Seeing Knocked Up hyped as a sleeper hit had an obvious effect. The movie opened and made serious bank. All the alternative-fare talk was just a deceitful way of creating anticipation for a blockbuster.
Were Judd Apatow’s comedy not another all-white Middle America take on a couple’s compatibility, this might mean something. Knocked Up is sharp and funny enough that it rises above every similarly focused romantic comedy since 2005. It knows how to play this game well, but it’s still just a very good example of a genre staple. The hype worked because Knocked Up is a safe bet.
Its best and worst attribute is how nice it is. Stoner-slacker Ben Stone (Seth Rogan) impregnates E! Entertainment journalist Alison Scott (Katherine Heigl) during a one night stand—a new angle to set up an odd-couple sitcom. Apatow never lets the prospect of abortion seriously enter the picture. Alison and Ben struggle for compatibility despite the enormous distance between them. It’s easy to see how Ben, who’s crass and unemployed but is developing a website to document the timecodes where nudity appears in films, would be excited by successful Ms. Thang entering his life. Despite the film’s marketing to a female audience, it’s about male wish-fulfillment. From Ben’s perspective, he gets to be with a hot girl by getting her pregnant.
As in Apatow’s likable and equally safe The 40-Year-Old Virgin, the situation is never confronted on the lines of societal mores vs. peoples’ differing social ethics. Alison’s acceptance of Ben is defiant, but the movie doesn’t let her express that defiance.
Within this limited sitcom perspective, Apatow manages to make Knocked Up inclusive and sincere. He takes it for granted that characters can date outside of their quota, even if it isn’t a basis for a rags-to-riches Cinderella story. The film’s warmth is what dignifies its shortcuts.
Knocked Up‘s one truly admirable risk is in not making Ben the sort of enviable, cool slob that Jack Black often plays. Rogan’s assured performance treats the character as well-meaning but neither particularly bright nor charming. Even Ben’s sense of humour is off. Apatow counts on us to like him, as Alison can, because he’s a good person. Alison’s assertion that she’s starting to love him may lack real justification. But in the very sealed-off world of romantic comedies, this is definite progress.
Rise: Blood Hunter
I was the only one in attendance at a Saturday matinee of Rise: Blood Hunter. This may not be the optimal time of day to watch a vampire film, but for a movie with a specific audience, the turnout was curious. The target goths didn’t give a shit.
Rise has LA Weekly reporter Sadie (Lucy Liu) bitten by a vampire while working on a story. Rather than giving in to the undead lifestyle, she gets mad —vowing to destroy those who did this to her, and vampires in general. It’s a cross between Blade and The Crow, but writer-director Sebastian Gutierrez is better at making his demons seem like they’re at a dinner party than making things manic and beautiful.
Liu is always a game actor. It’s just that the rarity of a non-white goth figure is wasted on a movie without much else of distinction. This is even the case with a supporting cast—Robert Forster, Michael Chiklis, Marilyn Manson, Nick Lachey—that seems chosen for novelty value.
Rise is middling, but not by doing things the wrong way. It’s not wild enough.
For more of Mark’s thoughts on Knocked Up, check out the man’s blog: www.markpalermo.blogspot.com. To add your own, write: palermo@thecoast.ca
This article appears in Jun 7-13, 2007.
Judd Apatow is something of a contemporary creative hero. He is a man who works within a rigid system and delivers consistently hilarious fare that manages to remain oddly honest and revealing. The director of THE 40 YEAR OLD VIRGIN returns this summer with KNOCKED UP, a comedy about dealing with the unexpected that lives up to all its expectations. After one night of drunken, messy sex, Alison and Ben (Katherine Heigl and Seth Rogen) find themselves in a situation many have found themselves in before, pregnant. Alison is fresh from a promotion while Ben is busy doing nothing at all. Neither expected to see the other ever again, much less raise a child together. This is horrible timing for both of them but both must learn that nothing makes two people grow up faster than having a baby. And what do two grown-ups do when faced with a less than ideal scenario like this one? Why they give up on looking for love and force a relationship to form between each other for the sake of their child and in the interest of being responsible human beings. The idea that they could actually be successful is hilarious enough in itself.Despite all their chemistry though, Heigl and Rogen never fully convince me that they have actually fallen in love. Sure they each learn a thing or two about themselves and how to be better to each other but in the end, Apatow does more damage than good. One walks away from KNOCKED UP thinking that a baby can bring people together or save a relationship. One also walks away thinking that to grow up means to leave your dreams and frivolity behind you, to settle in to a potential life of boredom and disappointment. Finally, and fortunately for all involved, one also walks away from KNOCKED UP laughing one’s ass off and not caring one bit about convention and the dangers that stem from it.www.blacksheepreviews.blogspot.com
I actually find Knocked up and The 40 yr old Virgin to be incredibly sexist. The female characters suck. He needs to up his game.