Today’s post begins with a fractal image called Snailiens. It has absolutely no relevance to the topic at hand--a review of Knocked Up. I picked it because it was fun, different and I couldn’t find an image with more relevance.
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Knocked Up, the latest effort from Judd Apatow (of "40 Year Old Virgin" fame) and crew (he used many of the same actors and crew for this movie) may well have the best-reviewed comedy of the summer. In and of itself, this tends to make me worry: I finally I like my movies more “accessible” than what the critics prefer. Still, I laughed to hard at The 40 Year Old Virgin that I just had to go see this one.
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The story is basically this: Entertainment Reporter Alison Scott (Katherine Heigl of Gray’s Anatomy) is out celebrating her promotion at the E! Channel when she hooks up with uber-Slacker Ben Stone (Seth Rogen who gained prominence in The 40 Year Old Virgin) and finds she’s pregnant. Complications involving Alison’s older sister Dianne (Leslie Mann) her husband Pete (Paul Rudd) and Ben’s loser buddies (Jay Baruchel, Jonah Hill, Jason Segel, and Martin Starr--all roughly playing themselves). Ryan Seacrest has a brief cameo as himself that is so hilarious it's almost worth the price of admission on its own and seveal stars show up as themselves (James Franco of the "Spiderman" franchise and Steve Carroll are especially good.) You’ll have to see the movie since I don’t want to give away too much here.
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Seth Rogen (who helped write the movie and serves as Executive Producer) makes his character arc completely believable and Katherine Katherine Heigl mines comedic gold as a classic Type A Over-achiever. Leslie Mann and Paul Rudd are hilarious as Desperate Yuppies and I must confess I’ve had conversations all-too-similar to those held by Ben and his loser friends. I doubt anyone will be nominated for an Academy Award for their performances but the whole cast was perfect for the movie. A lot of the dialog was improvised on-set (including the scene with the children--Judd Apatow and Leslie Mann‘s daughters) so that adds another level of interest. Judd Apatow’s direction never gets in the way of the movie and the music selected is pretty awesome as well.
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Knocked Up is Rated “R” (and deservedly so). The language and a lot of the humor is frankly raw (and will surely offend those with delicate sensibilities) and there is nudity. (Sadly, none of that nudity involves Katherine Heigl but it does Seth Rogen--which I so didn’t need to see!) Some of the jokes may be a bit too inside for those not obsessed with movies (I’m fairly “cinema literate” but a couple of the jokes went right over my head.) but that shouldn’t effect the average viewer’s enjoyment. Some of the jokes are cringe-inducing (all the more because they come from a place of basic truth) but that only adds to the movie’s charm. Fans of The 40 Year Old Virgin and Wedding Crashers should make every effort to see this movie--NOW.
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FINAL GRADE A+
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Knocked Up, the latest effort from Judd Apatow (of "40 Year Old Virgin" fame) and crew (he used many of the same actors and crew for this movie) may well have the best-reviewed comedy of the summer. In and of itself, this tends to make me worry: I finally I like my movies more “accessible” than what the critics prefer. Still, I laughed to hard at The 40 Year Old Virgin that I just had to go see this one.
-
The story is basically this: Entertainment Reporter Alison Scott (Katherine Heigl of Gray’s Anatomy) is out celebrating her promotion at the E! Channel when she hooks up with uber-Slacker Ben Stone (Seth Rogen who gained prominence in The 40 Year Old Virgin) and finds she’s pregnant. Complications involving Alison’s older sister Dianne (Leslie Mann) her husband Pete (Paul Rudd) and Ben’s loser buddies (Jay Baruchel, Jonah Hill, Jason Segel, and Martin Starr--all roughly playing themselves). Ryan Seacrest has a brief cameo as himself that is so hilarious it's almost worth the price of admission on its own and seveal stars show up as themselves (James Franco of the "Spiderman" franchise and Steve Carroll are especially good.) You’ll have to see the movie since I don’t want to give away too much here.
-
Seth Rogen (who helped write the movie and serves as Executive Producer) makes his character arc completely believable and Katherine Katherine Heigl mines comedic gold as a classic Type A Over-achiever. Leslie Mann and Paul Rudd are hilarious as Desperate Yuppies and I must confess I’ve had conversations all-too-similar to those held by Ben and his loser friends. I doubt anyone will be nominated for an Academy Award for their performances but the whole cast was perfect for the movie. A lot of the dialog was improvised on-set (including the scene with the children--Judd Apatow and Leslie Mann‘s daughters) so that adds another level of interest. Judd Apatow’s direction never gets in the way of the movie and the music selected is pretty awesome as well.
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Knocked Up is Rated “R” (and deservedly so). The language and a lot of the humor is frankly raw (and will surely offend those with delicate sensibilities) and there is nudity. (Sadly, none of that nudity involves Katherine Heigl but it does Seth Rogen--which I so didn’t need to see!) Some of the jokes may be a bit too inside for those not obsessed with movies (I’m fairly “cinema literate” but a couple of the jokes went right over my head.) but that shouldn’t effect the average viewer’s enjoyment. Some of the jokes are cringe-inducing (all the more because they come from a place of basic truth) but that only adds to the movie’s charm. Fans of The 40 Year Old Virgin and Wedding Crashers should make every effort to see this movie--NOW.
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FINAL GRADE A+
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