KNOCKED UP, amid the detonation of overblown summer movies, is indeed the summer’s pleasant surprise. Predicted a sleeper hit, born a sleeper hit – it’s a kind of low-budgeted flick that you wouldn’t expect to do some goodies in the box-office domineering age; but it has, in fact, amassed delightful reviews from critics seeking for another shade other than they grey vistas of Hollywood blockbustering recently (as Spiderman suddenly retreats to its bleak shades of grey in its third instalment). But so much for budget talks and overblown epics, KNOCKED UP is that comedy Hollywood rarely dares to touch a finger on. Yes, it’s a comedy, but we do rarely see flicks like this that’s all funny, raunchy, rude, with balls-to-the-wall jargon, outrageous, convincingly honest and emotionally accurate. Kudos to the writer/director/producer Judd Apatow for letting us believe that his first outing THE 40-YEAR OLD VIRGIN was no fluke, and that he can still work on some realistic wonders.


How idiosyncratic life could become: beautiful, career-woman, E! Television floor manager Alison Scott (GREY ANATOMY’S Katherine Heigl), fresh from promotion, hitches up in a club with her sister and during an alcohol-induced dancing and raving, she meets Ben Stone (Seth Rogen), a dorky-looking, slacker-kind of shlub that builds internet website devoted to female celebrity skins. Of course, with heavy alcohol influence, the inevitable happens: a night of sex. Rushed. Unprotected. Dismissed. So then this transforms into a lesson for most blokes out there who remains careless and for ladies who are all-too-excessively hasty. A morning later, Alison sees the woozy Ben in her bed. Eight weeks later, her career in television goes downhill (let the vomit mantra begin), and yep, she’s knocked up; pregnant of the baby caused by recklessness. Needless to say, this tale turns out from a one-night-stand to a responsibility they both must face throughout their lives.


How wonderful Apatow’s writing skills are as he seasoned his dialogues with such wittiness, although spiced with sharp, bawdy rudeness that would make Quentin Tarantino a little proud perhaps. It’s his affectionate sense for honesty and pulling out hilarious moments in human situations that sets out the punches, creating dialogues that are severely straight to the point, no-fuss, and bull’s-eye authentic. There are loads of scenes that wouldn’t leave your mind after watching this film: Alison and Ben arguing rather straightforwardly in an offensive language in a public restaurant (“I was drunk!” Alison shouts hysterically. “Oh, was your vagina drunk?” Ben shouts back.), Alison in the car and hospital having hormonal rages, Ben having his speech about who gives a “flying fuck” about baby books, and a rather poignant moment at the end in the delivery room where Alison shakes the whole hospital by her labouring screams. It’s not only the dialogues, but it is how Apatow build his characters to be completely sympathetic and believable individuals; flawed humans forced to take responsibility to clean up their mistakes and stand up for it. For Alison and Ben, their relationship might feel a tad awkward (she, the poster-girl beauty, while he, the fat klutz) but the contrast between each other remains more interesting. They are indeed two different people with different outlooks in life. Alison, who believes in success, hides the fact that she’s pregnant in her job; and Ben, who’s basically a manchild, forced to grow up and take in some life lessons.


It’s also a joy to watch good performances from the two major leads of the film. But from Heigl and Rogen, Katherine Heigl shines the brightest. She pitch-perfectly carried the anxiety, the distress and the confusion in life during pregnancy stage and by that time we see the baby coming out of her, it’s daft to say she hasn’t done her job well. For Rogen, with no acting backgrounds at all, generates charm beneath gruffiness and did something to the movie, just as what Steve Carrell had done to THE 40-YEAR OLD VIRGIN. There’s also Paul Rudd and Leslie Mann, who both work well in the film as supporting characters of a couple with a crumbling marriage.



VERDICT:

May not appeal to everyone, especially the conservative ones, but KNOCKED UP is a comedy with a heart, just excuse its rude juvenilia jargon. Like its main characters, it’s nevertheless a flawed film but a big nod to Apatow for being sensible enough to bring out a human comedy about the foibles and responsibilities of life.


B+