Knocked Up (DVD, 2007, Unrated and Unprotected; Widescreen)

Runtime: 2 hrs 13 mins

Theatrical Release: Jun 1, 2007 Wide

Box Office: $148,734,225

Genre: Comedies

Starring: Katherine Heigl, Seth Rogen, Paul Rudd, Leslie Mann, Jay Baruchel
Director: Judd Apatow
Screenwriter: Judd Apatow
Producer: Judd Apatow, Shauna Robertson

Katherine Heigl (GREY'S ANATOMY) and Seth Rogan star in this hilarious and touching comedy as two mismatched people brought together by a one-night-stand that results in an accidental pregnancy. Using many of the same actors from his previous film, THE 40-YEAR OLD VIRGIN, and his cult... Katherine Heigl (GREY'S ANATOMY) and Seth Rogan star in this hilarious and touching comedy as two mismatched people brought together by a one-night-stand that results in an accidental pregnancy. Using many of the same actors from his previous film, THE 40-YEAR OLD VIRGIN, and his cult television series' UNDECLARED and FREAKS AND GEEKS, director Judd Apatow once again finds fresh humor in relationships and sex. Young, bright, and talented, Alison (Heigl) has everything going for her. After being promoted to an on-camera role at E! Television, Alison goes out to celebrate with her older sister, Debbie (Leslie Mann). Not long into the evening Debbie is called home to her kids, leaving Alison in the eager company of charming slacker Ben (Rogen). In the dark of the nightclub and in the ensuing drunk hours, Ben seems like a great guy. But in the sober light of day, Alison quickly discovers the man in her bed is nothing more than an overgrown child with no job, no money, and the social habits of a teenager. Brushing him off politely as a one-time affair, Alison goes on with her life, until two months later she realizes that the unthinkable has happened. Apatow establishes the differences between his protagonists early in the film, bringing their contrasting worlds to life with stellar performances by secondary characters. Paul Rudd has never been better in his role as Alison's bitter brother-in-law, whose somewhat dysfunctional marriage to Alison's feisty but insecure sister unfolds in parallel to Alison and Ben's story. Meanwhile, Ben's home resembles a frat house, and his friends (Jay Baruchel, Jason Segel, Jonah Hill, and Martin Starr), while hilarious, are hardly role models. KNOCKED UP will have audiences cracking up from start to finish, and it also deals with some serious issues about commitment, life choices, and becoming an adult. The film asks universal questions in a sweet and touching way, achieving a sad humor that distinguishes it from other films of its genre.

Screenwriter: Judd Apatow
Producer: Judd Apatow, Shauna Robertson

Katherine Heigl (GREY'S ANATOMY) and Seth Rogan star in this hilarious and touching comedy as two mismatched people brought together by a one-night-stand that results in an accidental pregnancy. Using many of the same actors from his previous film, THE 40-YEAR OLD VIRGIN, and his cult... Katherine Heigl (GREY'S ANATOMY) and Seth Rogan star in this hilarious and touching comedy as two mismatched people brought together by a one-night-stand that results in an accidental pregnancy. Using many of the same actors from his previous film, THE 40-YEAR OLD VIRGIN, and his cult television series' UNDECLARED and FREAKS AND GEEKS, director Judd Apatow once again finds fresh humor in relationships and sex. Young, bright, and talented, Alison (Heigl) has everything going for her. After being promoted to an on-camera role at E! Television, Alison goes out to celebrate with her older sister, Debbie (Leslie Mann). Not long into the evening Debbie is called home to her kids, leaving Alison in the eager company of charming slacker Ben (Rogen). In the dark of the nightclub and in the ensuing drunk hours, Ben seems like a great guy. But in the sober light of day, Alison quickly discovers the man in her bed is nothing more than an overgrown child with no job, no money, and the social habits of a teenager. Brushing him off politely as a one-time affair, Alison goes on with her life, until two months later she realizes that the unthinkable has happened. Apatow establishes the differences between his protagonists early in the film, bringing their contrasting worlds to life with stellar performances by secondary characters. Paul Rudd has never been better in his role as Alison's bitter brother-in-law, whose somewhat dysfunctional marriage to Alison's feisty but insecure sister unfolds in parallel to Alison and Ben's story. Meanwhile, Ben's home resembles a frat house, and his friends (Jay Baruchel, Jason Segel, Jonah Hill, and Martin Starr), while hilarious, are hardly role models. KNOCKED UP will have audiences cracking up from start to finish, and it also deals with some serious issues about commitment, life choices, and becoming an adult. The film asks

