Knocked Up

Cast of Characters:
Ben Stone – Seth Rogen
Alison Scott – Katherine Heigl
Pete – Paul Rudd
Debbie – Leslie Mann
Jay – Jay Baruchel
Jonah – Jonah Hill
Jason – Jason Segel
Martin – Martin Starr

Director – Judd Apatow
Writer – Judd Apatow
Producer – Judd Apatow, Shauna Robertson & Clayton Townsend
Distributor – Universal Pictures
Running Time – 129 minutes
Rated R for sexual content, drug use and language.

Alison Scott (Katherine Heigl) is a career-driven woman who’s just been given a new on-air position at E!, and is currently living in the pool house at the home of her sister Debbie (Leslie Mann) and brother-in-law Pete (Paul Rudd). Ben Stone (Seth Rogen) is a laid-back stoner who works at home on a Mr. Skin knockoff website with his roommates while living off the funds he received in compensation from a bus accident.

What a match made in heaven.

While out celebrating her promotion with her sister, Alison meets Ben at the local nightclub, and they somehow hit it off. After a night of heavy drinking, ’cause how else is a schlub like Ben gonna get some from a go-getter like Alison, they both go home to her pool house for a one-night stand. Due to a combination of inebriated states and a huge misunderstanding of the phrase “Just do it already!” in reference to getting the condom on quick, Ben winds up going sans rubber and Alison winds up just a touch pregnant because of it.

…

Wah-waaaahhhh!!

They sell coat hangers in the housewares department, Ben.

Writer/director Judd Apatow’s sophomore effort Knocked Up follows the same formula as his filmmaking debut The 40-Year-Old Virgin, an understandable choice when that formula worked as great as it did there. Not that going back to what worked before guarantees success a second time, but Apatow has an assured touch as a filmmaker that allows Knocked Up to repeat the formula successfully while still standing as a winner in its own right.

With a run time of a little over two house, Apatow is juggling quite a lot between the various relationships and balancing both the stoner and rom-com elements. Thankfully, he handles it all smoothly and with nary a misstep, save one lagging Vegas getaway segment that could’ve been cut out or at least trimmed up with little to no effect on the film. Knocked Up is crude but never unnecessarily harsh; sentimental but never mawkish; and contains every cameo (including a hilariously self-deprecating appearance by Ryan Seacrest) and pop-culture reference in the book without feeling like a desperate attempt to be relevant.

The beauty of Apatow’s work lies in his ability to really push the bounds of crude comedy without the need to insult his audience’s intelligence. As is the same case with pretty much all of his films, this isn’t just gratuitous stoner crudeness. Combining both sharply-penned dialogue and semi-improvisational banter, Apatow and his cast deliver plenty of edgy, profane jokes with great delight, whether it’s Ben Stone’s gang of friends, a child’s innocent but slightly disturbing description of where she thinks babies come from or finding out another way of how to get pink eye. But accompanying the filth is this perfect balance of maturity and depth within the story and characters that turn the film from what could’ve been just a mindless stoner flick into something much more heartfelt than what you’d normally expect in an R-rated comedy.

A big signature trait of Apatow’s projects are the central characters, and how at first glance they appear as jokey caricatures, but over the course of the film, actually reveal themselves to be fleshed-out characters that are both believable and relatable. Be it Seth Rogen’s all too laid-back stoner, Steve Carrell’s socially awkward virgin, Adam Sandler’s has-been comedian, Amy Schumer’s hard-drinking commitment-phobe or Pete Davidson’s unemployed high school dropout, these are characters that could’ve easily been turned into mean-spirited punchlines, but the cheap and easy route is never taken by simply condescending to them. Though jokes are naturally made at their expense, and for certain, they have flaws that are acknowledged, there’s still an overall endearing and sympathetic quality to them that make them likable.

It’s also a testament to Apatow’s skill that he can touch on serious hot-button issues like unplanned pregnancy and abortion without the heavy-handed preachiness of either side of the issue (similarly, Funny People tackled the subject of cancer without being off-putting or irritatingly melodramatic).

Sure, you might scoff at the idea of Cupid rolling up his sleeves and somehow managing to match the tall, blonde and posh cheerleader type with some scruffy ambition-allergic nowhere man who looks like the dude you buy cheap weed from behind the dumpster at your local Walgreens. But never ever underestimate the power of the one true cosmic force that can bring together even the most unlikeliest of couples. Destiny? Hell, no. One night and a little too much alcohol leading to an oopsie baby.

If the “rizz” ain’t working for you, fellas, lowered inhibitions just might.

