Knocked Up (Judd Apatow, 2007) ***1/2

Dir. Judd Apatow
Starring Seth Rogen, Katherine Heigl, Paul Rudd, Leslie Mann

Judd Apatow strikes again with another R-rated comedy that manages to be funny and sweet at the same time. It's refreshing for someone like Apatow to be churning out comedies. In an era where Hollywood tries to trim movies so they can get a PG-13 rating (the latest egregious example being the upcoming Die Hard sequel), Apatow has now struck gold with two movies that don't compromise to this mindset. Apatow’s The 40 Year Old Virgin was a vulgar comedy with a sweet romantic core that came out to surprising success a couple years ago and turned Steve Carell into a star. Now we have Knocked Up, an even more raunchy outing that still remains the core honesty and compassion of Apatow’s previous film.

The basic plot is pretty simple, following two people that are direct opposites and their unlikely romance. Ben Stone (Seth Rogen) is an unemployed slacker who sits around all day smoking pot and working on an adult website with his similarly immature friends. Alison (Katherine Heigl) works as a production assistant for E! Entertainment Television. After landing a huge promotion that gets her the chance to be on the air, she hits a nightclub to celebrate and ends up having a one night stand with Ben. Eight weeks later, she finds out this one night stand resulted in pregnancy.

Knocked Up is filled with vulgar humor from beginning to end. In that sense it’s not much different than American Pie, Road Trip, or the various comedies of that ilk that have popped up over the last decade. Apatow’s screenplay is filled with jokes about pot, sex, What makes this movie work so well is the underlying sweetness that evades any kind of cynicism. This is a movie that is actually serious about the central romance and doesn’t just use it as a vehicle for gross out jokes. In between the vulgar raunchiness, there’s an adorable romance at the center that builds believably throughout the movie. In most romantic comedies there is a forced breakup scene that usually ends up being hopelessly contrived, but in this movie the relationship between Alison and Ben is developed organically and not one moment of it feels forced.

Apatow is also a pro at coming up with a gifted ensemble to fill the background of the central premise. In Knocked Up, one of the main attractions is the somewhat rocky marriage between Allison’s sister Debbie (played by Apatow’s wife Leslie Mann) and Pete (played by the invaluable Paul Rudd). The seemingly happy couple is a nice counterpoint to the central romance. The pressures and fears faced by Pete and Debbie feel genuine, thanks to the well defined performances from Rudd and Mann. Also on board are Ben’s gang of immature friends, filled with Apatow vets Jay Baruchel, Jason Segel, Jonah Hill, and Martin Starr. They all lend solid support, generating a wonderful comic chemistry and are responsible for the biggest laughs in the film.

Knocked Up clearly relies heavily on improvisation, which has been a constant feature of Apatow’s previous projects. This one seems even more heavily improv based than 40 Year Old Virgin, as the structure feels a bit looser and some scenes run on past their obvious ending point. Perhaps the success of his previous film allowed him the courage to take more chances and for the most part it pays off. Rogen and Rudd especially have some terrific moments during their one on one scenes, and a dinner scene featuring references to Back to the Future is a highlight. The drawback are a few scenes that run out of steam long before Apatow yelled cut, including one where drugged up Ben and Pete freak out about chairs, which starts off as funny but ends up dragging the movie at a crucial point.

Seth Rogen is an interesting choice for a leading man as he’s far from the matinee idol type. Most directors or studios would not have the creativity to cast him, even in an underdog role like this one. Rogen got his start on Judd Apatow’s critically acclaimed television shows Freaks & Geeks and Undeclared, and then went on to steal several scenes in Apatow’s The 40 Year Old Virgin. In each of those projects he has pretty much played the same character; immature slackers that enjoy drugs, alcohol, and pornography. The amazing thing about Rogen’s natural screen presence is that he invests each of these characters with so much empathy that you can’t help but root for them. In Knocked Up, He proves that someone with this quality can make a memorable lead character in a romantic comedy.

The great news is the wonderful box office success of Knocked Up. Apatow struggled in the TV realm (in ratings, not quality), but is so far two for two with feature films. Hopefully this leads to more daring output from studio executives, who can no longer have excuses for their cowardly decision to cut films for a lower MPAA rating. Judd Apatow is leading the way himself as the producer or screenwriter in several upcoming R-rated comedies. Hopefully his influence will lead to more choices for solid adult comedy in the future.