Hollywood's reigning auteur of raunchy romantic comedy, Judd Apatow, scores a knockout with 'Knocked Up' (UNRATED), his extremely funny and sweetly endearing follow-up to 'The 40-Year-Old Virgin'.
With generous helpings of acerbic great humor, sexually graphic dialogue and surprising emotional honesty, Apatow turns the most simple of premises — (a one-night stand stretching to nine months), into a thoroughly winning and frequently hilarious reflection on the pleasures and pitfalls of marriage and parenthood.
Likable "everyman" schlub/Apatow regular Seth Rogen ('Freaks and Geeks') and luminous Katharine Heigl ('Grey's Anatomy') strike comic sparks as the mismatched couple, whose drunken tumble into bed will forever change their lives — "For Better or Worse."
Pudgy, bass-voiced actor/writer Rogen leaves the comic sidekick roles behind as Ben Stone, a genial, pot-smoking slacker living in squalid arrested development with a motley collection of underachievers: Jay (Jay Baruchel), Jason (Jason Segel), Jonah (Jonah Hill) and Martin (Martin Starr). When not firing up the bong or playing juvenile pranks on each other, Ben and his buddies spend their days logging actresses' nude scenes for a website they're allegedly going to launch — that is, if they ever stop partying long enough to do actual work.
Ben goes out-of-his-way to avoid anything resembling gainful employment, 24-year-old Alison Scott (Heigl) is a career woman on the go. To celebrate her promotion to on-air personality at E! Entertainment Television, Alison goes club-hopping with her older sister Debbie (Leslie Mann), the married/harried mother of two little girls. Although Ben hardly fits the image of 'Mr. Right' (or even 'Mr. Right Now'), he and Alison hit it off immediately in a trendy hotspot, dancing and drinking their way back to the scene of the crime, i.e., her bedroom.
Eight weeks later, Alison discovers she's pregnant by a flabby doofus too broke to pay his cell phone bill. Not that Ben's exactly jumping for joy about becoming a father.
The tense exchanges between Debbie and Pete vis-à-vis everything from childcare to his mysterious nights out give 'Knocked Up' a prickly edge that somehow never turns shrilly melodramatic. The laughs keep flowing consistently, even as their marriage serves as a cautionary tale to Ben and Alison, whose relationship is fraught with its own share of issues, both petty and serious.
'Knocked Up' never sounds an overly discordant note, due in large part to Apatow's obvious affection for all his characters. He portrays their foibles, anxieties, and insecurities truthfully, not maliciously. Apatow's empathy for his characters is most evident with regard to Debbie, who could have easily been written (and played) as a shrewish caricature of an entitled, "desperate housewife," but comes across here as essentially decent, fiercely protective of her family, and vulnerable.
In one of the film's funniest and most sharply revealing scenes, Debbie attempts to harangue her way into a nightclub, only to be put in her place by the bouncer, who bluntly tells her exactly why she and the massively pregnant Alison are not getting past the velvet rope. There's an uncomfortable grain of truth in this scene; and many others that gives 'Knocked Up' an emotional resonance that lifts it above most crowd-pleasing summer comedies.
Make room on your "Classic-Comedy Shelf" for this guaranteed SMASH HIT !!
'Knocked Up' (UNRATED) is "MUST-SEE MUST-OWN" !!

I couldn't help grinning from ear to ear upon reading the review of Knocked Up by a columnist in the paper. Instead of reviewing much of the movie, he played 'spot the obvious' and went complaining about the censorship board in Malaysia. Among one of the points raised by him was the fact that even though the film was labeled 18PL, the film was still butchered anyway by the censorship board. So why have censorship? It explains why the DVD black market is still up and running.

The best I could say right now is that we acknowledge the fact that the censorship board is redundant and we are just tired of complaining anyway so we opt out by watching films elsewhere. But in any case, I could only imagine how the censored version of Knocked Up would end up like which is why I am ever so grateful that I could watch the film in its entirety this morning and boy, was it a joy to watch.

Ben Stone (played by Seth Rogen) and his stoned friends dream of making a fortune with a website that reveals where and when movie stars get naked in movies while Alison Scott (played by Katherine Heigl) who just got promoted to become a presenter on E! Having been told to 'tighten' (become thinner la) for the sake of the job, it would be a nightmare if she were to get pregnant, right? Well her worst nightmare comes true after chance brings them together in a bar and that one-night stand that they would have would end up as something that would change their lives forever. After all the moral dilemma facing them both, Alison decides to keep the baby with both Alison and Ben deciding to give each other a chance for the sake of the baby. As the nine months pass these two by, tolerance turns to accommodation which turns to true love for the two.

