“Knocked Up” Delivers In Laughs, But Lacks in Cred

I went to see Director Judd Apatow’s latest flic, “Knocked Up” last night. I’d been looking forward to this film since about the time of “Freaks & Geeks” so you can imagine the level of anticipation built up in the past eight years or so. Ok, so that’s an exaggeration but since “The 40 Year-Old Virgin,” I’d taken note of this Apatow guy and when I finally imdb’d him and realized he was behind such creations as “Fun With Dick & Jane” (which i absolutely loved), “Freaks & Geeks,” “Anchorman” and even a guest spot on “The Critic” (Jon Lovitz at his finest), I declared that quite possibly he was one of the most pop culturally unheard of comedians-to-date, considering his level of contribution and accomplishments.

But back to “Knocked Up”…

I like Seth Rogen as still-makes-love-to-his-bong-at-the-ripe-age-of-23 slacker Ben Stone. He’s likable enough and seems to balance out Katherine Heigl’s more restrained and uptight/conservative Alison Scott who realizes she’s preggers eight weeks after having unprotected sex with Ben. “Just Do It” isn’t apparently just a Nike slogan after all.

Did I mention Heigl’s Alison also lands a cushy job as a Ryan Seacrest-esque interviewer on an E! show? You’d have thunk the pregnancy might throw a wrench into all this, but don’t worry it doesn’t. That’s Hollywood for you. Not the actual Hollywood. The real Hollywood would have yanked Alison off air at about month 2, not waited till her eighth month of pregnancy to tell her how much her pregnancy will boost ratings and they don’t mind her not disclosing to them the fact she’s due in another month or so.

Both Heigl and Rogen perform well, but it’s the film’s ensemble supporting cast - Paul Rudd as Alison’s brother-in-law Pete, Leslie Mann (Apatow’s wife) as Alison’s sister Debbie, and about every SNL and “Freaks & Geeks” regular including the very funny Kristen Wiig as Alison’s bitchy co-worker Jill, that round out the cast and truly make this film float.

The dialogue is genuinely poignant, funny, bright (and pithy at times) and Apatow clearly has a strong grasp on how people actually communicate with each other in a way that evades a lot of other writers and directors of his generation. So I can appreciate this deeper level of insight that Apatow brings to his films, but not so much the situational comedic aspect.

This is where I have my major beef with comedies and “Knocked Up” in particular - the bridge between remaining relatively grounded in depicting life’s ironies (of course following the “exaggeration” motif of most comedies) and opting for these ridiculous and almost absurdist backdrops within which to do so.

David Edelstein of New York Magazine pointed out in his review that he’s happy to see the triumph of the fat druggie nice guy (I’m paraphrasing a bit here) winning the hand of the voluptuous fair blond maiden of his dreams, but when are we gonna see the fat girl with the hot guy in a serious romantic comedy of sorts of the caliber of “Knocked Up”? And don’t even get me started on “Phat Girlz”…

Apart from this, what are the odds that Pete and his wife Debbie make enough money to support their very pampered, but unhappy lifestyles? Why is money never really an issue for any of these people? Apart from Ben being a broke, unemployed guy who bums a crib off Alison’s sister and finally decides to get a job as a web designer in an office in an effort to “grow up” the issue of money never really is a critical matter within the movie. And how long did it take Ben to get a job and a nicely furnished apt? Oh, about the time it took Alison to deliver the baby and for him to assume more of an alpha male role in the critical delivery moment at the hospital where Ben tells Debbie to bugger off. Finally.

Oh, don’t get me wrong here. I’m not totally dissing/panning the movie. It’s just money is an issue for any couple starting out and especially one with a new baby so why can’t we deal with that in a more realistic way? Why must we skirt the issue by hiding behind creatively convenient family members with guest houses and pools and bourgeois lifestyles who can afford to spend all the time in the world talking about how marriage is like an unhappy, tense version of “Everybody Loves Raymond” but it lasts forever.

I get that rich people have their issues too and even the point that they are “real” people too whose feelings can/should be validated. Call me a party pooper (I’ve been known to live up to this), but sometimes I just don’t feel like indulging in their pity parties.