Knocked Up: Review

Judd Apatow is something of an enigma in modern Hollywood, a man who creates popular films that are readily accessible yet endlessly thoughtful and heartfelt. In fact, through his first two films (excluding his TV work), he has produced two more films of social significance and moral boundaries than pretty much any other director working in straight comedy today. But to be fair, with Knocked Up, his latest bona fide masterpiece, he isn’t working strictly in comedy, deftly blending heartbreaking melancholy with gut busting laughs that when put together on the screen form a bittersweet and humane picture that will be long remembered as one of the year’s pinnacles. Before you go running for the closest art house theatre to cleanse yourself of the mainstream ickyness, hear me out. Mark my words, there will be no film released this year that so wonderfully explores sex, love and marriage, three cornerstones of life, distilling the topics into a digestible 2 hour package that will (and should, if you have any heart whatsoever) deeply resonate with anyone lucky enough to experience it.

Apatow, who cut his teeth on the sets of “The Larry Sanders Show”, “Freaks and Geeks” and “Undeclared”, has been blessed with a undeniable talent for mixing pathos and comedy in way that brings to mind the names of Chaplin, Keaton, Sturges and Hughes. For today’s audiences, he is creating our modern day City Lights or Sullivan’s Travels, that is, cinema that speaks to the human condition in a universal language. Knocked Up strikes me as the type of film that the writers of Cahiers Du Cinema would adore, a cinematic achievement imbued with a pop conscious and self awareness that are hidden behind the guise of a stoner flick. The film’s trailers, which make it out to be a slight comedy, don’t do Apatow’s masterpiece justice, cutting the film’s most heartfelt moments for instances of straight laughs. Don’t worry folks, there are plenty of gut-busting laughs but there is so much more here that demands a viewing. The best part of it is that it doesn’t even require careful viewing but just a small dose of patience and the ability to laugh.

Despite being supported by a knockout ensemble cast that has literally no weak points, Knocked Up puts all its eggs in the basket of its four leads, who if they weren’t up to the task, the film would fall flat on its face. Luckily for the general public, Seth Rogen, Katherine Heigl, Paul Rudd and Leslie Mann absolutely shine in their roles, propping the admittedly heavy emotional weight of the film on their shoulders and carrying it from start to finish. Rogen and Heigl, play a couple, Ben and Allison, that after a drunken one night stand find themselves with a new member of their non-existent family on the way, and are particularly stunning, taking their characters and crafting them into likeable humans, not cookie cutter creations played for laughs. Thanks to their work, the gravity of the situation at hand is given real weight, the audience is desperately pulling for their struggle to work out, not necessarily for the two to wind up together but merely to have their find a common ground onto which their newborn can grow. Ben is almost effortlessly loveable, a doofus forced into a fight to find himself while Allison and the baby’s biological clock slowly ticks onward. Both are up to the task, matching each other’s performance note for note and if these two don’t become stars from this movie, it will only be a matter of time before their delicious charisma finds another way to show itself.

Rudd and Mann (Apatow’s real life wife) play Allison’s sister, Debbie, and brother-in-law, Pete, who exist to provide the audience with a glimpse into what exactly Ben and Allison are venturing into. Debbie and Pete have been married for nearly ten years and the time has created a number of rifts in their relationship, ranging from Pete’s desire for the male friendships he once had and is now missing to Debbie’s frustrations with Pete’s inability to communicate his emotions with her. Their relationship provides the film with its most dramatic moments and feels painfully real. It will act as a mirror to any couple that sees the film, revealing their own inadequacies and annoyances in the process. One scene, in particular, is especially heartfelt: Debbie, who fears that Pete is cheating on her, follows him to a house only to walk in on something she would never expect. What happens afterwords is a brilliant exchange, punctuated by Debbie’s tearful cry in which she tells Pete that he doesn’t have to yell to be mean, that he is plenty cruel as he is. This comes as a shock to Pete but reveals a great deal about relationships in general: one doesn’t need to be outwardly and obviously cruel to deny their partner with the care that they need. Too often do we walk mindlessly through life, ignoring the others feelings without even thinking about it.

Apatow, by giving equal weight to both the male and female sides of the subject, ends up as more of a moderator than lecturer. He allows his characters to explore these conflicts, giving the audience the necessary tools to sort out the issues themselves. Rogen, Heigl, Rudd and Mann are brilliant, taking a wonderful script and creating a transcendent bliss that emanates from the screen whenever they are present. By the film’s conclusion, which features some graphic images of the birthing process, any non-believer should be converted. Apatow is unflinching in his presentation, exposing raw emotions that have been hidden behind some sophomoric humor. By including those lasting images of a child’s head crowning, Apatow shows that his camera is here merely to document life, to capture these magical moments for posterity, whether they were produced naturally or artificially. In fact, in those fleeting shots, all of which drew audible gasps from the audience, Apatow creates a manifesto of sorts that envelopes the larger film. Even when it may seem to be at its grossest moments, it reveals emotions and experiences that are often times startling but are never meant for merely shock value. While this may not hold true for all of 40 Year Old Virgin, it does for Knocked Up. Each scene pulls back another layer until the entire picture comes into view, one of family embracing each other. At its core Knocked Up is a thoroughly wholesome film in unwholesome trappings, a work of art that is based on a set of morals that value maturity, family and love. By including the shots of birth, Apatow forces the audience to understand the importance of the situation at hand, that this moment in the most life changing event in both Ben and Allison’s life. He wants his viewers to feel the pain and joy of the moment. I would be lying if I didn’t admit that I found the exact instant of when we first see Ben and Allison’s child to be life affirming, a moment in which all the pain and struggle feel completely worth it.

In brief, Knocked Up is easily not only the best comedy of the year but the best of recent memory. It affirms the importance of life and more interestingly, the importance of cinema. Few works of art, of literature, of music has touched me in such a unique and wonderful way and while this may seem like hyperbole to some, Knocked Up is one of the year’s finest films, not for its over abundance of laughs, but for its stunning honesty. By so revealingly putting on display both the inner workings of relationships, marriage and childbirth, it shows how powerful a medium film can be. It can allow us to laugh, cry and think all in a brief few frames. Knocked Up is a splendid film, highlighted by a wonderful view of humanity that should be experienced by young and old alike. It may just make you look at the way you treat your significant other, your children or your friends. It may just make you look at the way you live your life.

*****