The thing that I kept thinking during this movie was "Wow. Men and women are just completely incompatible at this point in American culture." Well, white middle class men and women anyway. While women have been continually encouraged to pursue careers, be career-oriented, to stab those in front of them to make an American buck... men are more and more cajoled into simply never growing up due to the fact that their girlfriends go from sexual interests to mother in about 35 seconds. Why? Well, if you're working all the time, you're gonna put off pregnancy until mid-30s and if you're putting it off, where is all that maternal instinctive drive going? Into your SLACKER BOYFRIEND. The moral of this film was, similarly to The Last Kiss, keep those peepers open ladies! That schlubby unmotivated scruffy-looking nerf-herder is probably Prince Charming. So stick with him! Forgive him of everything! And don't let him go!
Ok. That being said. As a fantasy piece meant to reconcile the modern man and woman, Knocked Up is mildly to genuinely successful. The conceit is that the maternal attention a modern guy would expect from his working girlfriend is redirected to the unborn child he unwittingly impregnated her with. HOW WILL HE REACT!? Seth Rogen and Katherine Heigl are wonderfully casual leads who don't mug or overact and, as a result, are occasionally indistinguishable from the furniture. I like both of them but neither especially "pop" in the way that... let's say... John Cusack or Ione Skye do in Say Anything inspiring the audience's undying devotion to the resolution of their love story. They are regularly upstaged by Leslie Mann and Paul Rudd who are both brilliant in the supporting roles of Heigl's sister and her husband... the couple Seth and Katherine are hoping/dreading they will emulate. Apatow has a great ear for contemporary dialogue and a wonderfully ambiguous code of ethics. Knocked Up never presents an accurate representation of present day relationships nor an outlandish parable for the way things ought to be.
In a way, Knocked Up, like its companion piece 40-Year-Old Virgin, is a bit of a Hollywood driftwood. A guy-friendly chick-flick. Debris from the imploding romantic comedy formula that hasn't been sufficently entertaining since the early nineties. I have to say that my personal jury is still out on whether Apatow will succeed in becoming the next John Hughes. Not that he makes high school movies. But that he may, in fact, create an entire new decade-specific genre based in the mating habits of adolescent (or, in this case, post-adolescent) middle class white America. That we will, in the future, refer to films as being send-ups to "Judd Apatow movies". I think he's that talented and could reach that level of artistic and commercial success.
I have a couple of gripes about Knocked Up that are purely personal and prevent me from giving it a heart. 1) The fact that women are portrayed as having no prior knowledge of Back to the Future is insane. This isn't like fantasy baseball or hockey. Women born before 1985 who also have the gift of sight will know about this. Or least women like the Mann and Heigl's characters who are educated and articulate. So... anyway. 2) The pop culture references are great but we do reach a point where that much quoting leads to unquotability. The Big Lebowski this film is not but I can't even remember most of the lines I laughed at.
Finally 3) I HAVE DATED THIS GUY! I mean, several times. I date guys who look like Seth Rogen. Act like Seth Rogen. I have dated guys who act and look like his friends. I would fancy myself as not only open-minded about nerds or losers but that I actually gravitate toward them. I lust after guys like this. NONE OF THEM have turned into anything like Rogen's character at the end of this film unless I broke up with them and MOST OF THEM have treated me in the end just as harshly as the captain of the football team. So... I appreciate the sentiment, Judd. But I'm gonna go with personal experience here.
Bottom Line: It's like porn for women who want to screw every guy at Comic Con. I KNOW YOU'RE OUT THERE! Everyone else... I can guarantee you will laugh at like 70% of it if not more. Will you leave completely satisfied? Depends on how cynical you are.
3 comments:
i'm curious what you think of my review.
http://chadhartigan.wordpress.com/2007/06/03/knocked-up/
am i crazy in thinking that apatow has a low opinion of women?
I'll admit that I kind of rolled my eyes when I saw another Knocked Up review, but I really enjoyed your take, Arden. Not only was it balanced, but you made it your own by relating so much personal experience to us your loyal readership. Keep these coming!
I do find it hard to believe that she would be so patient with him and that he would undergo such changes into the good partner by the end. I think Apatow is unrealistic thinking that she could continue in her job while pregnant, since she just started said job (as an on-camera personality). So it breaks down as a film interesting to women but unfair to them. This would remove me from really recommending the movie.
Yet, it was a fine performance by Katherine Heigl. She looks better too, without over-exposure such as the EW cover. In fact, I liked that she wasn't exposed in the film.
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