Knocked Up (2007)
Apr 10, 2016 11:59:40 GMT -5
heroboy, King Charles’s Butterfly, and 4 more like this
Post by Return of the Thin Olive Duke on Apr 10, 2016 11:59:40 GMT -5
Knocked Up
Dir. Judd Apatow
Released Jun 1, 2007
Dir. Judd Apatow
Released Jun 1, 2007
Doug Walker once posited that a comedy film can never be so bad it’s good, because if it doesn't make you laugh, it has nothing else to offer. What about the opposite? Can a comedy be genuinely funny and still fail as a film?
I don’t know what it was like for the rest of you, but for me, Knocked Up came out of nowhere. Despite living in Southern California, where the film industry spends disproportionate sums on local advertising, I never saw a single trailer, TV spot, or poster for the film. I just woke up one day and there on the cover of Time Magazine was screenwriter/star Seth Rogen, America’s unlikely sweetheart.
Now, let me say this: I like Seth Rogen. He has a very warm presence and a gift for comedic timing, and those things both come out in this film. He’s also an incredibly gifted writer, having begun screenwriting at 14 and earning a plum sitcom writing job straight out of high school. So I’m glad he broke out. I’m just a little confused as to how his big break was this movie.
Rogen stars as Ben Stone, a perpetually broke pothead living with his friends as they try to create a website that documents nude scenes in films, not realizing that such services already exist. Ben has an unlikely one-night stand with the rich, successful, aggressively gentile Allison Scott (Katherine Heigl), resulting in an unplanned pregnancy that causes the two to get back in touch and reconcile their very different lives. In the process, Ben befriends Allison’s brother in law (Paul Rudd), who begins to question his own relationship with Allison’s sister (Leslie Mann).
Before I say anything else: this film has lots of very good jokes. But the film succeeds only as a vehicle for those jokes, surprisingly few and far between as they may be; not so much as a movie.
A few critics more inclined toward demagoguery have decried the film’s message as little more than antiquated, borderline fascist propaganda, and while I see where they’re coming from, anyone can see that those problems are merely side-effects of poor execution. First, Allison briefly discusses abortion with her mother, but decides to keep the baby. This I can easily forgive, as without the pregnancy, there’s no movie. Second, the film ends with Ben and Allison staying together, implying that they’ll eventually get married. The idea being that Judd Apatow is telling unhappy couples to “do it for the kids.”
But that’s the problem. The movie wants us to root for them to stay together, but these people should not be together. At her worst, Allison is bitter and contemptuous toward Ben and ultimately just learns to tolerate him for the sake of their child. Ben eventually grows up and gets a job (which I imagine is really easy fresh out of college with zero experience), but that doesn’t make him any more of a match for her. To her credit, Heigl actually complained about her character’s lack of humor when the film came out, but she immediately undercut her complaint by going on to perform near-identical and often more shrewish roles in countless romantic “comedies.”
Speaking of romantic comedies, Knocked Up has no style. Most of the film looks as glossy and anonymous as, say, The Other Woman or Think Like a Man. Director Judd Apatow’s continuing inability to portray people who aren’t wealthy or don’t work in the entertainment industry only seems to be getting worse with time. And in a long tradition of learning all the wrong lessons, the film’s unusual running time somehow convinced Hollywood that movies are funnier when they’re an hour too long. While Knocked Up is still has some very funny jokes and brought more good into the world than bad ultimately, it is most certainly less than the sum of its parts, and speaking as an adult, quite depressing.
Signs this was made in 2007
Ryan Seacrest dreams of an exit strategy from Iraq. Pete wants to watch Taxicab Confessions and got Hideki Matsui on his fantasy baseball roster. Lily Allen’s “Smile” makes its obligatory appearance. There’s a product placement for a Moto Razr. Allison’s first on-air interview is with Matthew Fox from Lost. Three separate references to the then-in-theaters Spider-Man 3. Jonah and Martin re-enact Murderball with hospital wheelchairs.
Additional Thoughts
- The economics of Knocked Up are a common complaint for Apatow films and rom-coms generally, but it’s even weirder here: Pete (Paul Rudd) can singlehandedly support a family of four in a giant house in Brentwood while working in the moribund music industry, yet Allison has a stable full-time job and still lives in his guesthouse.
- Since we’re on the subject of Mr. Apatow, I want to clarify that I don’t dislike him. I’ve worked on one of his shows, and I think he’s a great businessman with a real eye for great ideas and talented people, but since this film, whenever he’s in the director’s chair, it seems like he can’t get outside his own head.
- Seth Rogen was funny enough in this movie, and while I enjoyed his work as a writer and actor on Undeclared, I still don’t understand why this was his breakout film, in either capacity. Before 2007 was out, however, I’d have a much better appreciation for him.
- Debbie (Leslie Mann) is an anti-vaxxer, and the film treats it as just another example of her being an overprotective busybody, instead of, you know, fucking dangerous. It’s a minor line, but it completely undercuts the character’s credibility. Less than a year after this film came out, there was a huge mumps outbreak in a wealthy suburb of San Diego, and everyone was shocked that rich kids would get sick, and that’s when the whole anti-vaccine movement was essentially outed in America. I don’t think Apatow would’ve taken the same approach if the character was a creationist.
- Since we're on the subject, Debbie's strategy for a healthy marriage is literally constant negging. Once more, I think this was meant to be off-putting, but I don't think anyone realized how far it actually went.
- At one point, there’s an earthquake, and Ben’s housemates line up on the street afterward. Having lived my entire life in California, I’m befuddled. The point of going outside during an earthquake is to get away from things falling on you. There’s no post-mortem mustering involved.
- Another fucking contrived epidural irony. That was played out when they did it on Mad About You.
- Something I never noticed before: multiple visual references to Neil Young’s Landing on Water. If you can figure out why, be my guest.
- Ben gets an apartment in East LA and they somehow get there by driving west from Santa Monica because sunsets are pretty.
- Easily, easily the only part of this film that truly holds up is the “chair scene” from Ben and Pete’s Vegas digression.
Also in theaters: Davis Guggenheim took a break from documentaries to direct Gracie, about the challenges of womens’ sports in the early days of Title IX; while Hollywood insider Bruce Evans tried and failed to launch a thriller franchise with Mr. Brooks.
Next Time: La Vie en Rose
Next Time: La Vie en Rose