Customer Reviews

Knocked Up (Unrated) [HD DVD + DVD]

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

Bringing out the ugly! What really makes this film great and uncomfortable and funny is how it lets us see ourselves. In only a few moments Ben Stone is transformed from sweetly funny stoner into a shouting, mean-spirited, insensitive child. Pete retreats selfishly from a wife, Debbie who suffocates him with insane, but strangely familiar, expectations. All the players at some point become irrational, and this is where Alison (Hiegl's character) escapes criticism. Because she is pregnant, any outburst, any unmotivated action is easily excused, and ironically, she may have the fewest anyway. She's still Izzy from Grey's Anatomy - The Complete First Season, but without the self-righteousness. She's the superlative and a little hard to identify with, but in a good way.

Despite Rogen's and Hiegl's competence, it's the little characters that really make this film shine. Leslie Mann, Alison's older sister, somehow seems like both a potentially wonderful mother and potential basket case. She teeters on greatness and disaster and I love and identify with her for it. Jason Segel, whose turn on CBS's How I Met Your Mother is nothing short of phenomenal, shines here as a slacker friend, unfoundedly cocky, and somehow endearing. He effortlessly controls the screen. Most wonderful, though, is Paul Rudd's Pete. I've never seen a character like him animated on the screen. After attempting just now several times, it's impossible to describe what's with this character. I guess there's a kind of absent, off-hand responsibility to him that just makes for compelling screen time. An Oscar worthy performance that, sadly, will never manifest in a nomination because of the kind of movie this is.

The film is undeniably funny on all levels. There are jokes ranging from the sophisticated pokes at pop culture, to the almost mandatory fart joke. I will say, that even the fart\poop references manage to be original and hilarious. Is the humor crude? Yes, and somehow not quite inappropriate either. We're eavesdropping on funny people with their most intimate friends. Thank you Mr. Apataw for letting us listen in!

Much like Judd Apatow's preceding film 'The 40 Year Old Virgin', this
takes a silly high concept Hollywood idea (slacker slob impregnates
upper class hottie, in spite of all odds they have the baby and fall in
love), injects it with sharp humor, highbrow and low, pathos, good
acting, and even some real insight into people and relationships.

Seth Rogan is terrific, but so is Catherine Heigel, Paul Rudd, and
everyone in the supporting roles.

Not a huge visual upgrade between the Blu-ray and the regular
DVD, so if cost is a factor...

This is a precious addition to my DVD Comedy collection. Katherine Heigl is a GREAT SPORT in allowing herself to become part of Seth Rogen's World - I mean, you hardly find someone as intensely HOT as Heigl agreeing to (of course artificial) shots of her as-yet-unborn baby crowning and descending into a world of pot and live-for-the-moment that epitomises Ben's (Seth Rogen's) world. Before that chance encounter in a night-club, hers was as pristine a world as it could ever be, but after a few drinks too many and the famous words, "Do it already!", things never were the same again.

The movie is so funny because of Rogen's genius improvisational skill and how well that played off of Heigl's almost innocent character. The interplay is so unbelievably funny that I've wondered if in the script, against Ben Stone's name, there are the words, "Let Seth Rogen do and say whatever he wants - it'll be funnier than anything we can write anyway."

Here is what has me thoroughly confused, however - the search for someone to play Ben Stone that appears in the Special Features section of the DVD. I kept going, "What?!" "Is this for real?!"

First, I have never seen, in similar sections of other DVDs, i.e., casting and screen tests and so forth, the actual individuals who auditioned and didn't get the part (except where, for example, it's already made the news like, say, "Gary Oldman turned down an offer to play X in Y movie, and the part went to Tim Roth").

Second, not only were the names of the Ben Stone "hopefuls" mentioned, but there were EXTENSIVE shots of them in scenes with Katherine Heigl, showing where the process broke down and led to endless bleeping out of cussing, and smashing of props, and accusations of "stifling my creativity", and so on!!

I mean, guys like Michael Cera and Justin Long were having it out with Director Judd Apatow, which was, to say the least, bizarre. There were also some ridiculous choices for Ben Stone, like Gerry Bednob and others, which started me thinking that all of these "contenders" for the character of Ben Stone, and the accompanying audition footage, and negative comments by other cast members, had to be an ENORMOUSLY ELABORATE April Fool's Day joke on the viewers by Judd Apatow.

I dunno - it was all surreal. Actual audition footage of those who did not make it, with so many manifestations of acrimony would typically be edited out and not find its way into the DVD, but there it is.

For shock value, both behind the scenes AND in the movie, you can't miss with this DVD. But ultimately it's all about laughs, and when you include Seth Rogen's unique and unforgettable laughter, you will not be disappointed in this picture.

Knocked up is one of those witty films that can take a potentially serious subject matter and make it serious. I mean there's all the hallmarks of a woman-power tear jerker here: Loser boyfriend, dedicated carreer woman, redemption, true love..."TO BLAVE" (To quote Billy Crystal in Princess Bride)

However many parts of the movie are funny, what made it unfunny to me was the unlikability of many of the characters. I'm all for the loveable stoners, but fat, out of work, completely apathetic stoner slobs are unbelieveable as love interests to me. At least not to the type of woman Heigl is in the movie...at least not out of high-school.

At best this is a dress rehearsal for the much superior Superbad.

