Laugh Out Loud Funny
Movie Reviewer, a storyteller, mother of 2, A Big Giant Sap
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JUN
11
2007
Knocked Up —
Katherine Heigl is just a likable actress. We like her on Gray's Anatomy, and if so, she's even more likable in this summer's Knocked Up as E! on-air talent Allison. While another actress, Anne Hathaway, was originally cast in the film, and many others were considered, such as Jennifer Love Hewitt, Kate Bosworth, Lindsay Lohan, and Portia de Rossi, Heigl is so perfect in this part, it's hard to imagine the other actresses in the role.Heigl's male lead, Seth Rogen, is also perfectly cast as a lovable louse who has no direction or goals in life, and when faced with an earthquake, thinks first of saving his huge bong. His role could have possibly been played by a few others, but he still more than fits the part of Ben, a Canadian illegally in the country who lives off a $14,000 injury settlement from when he was a teenager. He's worked with some of the other cast before, in the film The 40 Year Old Virgin as well as the television series Freaks and Geeks.
Playing Heigl's sister is Leslie Mann, who is married to director/writer Judd Apataw who wrote and directed this film as well as 40 Year Old Virgin. Mann is married in the film to Paul Rudd, also from 40 Year Old Virgin, making it no surprise that Knocked Up was originally meant as a follow-up to the Virgin film.
Having much of the same cast, as well a the same writer and director, leads to a fantastically funny film that can stand on its own. Despite the fact I went to the theatre alone, I laughed out loud several times in the theatre, and I wasn't the only one. It's something both guys and gals can enjoy, as it's a light-hearted look at the problems both sides in a relationship have.
Heigl gets promoted to on-air talent at E!, and right after her boss and his very jealous female assistant get done telling her they can't tell her to lose weight, but they want her to "tighten" and step on the scale and subtract 20 pounds, she goes out to celebrate with Mann, and ends up going home with Rogen and having sex in a drunken stupor. The next morning, as she eyes his un-toned naked butt in her bed and learns that his "job" is creating a website with his buddies that details all the nude scenes in film, and that he makes no money for this, she realizes what a huge mistake it is.
Eight weeks later, after Heigl takes every brand of at-home pregnancy test she can find, she has to fact the fact that she's pregnant. While she never tells E!, in fear of losing her job, until she's eight months along, she regrettably does track down Rogen and informs him. He tries to do the right thing going to the "gynechiatrist" with her, but wishes it would go away at first, as does one of his website friends, who thinks Heigl should get a "shmishmortion." He refrains from saying the real word in deference to another friend that is horrified by the thought.
While this mismatched couple provides for many laughs, such as him playing "fetch" with her two nieces, her being fearful that her vagina will never look the same, and him telling her he'll pay for vaginal reconstructive surgery, there's also an interesting theme in the movie about relationships. While Heigl and Rogen work very hard to create a relationship that will work for their unborn child, Mann and Rudd start showing that while they appear to have the perfect family, neither of them is happy either. She tells him she doesn't want to have sex one night because she's constipated, and later begins to fear he's having an affair. He tells Rogen marriage is like an Everybody Loves Raymond episode, yet it isn't as funny, and instead of lasting 22 minutes, it lasts forever.
Rudd is partially correct. While his marriage may not be funny, the film's outlook on it is, as well as the unwanted pregnancy of Heigl and Rogen. And along with being funny, Knocked Up is also a very warm look at these relationships that struggle to work. In case anyone is confused of the message in the film, during the credits at the end, are snapshots of the cast and crew and their own families.
Last edited on Feb 18, 2008
Knocked Up is recommended by LauraBelle
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