2007-09-24
Sunday, September 23, we cashed in yet another one of our wedding presents - brunch at Café Woody and subsequent moviegoing with Lisbeth and Thomas in Kinopalæet. The movie of the day was Judd Apatow's critically acclaimed Knocked Up
My expectations for the movie weren't great in advance. Based on what I knew about the plot, I half expected yet another standard american teen comedy. But I was plesantly surprised.
The movie starred Seth Rogen and Katherine Heigl, two actors in their mid to late 20s, who appears not to be completely unknown in the USA, but someone I appear to have overlooked completely. They acted excellently, supplemented by also excellent Paul Ruud (best known as Phoebe's boyfriend and, eventually, husband on Friends), Leslie Mann (married to Judd Apatow in real life) and Jason Segel. In smaller roles were Joanna Kerns (the mother in 80-90s sitcom Growing Pains) and Harold Ramis (Ghostbusters!) as the mother of Alison (Heigl) and the father of Ben (Rogen) respectively.
The basis of the story is, that the odd couple Ben and Alison meets each other at a bar - they get drunk - because of a slight misunderstanding concerning the use of condoms, Alison discovers, eight weeks later, that she is pregnant. And from there it all escalates with pregnancy hormones, parenting books, relationship troubles, hash bongs, registering nude scenes in movies, etc.
The movie is an, at times, crazy comedy which is NOT intended for ages 13-25. The problems dealt with in the movie, and the underlying humour, is better sutied for those who have already settled down with a family or those who are about to do so. The main theme is pregnancy and relationships, and it is obvious that the script writer(s) have drawn on their own experiences and problems, without attempting to caricature them to appeal to a younger audience. Also, the movie contains a few totally absurd side stories, which manages to stay believeable, and which contributes to making the movie, occasionally, hilarious, without losing the deeper points.
Among the issues dealt with are women's constant need to change and shape their husbands, and man's conflicting attempt to keep a certain private space despite women and children. Unfortunately the movie does not give any definitive answer to this all too well known problem ;-)
Knocked Up last just over 2 hours; relatively long for a Hollywood comedy, but there is a good flow in the storyline, and one does not get bored or impatient during the movie. At the time of writing this, the movie has received a very nice average score of 7.9 out of 10 on iMDB - and I can totally subscribe to that - 4 big stars out of 5 from here.