Hey, everyone. ”Moriarty” here. We keep getting hit with reviews for this one, and they really are all this enthusiastic. I’m on my way to the set of PINEAPPLE EXPRESS, the new Apatow production starring James Franco and Seth Rogen in just a few minutes... pretty much as soon as I post this, then shower and head out the door... and I’m curious to see how Seth’s reacting to all the amazing buzz the film’s been building since December. For now, check it out:
Hey Harry, Moriarty, whoever wants to put there name on this... I just caught a screening of Judd Aptow's KNOCKED UP last night and I thought I'd put in my two cents and inform the huddled masses just what they may be in for once the film opens on June 1st. There are spoilers, so do what you must to warn the cry babies. A quick overview and then onto the good and bad. KNOCKED UP, to me, never really seemed like it could be all that funny. As a 20-ish slacker myself, the idea of getting a girl pregnant after a one night stand didn't seem right for hilarity. Quite the opposite, it seemed scary as fuck. Still does too. Which is why I have decided to call KNOCKED UP the scariest, funniest, sweetest, and most honest horror movie ever made. We all know what the movie is about. Ben Stone (Seth Rogan) coasts through life. Allison Scott (Katherine Keigl) is on her way up. Both find their lives disrupted when she gets pregnant after a one night stand. Hilarity ensues. First, what I liked, which is much more than what I disliked: Both leads give completely honest performances, but Seth Rogan should be a star after this. He is absolutely pitch perfect in every part of this movie. He is a slacker, a mooch, but very very good-hearted. There were more than a few times I found myself relating to him, particularly when Allsion asks him in all honesty to not fuck her over in this whole thing. Ben says: "I'm not the guy who fucks girls over. I'm the guy who gets fucked over by all the girls so, YOU, you please don't fuck ME over." Or when he finds out that he and Allsions doctor is out of town when she goes into labor. He leaves the most threatening and vulgarity-laden message on his cell phone. "I will fucking kill you you motherfucker. You're Tupac. You're Biggie. I will pop a cap in your bitch ass. Fuck you, you motherfucking dick. Peace, bitch" Everything he says is great. There are a lot of little injections of sweetness throughout the film that I think gave it more of a soul than 40YOV (you should know what that is) ever had. Little chats between Allison and Ben, moments between Ben and his father, who looks a lot like a fatter Egon after he stopped busting ghosts. It really makes the movie enjoyable for everyone because these characters seem like real people. Speaking of real people, every supporting character is hilarious. I don't think there is one minor character that doesn't get a laugh. From Allsions boss, played by Alan Tudyk, to some random bouncer at a club. Paul Rudd is brilliant again as a version of Ben ten years later. He and Ben go on a trip to vegas late in the movie and slip some mushrooms while watching Circe de Solei. Needless to say, they get scared shitless. He also has a scene not long after with him and five different hotel chairs that is just genius. Paul rudd should have his own movie series, cable series, toy line, web blog, and anything else he can do to share his comedic mastery with us. Ben's roomates, who's names escape me but included a guy from Freaks & Geeks, the lead in Undeclared, and the ask me about my wiener/goldfish sequence shoes guy from Accepted/40YOV, respectively. You can tell why these guys are all riends, even though they give each other endless amounts of shit, you can tell that they truly get along, even when all standing outside in various forms of undress after an earthquake. (One of them is wearing nothing but his hands over his beans and frank, which was unexpected and brought the house down). Yes, their business plan is flawed, and when they eventually DO run across Mr. Skin, which I'm sure many of the readers of this are familiar with, they simply shrug it off as "great things come in two's. Dante's Peak and Volcano. Armageddon and Deep Impact." There are a ton of cameos in the film, which never feel really out of place because Allison works at E! Ryan Seacrest is the funniest of the bunch. He goes on a huge rant about the young stars of today and how much they suck and how someone should just looke at them and say "YOU ARE NOT WORTH SHIT!" Also mentoning that, "I have five jobs and I'm more famous than any of the people I'm interviewing! Also on hand are James Franco, Jessica Alba, and Steve Carrell, who Allison, in her hormonal state, manages to make him look like an asshole. The movie finds a wonderful balance of crude humor and sweet, smart humor, which I think will and should bring in the masses once this sucker opens. It's not jam-packed with laughs. There were actually spans where the story and characters were having talking and not much was funny, but that doesn't mean it was bad. I just think that with a subject like this, you really do have to highlight how fucking scary and serious it can be. On the bad side, only a couple of things: Leslie Mann plays Paul Rudd's wife and she is a total lunatic bitch for most of the movie. When Ben tells her off before the birth of his child, the entire theater broke into applause. I don't know if she was bitchy cause it was her character, or bitchy cause it was real, but she alone made me not ever want to get married again. there is also a point where Allison has gone down the bitch road too and I really didn't like either female character for a good fifteen minutes. There was also a little asian doctor who was funny in a total dick way. Unreasonably so, he was kinda nuerotic and mean, and although funny, I thought some of his stuff could have been cut back. It's a long film, over two hours, which is practically epic for a comedy. Almost as this long as this fucking review, now that I think about it. It could use some trimming here and there. The subject matter is still very serious as well, and at times I found myself literally praying that this never happened to me. KNOCKED UP is a really great movie. Brilliant comedic performances all around should make this the highest grossing comedy of the summer, although I have a lingering fear that it won't be. So like I said before, when June 1st roles around, make sure you give a little love to Aptow, Rogan and the rest by seeing the scariest, funniest, sweetest, and most honest horror/funny movie ever made. If you use this, call me The Sexy Scottsman.
