Judd Apatow might be the most honest filmmaker in Hollywood.
Part of that honesty is his crude humor, which we saw in full flower in The 40-Year-Old Virgin. For some, he was saying things we have thought but that would never pass our lips.
For others, he was bringing private conversations between guys out in the open. The laughter stemmed from recognition. And, of course, for some people, he was just gross.
But graphic jokes about sex and bodily functions alone do not make a hit mainstream movie.
What was so pleasantly surprising about Virgin was an honest, sweet relationship between Steve Carell and Catherine Keener's characters that fit well with the gross-out jokes.
Anticipation for the even more crudely titled Knocked Up, which opens today, once again has focused on Apatow's crude humor, which even he played up on a recent Tonight Show appearance.
You have to think that was what drew a mostly college-age crowd to an advance screening Tuesday night. But what unreeled was a film that really can be best appreciated by parents, whether their children were planned or resulted from the mistakes of our protagonists, Alison (Katherine Heigl) and Ben (Seth Rogen).
This couple never would have hooked up without alcohol.
Ben is a pudgy, hairy slacker who has $113 in the bank and smokes a lot of pot. His big ambition is to create a Web site that will guide subscribers to choice nude scenes of their favorite actresses. Alison, meanwhile, is movin' on up at the E!
entertainment cable network.
They meet at a club when Alison and her sister are out celebrating Alison's promotion to an on-camera job. She's looking for some fun, and roly-poly Ben is fun.
Back at her place, a moment of coital confusion results in unprotected sex. Alison ditches Ben at breakfast after their one-night stand, but eight weeks later, she's calling him to say she's pregnant.
From here, Ben and Alison embark on a journey to figure out whether they want to be together and what that union and parenthood will mean to their lives.
This is a juvenile comedy about growing up.
Their mirror is Debbie (Leslie Mann) and Pete (Paul Rudd), Alison's sister and her husband of about eight years, who are struggling with myriad issues about trust, personal space and parenthood. Apatow is exceedingly fair at offering each sex's foibles and insecurities while blowing up stereotypes.
There are numerous set pieces for fans of Apatow's explicit humor, including a scene in which Ben and Alison struggle with having sex while she is well into her third trimester.
And like Virgin, Apatow has filled out the cast with some crack comedic talent, including Saturday Night Live stars Kristen Wiig and Bill Hader. Wiig has a brief but great turn as Alison's passive-aggressive E!
colleague.
The big discovery is Rogen, a supporting player in Virgin and Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy. Rogen steps into the lead to reaffirm his comedic chops and shows genuine dramatic range as Seth grows into the role of responsible parent.
It's appropriate that the film is a family affair: Mann, who plays Alison's sister, is Apatow's wife, and the kids who play Debbie and Pete's daughters are Apatow's girls, Maude and Iris -- which will explain how parents can let their kids say and hear some of the things the girls say and hear in this movie.
Apatow deserves a special shout-out for the delivery room scene, probably the closest thing I've seen to the pace and feel of an actual delivery room, including documentaries. It is the culmination of a journey that, married or single, is terrifying, fun, painful, exciting, confining and in the end, tearfully joyful.
And you thought Knocked Up was just going to be a bunch of sex and drug jokes.
Reach Rich Copley at (859) 231-3217 or 1-800-950-6397, Ext. 3217.
Read his blog, Copious Notes, at Kentucky.com.
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