bitch from Good Luck Chuck). It's what I guess you could call 'relevant vulgarity.' Anyway, the movie is extremely funny. Every joke is naturalistic, but not expected. The movie's characters are all convincing and multi-dimensional, and above all likable. Seth Rogan really does make the movie, though. He is hilarious, but he comes off more like a real nice, frank, down-to-Earth guy. Just the kind of guy you'd like to sit down and have a beer with. The kind of guy you'd more than like to get smashed with. The kind of guy you'd really like to have ill advised unprotected sex with. The kind of guy you'd love to raise a bastard child with. Needless to say, he's the reason the movie works.

• Clever Writing ....

  Vic_max2008-12-21

  Although the subject matter wasn't really appealing to me, the critics and general audience reviews are right: this is a very well made movie. The acting is great, the plot fast-paced, the characters believable and the dialog witty and clever. It reminds me of Superbad - another movie that I would never normally see, but one which wins you over by it's sheer (albeit crude) brilliance. The basic premise is simple: a young TV reporter celebrates a promotion by getting drunk and inadvertently pregnant. The father-to-be is a good natured, pot-head slacker who has no money. When she decides to have the baby, she's not sure what her relationship with the father should be... and the movie progresses from there. It's a simple plot but the dialog is what makes this movie shine. No matter the scene, it was always fun to hear what the characters were going to say. Even though most of them were one-dimensional, the dialog made them seem human and easy to relate to. A fast-movie plot also kept the movie moving along - something was always happening and there was never a dull moment. While there is a certain level of crudity throughout, the movie is generally lighthearted and innocent. It's a fun movie to see.

• A simple story is made into a very entertaining comedy

  se7en1872007-04-15

  Ben Stone (Seth Rogen) meets Alison Scott (Katherine Heigl) at a bar, they get drunk and have a little fun afterward, then they part ways. That is, until a few weeks later, Alison discovers she's pregnant and Ben is the father. This simple story makes up the hilarious film Knocked Up. I really enjoyed this, it has a lot of great laughs and it also has a lot of heart spread throughout. Seth Rogen does an excellent job, I'm glad he's been given the chance to be the lead in such a big film. And Katherine Heigl is equally entertaining. The two of them are so great together, they're just so much fun to watch on screen. The supporting actors are also wonderful. Leslie Mann and Paul Rudd are perfect together. And I think Kristen Wiig steals the show with her small yet hysterical role as one of the workers at E!. When people go to see this they'll want to compare it with 40 Year Old Virgin. Though I'm not a big fan of comparing movies to other movies, I guess I'll have to go through with it. For me, 40 Year Old Virgin is a funnier movie, but Knocked Up is a better written film and it has more heart to it. Both films based their story on a simple premise (a nerdy 40 year old hasn't had sex, a guy has a one night stand and gets the woman pregnant), but it seems like 40 Year Old Virgin used its idea to just get laughs. Knocked Up, on the other hand, uses its set up and continues the story throughout the film, developing its characters. So, Knocked Up is a very enjoyable film, it has some big laughs (I particularly love the side story with the bearded roommate) but its also very sweet at times. I'm sure people will love it. See the movie and you'll get more than just laughs.

• Decent, but I don't see what all of the fuss is about.

  B_D2007-06-12

  I went into the theater not knowing what to expect, not having seen the trailer, and two hours later I felt I had seen a decent movie, quite funny at times, but I couldn't figure out what everyone was making such a big deal about. Compared to a lot of what passes for comedy in the cinema these days, Knocked Up is great, but it's hardly the "instant classic" that I've seen it called in many professional and IMDb reviews. It's certainly worth seeing, but maybe at a discount matinée instead of a full-price evening show. Much of what is wrong with Knocked Up is simply an over-reliance on Seth Rogen to deliver the laughs. To be sure, Rogen is a funny guy - he handled the jump from second-tier supporting actor (a la 40 Year Old Virgin) to leading man surprisingly well, appearing confident and charismatic. The problem is that as the film goes on, he just doesn't get a whole lot to work with from his supporting cast. Rogen doesn't have enough in him at this point to carry an entire film on his shoulders, but often he is forced into that role, providing the only humor in many scenes (especially in the second half of the movie). At times it almost seems as if Rogen has landed in the wrong film, delivering clever quips and laughs while the barely-likable characters around him remain too serious. Paul Rudd manages to break this up, taking some of the burden off Rogen, but Katherine Heigl and Leslie Mann's unfunny and quasi-sympathetic characters drag them down. To be sure, the first half of Knocked Up is great, but by the second half the script becomes mired in slow, cliché drama. Marital dissatisfaction and the loss of youth are interesting themes to explore, but in doing so, Knocked Up fails to establish a consistent tone. As the film trudges past the 90-minute mark, it is sometimes humorous, sometimes dour, often clichéd, all resulting in an awkward mix of styles. Overall, Knocked Up was a good effort, but a little more editing of the script would have helped a lot. I don't mind long movies at all, but 20 minutes could have been trimmed from this film to good effect.

• Surprisingly Funny

  hellokristen2007-03-23

  From the title I expected an idiot-teen comedy, but it was quite a grown-up comedy. I envision teen boys liking the first 10 minutes (a chubby slacker gets to nail a hot chick after meeting her in a bar), then fleeing when the movie gets into REAL "adult themes". Uh-oh. She's pregnant. Now what happens? This movie kept the audience laughing throughout. Most comedies tend to fall apart part-way through, but this one kept the laughs going. It constantly surprises and never settles for the clichéd joke. There's more sex and nudity in this movie than you usually see in comedies, but it just makes the comedy more real. It's real -- so it's real funny. We've all found ourselves in awkward, yet hilarious, sexual situations like this. (Well, if you're lucky!) All the actors are comedy experts -- many of them from Judd Apatow's other ventures: "Undeclared" and "Freaks and Geeks". Steve Carell, star of Judd's "40 Year Old Virgin" has a cameo. As does Ryan Seacrest who plays himself as a total asshole. (Makes you wonder why he agreed to do this.) Kristen Wiig and Bill Hader from SNL are great in their small roles. Seth Rogan at first glance seems an unlikely leading man. But as the movie goes on, you grow to like him more. We see what the girl comes to see in him: he's funny and supportive and has a loving heart. She's a 10 and he's a 5, so at first you don't think they could make it as a couple, but looks can be deceiving. Paul Rudd and Seth Rogan at Cirque d'Soleil in an altered state is a hilarious scene. (That's how Cirque makes me feel when I see it anyway! Like a bad trip.)