Knocked Up (2007)

Starring: Seth Rogen, Katherine Heigl, Paul Rudd, Leslie Mann, Jay Baruchel, Jonah Hill, Charlyne Yi, Jason Segel, Martin Starr

Director: Judd Apatow

Genre: Comedy

Rating: B-

After getting a promotion at work, career-minded Alison Scott (Heigl) has a one-night stand with stoner Ben Scott (Rogen). Alison very quickly begins to regret it, but when she finds out she's pregnant all hilarity ensues.  Alison and Ben must figure out if they want to make it work, and if they can make it work, and really how to do so.  Along for the ride are Ben's stoner friends and Alison's sister and brother-in-law.  By far the best part of the film is actually Alison's sister and brother-in-law, Debbie (Mann) and Pete (Rudd), and their children, played by Judd Apatow and Leslie Mann's real life children, Maud and Iris Apatow.  There's a reason that the sequel, This is 40, focused on Debbie and Pete and not on Ben and Alison.

Um, okay.  So, I liked the basic idea, but I disliked how it ended up basically being a stoner take on the romantic comedy.  I would have rather it gone a less typical route - yes the pregnancy bit is less typical, but the whole guy meets girl, things are awkward, guy and girl hook up, and they all live happily ever after (after that one massive fight where they almost break up) is a bit cliched at this point.

I did really like the dynamic of Debbie and Pete and what they offered to the table.  I believe I said it in my review of This is 40, but I really like how the kids feel like real people here, like real kids.  I attribute this to the fact that they're actually Apatow's kids, but hey it works.  I think if you're going to write children in your movie (or book or TV show or whatever) then you need to have children in your life - a lot - otherwise it just seems fake.

Katherine Heigl criticized this film saying that it's sexist, saying that it "paints the women as shrews, as humorless and uptight, and it paints the men as lovable, goofy, fun-loving guys."  I both agree and disagree with her here. While the women are shrewish at times and the men are goofy fun-loving guys, I kind of think that Knocked Up tries to show that both are essentially good.  Yes, Alison is a bit uptight, but she's the responsible one, the one who you should admire.  Ben is a freeloading stoner - as are all of his friends.  Debbie and Pete are both a lot more likeable, and both a lot more relatable.  The guys say at one point how great the women are and how they aren't deserving of them because they don't put enough into the relationship - and this is something that we see throughout the film.  I do kind of think Heigl's character is a bit humourless, but I also think that's a lot to do with the fact that she doesn't relate to Rogen's style of humour - which I can totally get.  Debbie, however, has a much better dynamic with Pete - something played out further in This is 40.  Oh, also, as far as Heigl is concerned, it's kind of bad form to badmouth a movie you're in.   Just going to toss that out there.  Also, one final note: I'm not really sure how to tag Knocked Up and This is 40 to show that they're related.  It's part of a series, but not part of a series? If anyone has any ideas, let me know!

This Is 40 (2012)

Starring: Leslie Mann, Paul Rudd, John Lithgow, Megan Fox, Albert Brooks, Maud Apatow, Iris Apatow

Director:  Judd Apatow

Genre: Comedy

Rating: B

Pete (Rudd) and Debbie (Mann) are a married couple who are both about to celebrate their 40th birthday; Debbie is extremely distressed about this, Pete less so.   Deciding that they need to improve their lives, Debbie sets out to change things: they need to exercise more and eat better; furthermore, Debbie wants them to change their relationships with their fathers: Pete needs to stop lending money to his dad, Larry (Brooks) and Debbie needs to reconnect with her dad, Oliver (Lithgow).  Their problems are exacerbated by the fact that Pete's record company is failing, although he's not told his wife, and someone's stealing money from Debbie's business.

There isn't really a plot to this movie, in a lot of ways it's more just a series of events that sometimes build upon each other, and in a way this film kind of feels more like real life than most movies.  The problems that Pete and Debbie face have a very unscripted feel to them - with few exceptions - and thus feel very real.  Their fights are about stupid things that blow up out of proportion - I love the major fight that happens midway through and leaves them both questioning why they ever got married and why they're still together.  At first I wasn't as big of a fan of the way that each of them interacted with their fathers - both seemed a bit stereotypical and played out - but as the movie continued and the fights continued, I really got into both of them.

I also really love the kids.  The two children in this movie, Sadie and Charlotte (Maude and Iris Apatow) are actually the children of Judd Apatow and Leslie Mann, and as such the dynamic between them really feels like a sibling dynamic, the lines that they say really feel like something that they would say, and so on.  I loved Sadie's obsession with Lost and, having seen the show, I was waiting for her to watch the end of it all and have a meltdown - and thought that the way they did that was absolutely perfect.

Finally, the thing that really made this movie was the secondary characters.  From the other Knocked Up cast members - Jason Segel, Charlyne Yi, and Tim Bagley all reprise their roles - to the new additions - Melissa McCarthy, Megan Fox, Albert Brooks, John Lithgow, Lena Dunham, and Chris O'Dowd.  It was all great.   None of them necessarily had to be in this movie, but they each brought something great and were hilarious.  I really enjoyed this movie.