Knocked Up: Comedy. Starring Katherine Heigl and Seth Rogen. Directed by Judd
Apatow. (R. 129 minutes. At Bay Area theaters. For complete movie listings, and
to purchase tickets for sele
There are lots of good things to say about “Knocked Up,” the latest from
writer-director Judd Apatow, but the most essential thing is that it’s long. It
runs 129 minutes, which is about a half hour longer than audiences have been
conditioned to expect from a romantic comedy. The movie’s length represents a
risk and also some real ambition. Apatow is not trying to do what everybody
else does.
Like Apatow’s “The 40 Year-Old Virgin,” “Knocked Up” is an attempt at a
different kind of screen comedy, one that can be as absurdist and even more
coarse than other comedies and yet doesn’t trivialize the characters. Where
other filmmakers pull back, Apatow delves. Where other filmmakers give you the
cliche in place of the emotion, the corny shorthand that allows the movie to
resolve itself, Apatow takes his time and invites the audience to look at his
characters as people.
Go to “Knocked Up” for the laughs. Go for the fun and only later — if
you like — consider the philosophical proposition behind making a comedy in
this way. Apatow, like Woody Allen and a handful of others before him, is
showing how comedy can be at least as valid a means of exploring human emotion
as drama. Life is more like comedy than drama, anyway — just look around. So
why should comedy be artificial? Apatow shows how a comedy should and can be
more like life, without sacrificing a laugh.
Katherine Heigl plays an E channel talk show host, who gets herself
pregnant right after her big break. On the fateful night, she goes to a
nightclub and meets an unprepossessing, shlubby sort of guy, and for some
reason likes him. She finds Ben (Seth Rogen) mildly amusing, but he’s way out
of her league — younger, poorer, unemployed, badly dressed, barely groomed
– and she has no intention of going to bed with him. Then she gets drunk and
does anyway.
The morning-after scene shows what makes Apatow special. He doesn’t go for
the usual laughs by having Alison (Heigl) do something extreme (like scream in
horror and throw him out), or by having Ben behave with annoying, misguided
confidence. He finds the humor in the acute discomfort of the situation, as it
would play in life: She is horrified and wants to keep her distance, but she is
obligated not to be rude. And he likes her and would like to see her again, but
he can tell that she can’t wait to get away. The scene is funny, because the
situation is awkward, and the awkwardness is the product of the characters’
fullness and awareness. Neither is stupid. They both know exactly what’s going
on.
Once Alison is pregnant, the abortion option is handled with perception
and economy: She has lunch with her know-it-all mother, who tells her that she
obviously must terminate the pregnancy. That’s it. She’s having a baby. From
there “Knocked Up” really takes it time, tracing the effect of the pregnancy on
Alison and Ben, together and separately, and on their friends and family. Taken
one by one, the scenes are invariably funny, but the overarching ideas of the
film are all about growth and human potential. Actually, “The 40 Year Old
Virgin” was like that, too.
Apatow makes good use of the extended running time by looking into the
unhappy marriage of Alison’s sister (Leslie Mann) and brother-in-law (Paul
Rudd). These side characters, who’d usually be given short shrift as mere comic
sounding boards for the protagonists, are examined with unexpected fullness and
feeling. On the downside, some of the humor involving Ben’s living situation,
with a bunch of slacker potheads, is labored and repetitive. Yet even then,
Apatow’s eye for the zany touch never leaves him. He gets a lot of mileage, for
example, out of a bit about a guy losing a bet and not being able to shave.
Every time we see him, his beard is longer, and he’s more miserable.
There’s a lot more here, but it’s best left to be discovered. “Knocked Up”
has some rough edges, but it’s a noteworthy film by a significant and
blossoming talent.
– Advisory: Simulated sex, drug use, sexual situations, harsh language
and nudity.
E-mail Mick LaSalle at mlasalle@sfchronicle.com.