Katherine Heigl and Seth Rogan create a curious couple in the romantic comedy Knocked Up. On a movie date last week, I took in what will likely be remembered as the best romantic comedy of summer '07. Knocked Up stars the gorgeous, talented Katherine Heigl of Grey's Anatomy and the equally gifted, if somewhat less genetically graced, Seth Rogen, who also appeared in director-scribe Judd Apatow's blockbuster debut, 40-Year-Old Virgin.
Apatow's new offering is, once again, a tribute to "the average guy," bringing hope to single men everywhere without the looks, charisma, chequebook or success to bolster their dating odds. This theme pervades Virgin and his smaller-screen hits like Freaks and Geeks and Undeclared, revealing the brilliant humorist-storyteller is deeply sympathetic, even emphatic, when it comes to the heart-rending plight of the social underdog. Knocked Up is all over it in spades.
When Alison Scott (Heigl) gets a promotion at her glamorous job on the TV show E! Entertainment, she celebrates at a club with her hot married older sis, Debbie, played by Leslie Mann (Mrs. As Alison tries unsuccessfully to order drinks at the crowded bar, scruffy, paunch Ben Stone (Rogen) manages to impress her by scoring them free bevvies.
He's in like Flynn, and Ben and stoner buds end up hanging with the sexy, sophisticated sisters. Everyone gets caught up in Alison's celebratory mood and their differences are overlooked. Booze and conversation flow freely until Deb gets a call that her kids are sick.
She leaves, but Alison stays. Fast-forward a few hours and the blonde beauty is just tipsy enough to take gobsmacked Ben home to bed. When the clothes start coming off there's a funny, sweet moment, in which Ben has a revelation at their odd pairing and exclaims, "You're much prettier than I am.
" It doesn't sink in for Alison until the morning, when it suddenly becomes painfully obvious -- first, at the sight of his unbuff body, then over awkward breakfast conversation -- that she and this unshaven potty-mouthed underachiever have nothing in common. She chalks it up to poor judgment and too many shooters, and puts the night, and Ben, behind her -- until she discovers she's pregnant. Now, he's clearly wrong for her.
She's on the fast-track to success and he's still living off a $14,000 settlement cheque he got in high school when a postal truck ran over his foot. His life's ambitions are smoking pot with his flatmates and launching a website that catalogues naked shots of celebrities in movies. Yet the pair find common ground in their dilemma.
Alison wants to have the baby, and Ben -- an essentially decent guy -- promises to be there for her and help to raise it. It's the right thing to do. Or is it?
The pro-family slant in the movie is blatantly obvious. They both want to make the best of their little situation. Meanwhile Alison's rather unsympathetic mother pressures her to terminate the pregnancy while Ben's friends drop their hint as to what the couple should do: It rhymes with "shmush-shmortion.
" Although this movie sets up a classic Hollywood-style best-case scenario where everything manages to fall neatly into place, the characters and messages aren't skin deep. It's actually mature, responsible and quite lovely -- if highly unlikely. But the laughs are plentiful and we're still glad when Ben and Alison fall in like, then love.
This movie is a testament to the odd couple that beats the odds. If you look at Apatow, an average guy himself, with an above-average babe for a wife (Mann), you can see why this story plays out as it does. While Ben is neither hot, chiselled or successful, he's got every man's trump card: he's sweet and funny, not to mention adoring, devoted, and willing to make changes and grow for the sake of their relationship, and the baby.
Alison, who still outclasses Ben by a mile, is every bit the nice girl. So she deserves Ben, even more because she's smart enough to see that perfect matches don't always come in "perfect" packages. Sometimes it just is what it is -- and, surprisingly, that is, for once, enough.
Katherine Heigl and Seth Rogan create a curious couple in the romantic comedy Knocked Up.
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