It goes without saying that Seth Rogen owes his career to Judd Apatow. Prior to this film, he had a supporting role in The 40-Year-Old Virgin and roles in Apatow’s TV shows Freaks and Geeks and Undeclared. Knocked Up finally presented him with his first leading role that would prove to be a star-making vehicle for him. Since this film, he’d go on to turn in fine supporting work in dramedies like Funny People and 50/50 and deliver terrific dramatic turns in Danny Boyle’s Steve Jobs and Steven Spielberg’s The Fabelmans. Most recently, he received four Emmys for acting, producing, directing and writing for his work on Apple TV+’s fantastic satirical cringe comedy The Studio.

On the surface, it may appear like Rogen’s slumming it as just another stoner, and to be fair, Ben Stone is a stoner and a slacker. But Apatow makes no excuses for Ben’s immature behavior and gives his arc enough genuine growth that gradually reveals more layers to him than his outward high off his ass loser exterior might show at first. The comedy, of course, comes natural for Rogen, but it’s his ability to effectively sell Ben’s transition from immature schmuck to caring father-to-be that elevates his character from pothead caricature to heartfelt human. This is best shown in scenes with Heigl where their characters are making an honest effort to find common ground, as well as a small, wonderful scene shared with the late, great comic legend Harold Ramis as his supportive father that’s funny, sweet and highly poignant (Growing Pains star Joanna Kerns also has a hilarious cameo appearance as Heigl’s mother).

As Ben’s dad reminds him after he disappointingly refers to his sudden baby surprise as a disaster, “No, this is not a disaster. An earthquake is a disaster. Your grandmother having Alzheimer’s so bad she doesn’t even know who the fuck I am, that’s a disaster. This is a good thing. This is a blessing.”

Katherine Heigl’s work in this film had long been overshadowed by some post-release controversy over reports of her extremely difficult on-set behavior and some ridiculous claims of sexism toward Apatow and this film. In fairness to her, she has backtracked from those comments in recent years, but that whole ordeal is still unfortunate ’cause she’s really great here as Ben’s romantic opposite (in literally every sense of the word). Heigl strikes just the right balance between Alison’s ambitious, career-driven strength and the vulnerability that comes from the overwhelming responsibilities of impending motherhood that’s suddenly dropped right in her lap. Rogen and his pals may score most of the laughs, but Heigl proves here that she can be more than just the straight role for a chuckling Rogen to play off of, showing a natural knack for comedy that she really hadn’t yet shown before this film.

Unless you wanna count My Father the Hero… To each their own, I guess.

The supporting cast includes the always dependable Paul Rudd and scene-stealer Leslie Mann (aka Mrs. Judd Apatow) as the stressed-out married couple who are pretty much everything Alison and Ben fear they’ll end up becoming in another ten years. Ben’s fellow slacker roommates consist of those from the School of Apatow who’d later go on from this film to do bigger things: Jason Segel (Forgetting Sarah Marshall; I Love You, Man; The End of the Tour; Shrinking), Jonah Hill (two Oscar nominations for Moneyball and The Wolf of Wall Street), Jay Baruchel (the How to Train Your Dragon franchise and This Is the End) and Martin Starr (Adventureland and the Tom Holland Spider-Man films).

On paper, the supporting characters might come off like caricatures. In lesser hands they probably would’ve, but Apatow gives them just enough of a grounded touch and cast members form such believable relationships that we buy each of them as a genuine character. Rudd has a charming everyman quality to him that never fails. Mann wisely doesn’t overdo Debbie’s neurotic attitude and brings a great deal of emotional honesty to both her sister’s situation and her own frantic, dysfunctional home life. Rogen and Co. generate laughs easily through their authentic bro chemistry, and no surprise, a good deal of their scenes are improvised. In particular, there’s a funny running bit involving a bet between Starr and the others on how long he can go without shaving or cutting his hair that leads to some hysterical celebrity references.

It also serves as an effective way to chart the film’s progression of time, so if at any point you’re lost in the story, let Martin Starr’s beard be your North Star.

Closing Statement: Thanks to Judd Apatow’s smart script and a talented comic cast, Knocked Up comes equipped with all the edgy, ribald humor you expect in an R-rated comedy, but amid all the F-bombs and sex jokes, also manages to say quite a bit about both the joys, fears and hardships of marriage and parenting. It doesn’t exactly break new ground with his formula, but just like he accomplished with The 40-Year-Old Virgin, Apatow proves once again that even the crudest of comedies can have a sincere heart.

Silver Screen Fanatic’s Verdict: I give Knocked Up an A (★★★½).

Benjamin’s Stash Tier: Platinum Stash