Knocked Up [2007] - DVD (Katherine Heigl, Jay Baruchel, Jonah Hill, Martin Starr, Paul Rudd - Dir: Judd Apatow)

In a year that otherwise struggled to deliver where comedies were concerned, Knocked Up proved to be a very welcome treasure trove of laughs. It's from Judd Apatow, the man behind The 40 Year Old Virgin and the excellent TV show Freaks and Geeks, and sits easily as an equal to both. It's also a long-awaited showcase for the talents of Seth Rogen, who proves with some conviction that he can headline a movie.

The premise of Knocked Up is simple. Seth Rogen and Kathryn Heigl share, for differing reasons, a one-night stand, and several weeks later, the latter discovers she's pregnant. Given that Rogen's character has been jobless for years, and that Heigl is trying to build a TV career, the two don't prove to be a logical match, yet as the pregnancy progresses, they try valiantly to get to know one another.

The narrative itself is quite straightforward, but it's the execution and characters that lift it significantly. Apatow knows how to direct comedy, and with a script peppered with plenty of guffaw-out-loud moments and situations, he wrings very hearty laughs from the material. Plus, while its Rogen and Heigl who power the film, the supporting cast is simply superb, particularly the collection of people that Rogen's character surrounds himself with.

It's perhaps guilty of running ten minutes too long, and there's little to surprise in the story itself, yet Knocked Up is nonetheless a terrific, earthy and grounded comedy, with so much to enjoy. It's hard to single out individual moments, and instead it simply seems more appropriate to declare Knocked Up as one of the best, and most rewatchable, comedies of the last few years. Don't miss it.--Simon Brew

Customer Reviews of Knocked Up [2007]

disturbed trucker

17th August 2008

Mindless,un-pc idiotic, but enjoyable enough
This is a film designed to entertain, the characters are 2 dimensional and unsympathetic, don't interact well and serve only to move the story from one scene to another. That said, it is enjoyable enough and didn't make me want to gouge my eyes out. If you want an unplanned pregnancy flick with depth and heart buy Juno. If you just want to laugh, buy this.













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dan the fan
england,uk
9th August 2008

likeable characters and one or two very funny moments
A man gets a woman pregnant on what she thinks is a one night stand,they hardly know each other, but decide to see if they should stay together for the sake of the baby.I would describe this as a film with likeable characters that moves along at a gentle pace with one or two very funny moments but it is generally only mildly amusing.The film is only suitable for people 15 years and older because of strong language and drug use.

KM
England
5th August 2008

Very funny
`Knocked Up' stars Seth Rogen as Ben - an immature, out of work lay about who meets Alison (Katherine Heigl) who is a career-driven TV presenter, in a club and a few weeks later Alison finds out that she is pregnant. Although they have nothing in common, the two then try their best to build a relationship and even just get along.

I love some of the other films by the writer of Knocked Up, such as Anchorman and The 40 Year Old Virgin and this is better than them both. From the start it is crude and hilarious. The characters are all as wacky and funny as in the other films and they all gets involved in some truly side-splitting scenarios.

I highly recommend this to anyone looking to just laugh for 2 hours, so as long as you don't mind a bit of offensive comedy then this is for you.

Beaker
Hull, England
5th August 2008

Very funny - not your usual rom-com
Rom-com's are usually quite a predictable and bland genea of film, but this is an exception. This films show the differences between men and women in a very comical way and the difference forced upon them when pregnancy is added into the mix. The humour in this film is very similar to Ricky Gervais' 'The Office'. If you like that subtle brand of comedy then this should be 'right up your street'. There are fine comedic performances all round from the leading actors and supporting cast. Many issues are poked fun of here; Sex, love, parenthood, relationships, mid-life crisis and men and women in general. This is not, as some fools on here have suggested, a sexist film by any stretch of the imagination ... instead its a comical look at differences between the sexes, the relationships we form and the changes we are forced to make in our life to make relationships work.

Best comedy Ive seen all year.

John
Leicester , England
3rd August 2008

Not great .
It sometimes seems to me that life has played something of a cruel trick on Katherine Heigl . Having been thrust into the public eye at an early age in the international crossover film 'My Father the Hero' starring alongside the biggest male name in European cinema , Gerard Depadieu then appearing in Steven Seagal's Under Seige 2 and subsequently starring in the teen movie 'Wish Upon a Star',her career seems ,in some ways, to resemble a story of 'child-exploitation' followed by subsequent neglect. Although having had such an ostentatious beginning to her career might have suggested that she was poised for megastardom , the films she then appeared in were largely low budget , relatively obscure B Movies such as 'Bug Buster' and 'Descendant' ,the only bigger budget films she appeared in in her later teens and twenties being Prince Valiant ( as a princess) and a bit part in Valentines Day .Otherwise her career was limited to the T.V series Roswell in which she was cast as the only female extra-terrestrial , probably on account of her 'unearthly' beauty .More recently she became known as 'Dr Izzie' in the popular but pedestrian and arguably terrible Gray's Anatomy , a virtual tele-visual Valium for the soul .
In other words , her early career at least seems to have consisisted of being pushed into the international public eye at an early age , and then, generally speaking, consistently 'shoved to the back of the queue' by Hollywood when it came to being offered choicer roles in bigger budget films .
Only now that she is approaching thirty years of age ( an age when many actresses are winding down their careers ) is she seemingly being offered major roles in well publicised films such as Knocked Up , playing the kind of part that would have arguably been more appropriate for her when she was 20 years old , alongside 'super-slob' Seth Grogan , a man who would not only appear to be a slob in the context of Hollywood ,but would probably also stand out as one if you saw him in in your local bar .
Whether all this is due to unwise decision making by the actress herself , or whether the real culpability lies with the Hollywood bigwigs , I do not know ; but perhaps it is enough to say that this seems to me to be yet another example of her abilities ( and to a certain extent , looks ) being under-rated and undervalued by Hollywood as a whole , because here we see her once again arguably mis-cast in another very average comedy , after the rather sorry debacle that was 'The Ringer' , alongside the less than stellar wit of Seth Grogan and co , who are seemingly doing their best to make 'bad-taste' fashionable again .
Perhaps in reality none of these thing are really important , and maybe I am incorrectly prioritising issues of stardom and fame , but I can't help thinking that Katherine Heigl deserved better than this , and arguably better treatment in general by the 'Hollywood machine' . Unfortunately , in my opinion this film has little to recommend it apart from the fact that Katherine Heigl is in it , and I think it's a shame that she seems to have been used , once again , chiefly as a visual accoutrement to a less remarkable 'star'.