Movie Review: Knocked Up

One thing you learn from this movie is that Seth Rogen is absolutely hilarious. This movie is brilliant! I found myself laughing nonstop throughout the entire movie and not just because of Seth Rogen, but the entire cast is masterful at comedy.

This is a movie about a go-nowhere guy who literally “knocks up” a correspondent for E! Television after a drunken night at some club. Now sure, getting drunk and having sex that leads to unplanned pregnancies isn’t a funny topic, but th way it plays out on screen is perfect. If you’re trying to think what type of humor you’ll be in for if you check out Knocked Up, think the 40 Year Old Virgin. Lots of innuendo and lots of very creative comments that are spoken underneath the regular dialogue in the scenes.

What I like about Seth Rogen is that he is the everyday funny guy. If you’re a guy, he’s the friend that – when everyone is hanging out together – he makes all of the funny comments that some people hear and some people don’t. And he uses intelligent humor, too. At the movie theater, I was sitting in front of three completely unruly, nasty, poorly behaved teenage girls (more on this in an upcoming post) and Rogen is on screen making some joke about Star Wars and cracking jokes about a lot of 80’s sub-pop culture things and these idiots are sitting behind me saying, “Huh? What? What does that mean?”

He’s a witty guy and this is a witty movie.

I would suggest paying particular attention to the Cirque du Soleil which is absolutely hilarious. In fact, the entire part of the movie that takes place in Las Vegas is pure comedic gold.

While Rogen is good, he has a great cast working with him. Katherine Heigl (the woman that Rogen knocks up), Leslie Mann (her aging sister), and Paul Rudd (the sister’s husband) are all perfect for their roles. Their timing is on point in every scene and the interaction between Rogen and Rudd is very reminiscent of the 40 Year Old Virgin. In fact, I kept thinking of the deleted Virgin scene where these two have their, “You know how I know you’re gay?” dialogue.

Something also needs to be said for Kristen Wiig who has a small part in this movie. Wiig plays one of the folks at E! Television who is always in on Mann’s meetings when she is talking to her boss. If Wiig made you laugh on Saturday Night Live, then she’ll make you laugh so hard that you cry in Knocked Up – she is awesome at this part! Her role is that unbelieving female co-worker who is very upfront about her negative feelings, but in a “matter of fact” kind of a way.

One line that I thought was funny was when Mann’s boss was telling her to lose weight without actually saying it. Wiig is sitting next to Mann and says in a very subdued, under her breath, Valley Girl type of way, “Just imagine if you went home and weighed yourself, and then subtracted like 20 pounds from that – you should come back weighing that.”

The entire theater cracked up at that point!

All in all, this is a movie that I highly suggest seeing in the movie theater. I also want to say that about a year and a half ago I stopped buying DVDs because they’re just too damn expensive. Sure, I’ve purchased one or two since then, but that’s no where near as many as I was purchasing at one point (a few each week). Now this movie – THIS is a movie that I will definitely buy on DVD when it is released! I’ll even spend the extra few dollars and get the super duper version.

If you’re looking for a great, modern comedy – this movie is for you!