Review: Knocked Up

Knocked Up has been described as an ‘instant classic’ in the comedy genre and there’s little to sway me in agreeing with that assertion whole-heartedly. Writer and director Judd Apatow has crafted such a masterful mesh up of the slacker/stoner comedy and infused it with elements from romantic comedies and a big helping of heart that you really feel for the characters and you really, really want to see the movie again after the first viewing.

The film stars Seth Rogen as Ben Stone and the lovely Katherine Heigl as Alison Scott a fictional reporter at E! who gets impregnated by Stone after a one night stand. Alison confronts Ben a few months after their hook-up to reveal the news. Over the course of the film the two fight, bicker, and seemingly can’t get along, but they also fall in love, and while the Hollywood ending is usually frowned upon by this establishment, it seems justified here.

One of Apatow’s greatest abilities is to not only focus on the leads in his movies but also write, big, convincing parts for the supporting cast as well. Here we have Paul Rudd and Apatow’s wife Leslie Mann as a married couple looking for a connection. Alison uses their troubled relationship to picture how she and Ben would end up, this causes a bit of turmoil in their relationship, but by the end of the movie, even the supporting B-storyline has been wrapped up nicely.

In opposition of most comedies, the jokes aren’t front-loaded into the film, Knocked Up is consistently funny with not just belly laughs, but just the little things that make you only chuckle, but still feel as though you are watching a comedy past the one hour mark. Ben’s collection of wayward friends, Jonah Hill, Jay Baruchel, Martin Starr, and Jason Segel, provide enough scene stealing moments and ad-libbed dialog to warrant their own movie, here they’re utilized just enough to be hilarious without grating on your nerves.

Not a lot has been said about Heigl and her performance. Coming from the soapy Grey’s Anatomy hasn’t afforded her many opportunities for comedy work, but she performs admirably her, not just relying on her good looks to stream through the movie. She does a great job of personifying Alison as a twentysomething moving up the corporate ladder only to be thrown through a loop.

The real star of the show is Seth Rogen, easily the funniest supporting character in Apatow’s The 40-Year-Old Virgin, he’s elevated to leading man status her and owns the show. Why he has been passed up for so long will never be certain, but his celebrity stock certainly went up over the weekend with box office numbers and his excellent performance.

As bold as it is to say, Knocked Up could be better than The 40-Year-Old Virgin in many respects, but that’s going to rely on personal opinion more than anything else. What matters most is everything in this film is clear, concise, and clips along through its two-hour runtime providing a more than satisfying beginning, middle, and end. What recent movies can you say that about?