Quick Review...A Little Late: Knocked Up

After starting up my summer movie fare with the incredibly disappointing Spiderman 3, I was relieved to find my hope restored by Judd Apatow's Knocked Up. The fact that I listed it as my number 2 most anticipated movie of the summer speaks to my desire for it to be good and boy howdy was I rewarded. As I've said before Apatow writes people in their late 20's/early 30's better them anyone in Hollywood today even better then my beloved Kevin Smith. Judd takes the struggles we face growing up in a materialistic society while still attempting to make those basic human connections. In 40 Year Old Virgin, his directorial debut, Apatow approached the kinship of men relating to the struggle with an oversexed society and the demands that takes on us all. Of course he did so while making us pee our pants laughing which is what makes the film so damn watchable. Here he looks at our struggle to "grow up" and to reach out to different relationships whether by chance or by desire. Seth Rogen who has worked with Apatow for years, gives a break out performance as the stoner who knocks up a woman way "out of his league." Katherine Heigl brings both humor and a sense of desperation as that woman who struggles with ideas of what society, family, and work expect of her. The connection the two make after the fateful act do seem a bit rushed but since the movie clocks in at just over 2 hours I'm guessing there was a need to leave some script pages on the cutting room floor. Paul Rudd seems to have truly found his voice in Apatow's films almost stealing the show from Rogen much like he did to Steve Carrell in Virgin. All in all its a funny, sweet, even thought provoking film that is certainly the best I've seen this summer. Hope to catch Ocean's 13 later this week so I'll have my thoughts on that soon.