Despite those spooky animatronic babies….

October 16, 2007

 

 

KNOCKED UP is easily the most sincere and most  balanced comedy I've seen this year. It's witty without trying too hard, raunchy without being over-the-top, sweet without being viscously sappy, and poignant without being manipulative. It is, to say the least, a well-executed film. 

 

Directed by Judd Apatow (The 40-Year Old Virgin, Anchorman), it tells the story of a mismatched couple's sudden brush with parenthood after a drunken one-night stand. Soon, they decide to face each other's idiosyncrasies in order to work things out between them and their unborn child. 

Though the plot can easily be dismissed as sheer fluff, the movie derives much of its strength from the magnetic performances of the two leads, especially Katherine Hiegl. The script is also chockfull of brilliantly-wrought lines that sound almost like they were written by Woody Allen on crack. 

My favorite quote would have to be, hands down, the one uttered by Paul Rudd's character 3/4 through the film:

 Marriage is like a tense, unfunny version of Everybody Loves Raymond, only it doesn't last 22 minutes. It lasts forever.