Make no mistake, I love Katherine Heigl. I really do. She looks classy, beautiful and at the same time, she looks a tad vulnerable which makes her even more appealing. But anyhow, the best thing about this movie is that both Heigl and Rogen make the movie believable with a sense of chemistry that matches the biological magnitude fazed by them. The ups and downs of their post-pregnancy relationship constantly tugs at your heart leaving you with warmth and fuzziness that only a Disney family flick would have but the obscenity (which also happens to make most of the movie funny) makes it "Thou shalt not pass" for kids under 21.

Parallel to the Alison-Ben relationship issues is the strained marriage between Alison's sister Debbie and her husband Pete who feels the pressure of being married and cannot believe how Debbie could love him so much. All guys face that, don't they? Not believing how a girl that hot could be with a us. Well, when these guys are at home,they complain at the fact that they can't hang out and live free anymore but when on the road, they FINALLY realize how much they miss their ladies and with tails between their legs, they come home to their women. My only qualms was the fact that the movie never really delved into the issue of abortion, but then, if she went for abortion, the movie would end by the half-hour mark, wouldn't it? But all is not doom and gloom as though there may only be a few laughs out there, but when the jokes come, they come at you fast and furious. Some of the best jokes were concerning Alison and Ben having sex with Ben being worried that his penis may poke the unborn child's head and Alison visiting the many gynecologists with one looking at her vagina and exclaiming "So you do look lik

Let's just say for all intents and practical purposes you are totally bored with real stupid comedy and you've watched up all your soap operas. Where do you soon turn? Of course, where else will most agreeably turn when everything else fails? The DVD Comedy Section! Judd Apatow takes his views on life, love, and comedy very seriously. So seriously that he continues to pour out film after film of hilarious uncharted territory we all can not seem to get enough of.

Like most films Judd Apatow produces, we learn to expect a different kind of experience. Apatow normally, if not mostly, likes to push the envelope as far as possible on what the audience perceives as either plain stupid, ignorant, gross, profane, incoherent, embarrassing, in your face, or unacceptable when it comes to embracing the current common societal views on decency. Apatow somehow is able to walk this thin line in his over-the-top films without totally alienating most normal people. The common thread in most all of his films seems to revolve around characters that we somehow would love to hate, however, can't seem to ever get to that point. We always conditionally forgive these people regardless of how they act. Most of the characters tend to always redeem themselves with us before the film ends.

The common fallacy we might make when trying to explain a film to someone who hasn't seen it before is saying something like, "Hey man! Have you seen that film called Knocked Up? That was totally awesome!". Of course when the person, that doesn't really understand that you are a film expert film buff, goes home and watches it, then they might never listen to another one of your opinions again. Mostly, the film as with any film, either has a shelf life (i.e. A life of its own or it doesn't).

My opinion is meaningless when it comes to judging a comedy. We just have to see if it's going to be a long-term forgettable film like "Flashdance", or something else. I'm certainly not knocking the directing talent of Adrian Lyne or Don Simpson as a producer, but there is so far a film can carry you after 30 years. For instance, I can only remember the gal (Jennifer Beals), I thought I would never see again in another film, and the Michael Simbelo "Maniac" song. I'm certainly glad the Jennifer Beals didn't just disappear from the scene, but she has hardly starred in another major role in her acting career. Jennifer is definitely still holding her own and looking better than ever, which is nice. She is only about 6 months younger than me, and my body looks like it's been trampled by a herd of hippos. I'm just saying, in trying to pinpoint a single formula that makes Apatow's films so very memorable, you'll just have to go back and watch it 20 years later. That's the most important litmus test for the next generation of comedy analyzers.

Some say that the inner sanctum of loving a film is loving the main character. Seth Rogen is definitely fun and delivers us the most astonishing silliness one could ever imagine. Ben Stone is a likable guy who could just as well be your best friend or cousin. Bad behavior is expected along the way and Rogen as Stone delivers it up as best he knows how. Simply put, you actually feel sorrow for this green and pitiful idiot who has no clue how he has screwed his life up. Instead of taking us down an even more pitiful story-line, Apatow shows us that even this guy can make good decisions and turn his life around. Cheers to everyone who made Knocked Up!!!