Saturday, July 07, 2007

Knocked Up!


Knocked Up

IATM RATING: 98%

There's been so much happening in Wondaland, I don't even know where to begin.

Let's start here.

Last weekend we all went off to see a little romance film called Knocked Up.

I went first with my girlfriend at the time, ex-girl, it's a complicated taking-two-weeks-off- because-we-fight-so-much-not-sure-if-we're-right-for-each-other-and-
she's-off-for-New-York-in a-month kind of thang...and then I went again with the Wondaland crew...because I loved it.

I saw this film two times in two days. For those that don't know, the premise is that a fat slacker named Ben Stone (played by Seth Rogen) has a drunken one-night stand with a gorgeous career girl named Alison Scott (played by Grey's Anatomy's Katherine Heigel). Alison gets pregnant and of course, hilarity and romance ensues, and finally since Hollywood is Hollywood, love wins the day.

What did I love about it? Let me count the ways:

  1. Writing, writing, writing: Judd Apatow's script was lean, spare, perfect--comedic with the perfect amounts of ennui, despair and postmodern romance glimmering through. My favorite scene was when Pete (Paul Rudd) and Ben Stone (Seth Rogen) sit in a playground and talk about bubbles. There's all these kids chasing floating bubbles. Ben asks Pete (who's already the father of two little girls) if he's gonna be alright, and Pete says no. Then Pete tells him not to ask him for any money, and then expounds on the childhood magic of bubbles. Genius. A comedy film version of the paper bag scene in American Beauty.
  2. The comedy troupe: Everyone in this film is a comedian. Let me repeat: everyone in this film is a comedian. If you blink, you'll miss five gags. Everything is effortless, and the supporting characters are so over-the-top and stellar you have to go back again just to see the whole ensemble in action. It's like watching a comedic symphony. Honorable mentions go out to Craig Robinson, the club doorman, who improvs his way into greatness with lines like: "They only let me let in 24 1/3 black people, so I have to find 24 black folks and a midget..." Brianna Brown who plays a crackpot work associate of Alison Scott. Her "I don't like secrets" and "Yeah, I can't believe it either"s were priceless. Ken Jeong's insane doctor routine was hilarious. Ben's friends (played by Jason Segel, Jay Baruchel, Jonah Hill, Martin Starr and Charlyne Yi) were classic. Like a Miles Davis quintet. Charlene was continually high and out of control: "Can we trade boyfriends? Huh, huh. I'm just kidding. Sort of."
  3. The Fantasy: And there's this part. Knocked Up plays to everyone's fantasies in a good way. Women truly want the selfless guy, the guy who looks out into the world and only sees their twinkling eyes. And men...what do we want? We want to get drunk, go to a hot club, meet a girl waaaaaay hotter than us or anyone we know, get her pregnant, and then...get condemned to spend the rest of our lives with her. Like how can I do this, marry Halle Berry?!?I'm ruined, ruined!
Go see it. Take someone you love or want to get pregnant.

2 comments:

Dot Techno Mania said...

Man...There are a lot of movies for me to view this summer.

I wasn't even interested in seeing this one but now I guess it will be worth it.

Ratatouille is off the hook..
Pixar is of course back being crazier than ever before.

I also loved 1408...If people were ever wondering about dimension entrances and exits and what can happen if you actually fall into that rabbit hole...Go see 1408.

Transformers was right too..

It's impressive that you can hold down any sort of relationship while trying to take over the world. It's a tough balance. Many will tell you it's impossible to have both...

Good to hear from ya again Chuckster!

Chuck Lightning said...

i know there's so many movies!

got to see the pixar joint! got to see transformers, haven't even seen spidey yet!

it's crazy...

and don't even get me started on the women equation...

love is more than a notion...