Grant About Town - May 31, 2007

With the summer movie season kicking into high gear and the usual slate of big budget Hollywood studio offerings ("Spider-Man 3," "Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End," "Shrek the Third," "Oceans 13") hitting the multiplexes, I wanted to highlight a very satisfying trip to the movie theater that did not involve any of the aforementioned threequels. While it has certainly not received the hype and media coverage of these summer blockbusters, "Knocked Up" is a must-see and one of the best comedies I have seen in many years.

The film is written and directed by Judd Apatow, who's best known for co-writing/directing the hilarious "The 40 Year Old Virgin" (2005) that starred Steve Carell and had a great supporting cast including Catherine Keener, Paul Rudd and Seth Rogen. Apatow is a comedy veteran who wrote and produced for the brilliant HBO comedy "The Larry Sanders Show" as well as "The Ben Stiller Show" in the early 90's. I won passes to a free screening and made plans with my buddy Reggie to see the film at Piper's Alley on Thursday night. It was the least I could do for a friend, as I was the frequent beneficiary of movie passes when Reggie worked for the Chicago Tribune in the late 90's. Remember the 1997 classic "Starship Troopers?" Of course you do. Saw it for free, baby.

Seth Rogen moves up to top billing in "Knocked Up" as slacker/stoner Ben Stone, who while out with friends at a club meets up and eventually hooks up with E! producer Allison Scott, played by Katherine Heigl of "Grey's Anatomy" fame. Rogen is kind of a shlubby guy, definitely not your standard leading man type, but has that everyman underdog appeal. Heigl has a tough job as more of the straight man in this comic duo, but she has a real knack for comedy that makes her more than just a pretty face in the movie. Anyway, due to some confusion on the night of the hookup - Allison says "Just do it" while Ben is trying to, um, prepare himself for sex, which he interprets as him not needing to use a condom - Allison becomes pregnant. The timing could not be worse for her, as she just recently got a promotion to an on-air gig at E! and for him, as he has no job nor the income to support a baby.

The supporting cast is fantastic, particularly Paul Rudd as Allison's brother-in-law Pete, whose dysfunctional marriage to Debbie (Leslie Mann) and two kids gives Ben and Allison a window into what the future may hold as parents and a couple if they choose to stay together. According to Pete, "Marriage is just an unfunny version of 'Everybody Loves Raymond,' but it doesn't last 22 minutes ... it lasts forever." Pete becomes kind of a role model and confidant for Ben and their guy trip to Las Vegas, complete with a mushroom induced freakout by Ben during a Cirque du Soleil show, is dead on and had Reggie and I nodding our heads knowingly throughout. Also very funny is current "Saturday Night Live" cast member Kristen Wiig as one of Allison's bosses at E!

I have been a big fan of Paul Rudd (on the left, with Rogen in the picture above) for years and was even once told by an ex-girlfriend that I resembled him. He is really underrated as a comic actor with his droll, sarcastically funny performances in films like "Clueless" and "Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy" and in a recurring TV role on "Friends." Talent-wise this guy deserves to be talked about in the same breath as A-list comic actors such as Vince Vaughn, Ben Stiller and Owen Wilson.

Another great scene and perhaps my favorite in the movie involves a very pregnant Allison and Debbie being turned away by a nightclub doorman (played by Craig Robinson - aka Daryl the warehouse supervisor from the TV show "The Office") because they aren't young or hot enough to merit admission, followed by an indignant Debbie going ballistic on the bouncer until he breaks down and admits to her that he would "tear that ass up." Underlying the humor is Debbie's sadness and frustration at the fact that while still very attractive, she knows she can't pull off the young party girl thing anymore.

Apatow has been quite a busy and successful man lately as a producer on the Will Ferrell films "Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby" and "Kicking and Screaming" in addition to his work on "Anchorman" and "The 40 Year Old Virgin." He really elevates himself into the comedy directing elite with this film, picking up where the Farrelly Brothers left off by combining their raunch and lewdness with fantastic dialogue sprinkled with pop culture references that include Ryan Seachrest (who makes a cameo in the film), "Back to the Future," the TV show "Lost," the singer Matisyahu and the "Mr. Skin" website.

The Farrelly Brothers films strike me as a bit mean-spirited at times, unless you find humor at the expense of the disabled, retarded people and conjoined twins to be good-spirited. "Knocked Up" actually has a heart underneath all of the jokes and one-liners. It takes on real life issues such as unplanned pregnancy, making the transition from single to married life, becoming a parent and male/female friendships and makes you laugh while at the same time still being poignant. While it is a stretch to believe that a relatively successful knockout like Allison would ever end up with a chronic loser like Ben, you care enough about the characters to willingly go along for the ride.