Hey, everyone. ”Moriarty” here. I've said enough about this. VARIETY's Joe Leydon lost his m-f'ing mind over this one earlier in the week. You'll see soon enough. For now, J-Skell's gonna break it down:
This movie was terrible... ... okay, I won't even do that. Of course it's great. You all know it's going to be great, everyone who was lucky enough to see it at BNAT knows it's great, but I have to say, I've never had a bigger smile on my face then I did walking out of this movie. It seems as if Apatow has really got something going for him now. He's behind all the best movie comedies of the past few years and a couple of the best tv shows from before then. FREAKS AND GEEKS represents an apex in both television and geek nostalgia. It was funny, touching, but mostly just plain accurate show about growing up on the outskirts of popularity. While his later movie producing work on ANCHORMAN and TALLADEGA NIGHTS freed up his sillier sensibility, that personal, more subdued side came out in THE 40 YEAR OLD VIRGIN of all things. I love the way that film took the R-rated gross out comedy and put a few actual shreds of realism in there. And here Apatow takes that realism touch even further here with a simple story, what happens if a funny slacker stoner guy knocked up a successful up and coming party girl? See there's something about this film that's completely refreshing and very un-movie like. They don't always go for huge laughs, and are happy with good ones. The obvious conflicts aren't amped up for action's sake, it's not like her job goes into turmoil, or he has to overcome that pesky comedic villain. There's none of that shit because really, there doesn't need to be. Sometimes comedies can, well, just be. Even if these story arcs aren't super-structured, they are well earned. The couple's arguments are real-life types of arguments. Their characters go back and forth a lot, trying to do their best and follow their hearts and minds. There isn't that stupid "He is somebody special!" realization moment (she doesn't fall on her ass and is suddenly cured of racism, I mean romantic problems). Frankly, I consider that worth the price of admission. Depending on the box office reaction, this could be Seth Rogen's big jump on the Hollywood radar. While he had that wonderfully disgusting, say-anything supporting role in 40YOV, here he's Ben Stone: slacker everyman. I think the everyman thing actually works much better for him. Sure he's still pretty fucking crass, but he's genuinely sweet too. Ben just can't believe his good fortune throughout the thing and even when he makes an ass out of himself, he's still somewhat endearing. The completely crass stuff of course belongs to his massive repertoire of friends who basically spend the entire movie ragging on each other. They're all Apatow regulars and all go by their real first names: Jason Segal (Freaks and Geeks) with hilariously creepy smooth moments "Gynecology is only a hobby of mine" Jonah Hill (40YOV) getting great lines and oddly looking like a younger, bigger Chris Penn, Jay Baruchel (Undeclared) who gets some really great moments, and long been missing in action Martin Starr (Freaks and Geeks) who is constantly the butt of one very long, repeatedly funny joke. Also, Charlene Yi gets full marks as Jodi. (Who the hell came up with those amazing lines? I want to meet them.) They are all perfect compliments to both Seth and each other. Why? Because they're all real friends of course. Take note Hollywood: that can add to your so-called "chemistry" real quick. The revelation for me here is Katherine Heigl. I've never liked her before. Ever. She's been in awful movies, and has awful role in an awful TV show that has the opposite of awful ratings. But here she's finally got something that fits her. Originally they were going to go with Anne Hathaway which would have made sense and all, but I think it would have been a very different movie. Heigl is more of a guy's guy, who can get along with his buddies. It's not some big, "they're so mismatched!" thing. More importantly, she loves to laugh and Ben makes her do that quite a bit. You really see why they like each other from the onset, it's they're just going in very, very different places. They're the only two people who don't seem to care that one is much more attractive than the other. Two other leads that need mentioning are Leslie Mann as Heigl's sister Debbie(she's also Apatow's real life wife) and the now-great Paul Rudd as her husband Pete. Mann takes the thankless role with the brunt of the conflict in this film. She has to supply a lot of antagonism by example, which mostly serves to bring up the issues with Ben and Alison, but she's very real about all of it. I wouldn't dare call her the heavy. Mr. Paul Rudd continues to amaze me. Why is the best part of every comedy he's in? I'm not even sure I can explain it. He works with Rogen so well I couldn't believe it. Their scenes are phenomenal (especially the four of them out-to-dinner scene) and their comedic pairing is maybe the real love story in all of this. This is probably my favorite movie about pregnancy. Apatow uses all the real pregnant moments here: the difficulty of peeing in pregnancy tests, the surprising horniness, the difficulties of pregnancy sex, which includes the deadly fear of fetus impalement by penis. But he even gets the more interesting stuff dealing with the anxieties, depression, and body issues. I know lots of movies have done this stuff before, but here it doesn't feel like convention. It's what people go really go through… only a bit funnier. I can see some people not liking it as much as 40YOV. The pace might be a little to chill (Notice I don't use the word, slow. It's honestly just chill). They let scenes take their time and don't try to force the laughs. I don't think it will happen, but somehow I feel like it could. This was supposed the final cut and it seems as if some people might be wondering what's actually still in the film if they've seen it. SPOILER ALERT: Munich conversation was there, Ryan Seacrest can be kind of funny? What the fuck? Alan Tudyk is still there, and those crowning shots. Wow. Still freakin in there. They're such a great crowd reaction shots. What's missing? I didn't see Owen Wilson. And there was no Julianne Moore reference! I was looking forward to that. Okay. END SPOILER! I can't remember the last time I didn't want a film to end. I've had some amazing cinema experiences in the last year, but all of them involved endings that were completely appropriate and pretty much closed the book on their characters or subjects. By the end of KNOCKED UP, I didn't want it to end. I wanted to see them all go off on their parenting way since their lives were really just beginning. I can't believe it, but I'm actually clamoring for a sequel. Oh yeah, remember at the beginning when I said I walked out of the film with that huge smile on my face? That comes from something I didn't realize until the end credits. This film is rather poignant. Parenthood is a strange animal and I feel like this day in age it's become a lot stranger for people. And this film knows something pretty important. Children change your life, take an incredible amount of work, drive you nuts, and still manage to be 100% pure joy… And this film barely got through pregnancy. ENJOY! J-Skell