Seth Rogen plays Ben Stone, a lazy stunted-adolescent leech who lives in the United States illegally with his band of loser pothead perverts. Together they aspire to create the next Mr. Skin website devoted to informing other miscreants of their ilk about nude scenes in movies. He is a pathetic loser and I had to really struggle to like him. Katherine Heigl plays Alison, an ambitious entertainment journalist on the verge of mainstream success. One of the early scenes involving her work includes a great self-parodying cameo by Ryan Seacrest. Anyway, the two coincidentally meet one night at a bar and drink enough that Alison makes the mistake of spending the night with Stone and she gets pregnant. We watch the characters develop in this normal and almost universally relative scenario. Paul Rudd and Leslie Mann almost top the two leads in their performances as Allison's sister Debbie and her seemingly uninterested husband Pete. It seems to me that Rudd just gets better and better with each supporting role. Ben has a long way to go before he can deal with becoming a father and his transformation might have been in danger of not being a convincing one were it not for Rogen's subtly attached performance. He really carries the film.

Anyway, Knocked Up had a lot of hype in a time of quality comedies. It seems there are two sides that watch comedies. One side is the stern critic that shuns pure slapstick and cheap humor and the other is the side that will gladly watch films like Billy Madison, Hot Rod, and Old School over and over again. The stern critic in me accepts that Knocked Up is a halfway decent film even without all of the great humor but the other side in me sees the often outrageous humor in Knocked Up as its greatest strength. It really does have some incredibly funny moments that make the often slow pace of the story much easier to drudge through. It is overall a very enjoyable movie and seems shorter than its surprising length (over two hours). I heard one critic say that Knocked Up is in bad need of an editor. That's probably true and the pacing issues are the primary reason I won't give Knocked Up a perfect rating.

The film has some great cameos throughout and contains many of director Judd Apatow's (The 40 Year Old Virgin) regulars from his old television show Freaks and Geeks. The cast is a surprisingly effective collaboration and the cameos are both effective and funny. The humor never gets too stupid but there are times where it gets pretty close. Overall, Knocked Up is a well-polished adult comedy that almost anyone will enjoy.

This is very crass, vulgar movie. The fact that so many people have loved it is a commentary on our times. It is the first in a string of crass movies which I have rented and within just a few moments of watching I wished I hadn't.
The only thing that I can recommend about this movie... it is an excellent demonstration of how another person's bad habits can pull you down.
Heigl's character started out as a fairly clean person who had a problem with watching R-rated stuff on TV... by the end of the movie she was lounging around and excitedly yelling out whenever frontal nudity came on the screen. Now there's wonderful mommy material!

I can concur w/ the previous reviewer in the sense that sure a child COULD change everything.But i personally do not even believe for ONE MOMENT that this scenario would of EVER taken place.

This chick would of never gone to bed w/ this so-called STONER.Sober or DRUNK.You gotta figure(or perhaps u don't)that she would of been hit on by other more pleasing fellows.But alas it is a movie after all and really,honestly...it's not all that great.

First the movie was way too long.Had 30 or 40 minutes been chopped-off it probably would of served the story better(imo).But,even still-there were moments when i was not exactly sure what this movie was aiming for.Clearly not a light-hearted comedy.I mean,there were very dramatic spots.I was especially taken aback at the confrontation w/ the doc. at the end of the movie.I mean,is this REALLY what goes down in delivery rooms from a doctor?

The character played by Seth Rogen was lovable & laid-back in the beginning.And then you see this nasty side of him start to grow.And,well,for me,i found him very dislikable.Now,sure,a pregnancy.A child.The STRESSES of this could make someone so serene(like the character) end up this way.But seriously,the movie,i felt was up and down(no pun intended).

Perhaps if i watched it a couple more times it will grown on me.But,as it stands for me today,this movie started off strong and then about halfway through it dragged and got ugly.Not the childbirth situation,just the characters.

I'm sure i would of enjoyed this movie much better if it was say 100 minutes TOPS!The length of this movie made it more of a drama then a comedy.And,maybe it is a dramedy and NOT classified as a comedy afterall.Who really knows?

This is a very funny movie. If you liked the 40 Year Old Virgin, you'll like this. Definitely not your average romantic comedy.

This version has tons of extra features. Behind the scenes videos, commentaries, Picture-in-Picture exclusives, Web-enabled features, the list just goes on. The disc is also double sided with the standard DVD release so you can watch this movie wherever you want. How can you lose with features like these?

The video quality is also superb. Who says you need to have a big budget action film to impress you with it's visuals. Every frame of this High Definition movie is clear and stunning (even the ones you'd hope were blurry). If you want comedy, and you have an HD-DVD player, then you cannot miss out on this title.

A lot of people have knocked this comedy saying the premise is ludicrous, that a succesful career woman would never give a stoner like Ben a second chance. I beg to differ. A child can change everything and "knocked up" displays these emotions perfectly. The two leads are outstanding and the acting great by everyone else too. Ben and his stoner friends had me laughing uncontrollably throughout. Funniest was the bit when Ben and his friend are on mushrooms in Vegas. Don't pass this one up, you'll laugh and be swept over with emotions simultaneously.

This movie was sooo good and sooo funny I saw it twice in theatres! I'll be one of the first to own the collectors edition because it is completely worth it. You definitely need a good sense of humour to enjoy the comedy in this movie. You probably won't like it if you're really old (like over 50) or just a stuck up prude.